Hello, I am looking to get some advice on how to group my guinea pigs. My situation is this, i had 3 guinea pigs that i thought were all boys but as it turned out 2 of them are girls and they both had pups. The pups are 3 weeks old in a couple days so i will be separating the boys from the girls. So now i have 6 females and 4 males. The 3 older pigs are around 8 months of age. I am wondering what you all think would be the best combinations? I know that groups of females with one neutered male seems to work well, but i only have one male that is old enough at the moment to be neutered, which i may consider doing in the future. So my questions here are:
If i keep the 6 females together (2 are 8 months old and 4 are 3 week old pups) is there likely to be squabbles, and do i need to completely separate the babies from their moms to allow them to stop nursing? If i do, can i put them back together after a certain length of time? Or should i keep the 2 older sows together and then the 4 baby girl pups in another separate cage?
I imagine a group of 4 boars will not work, would a better idea be to have 2 pairs?
Any thoughts on what will work best i would appreciate.
Need advice for housing my piggies!
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Sef
- I dissent.
Those with larger female herds will hopefully chime in with their opinion, but I would think that a large group of females (provided that you have ample space) or two groups of three would be ideal, with the four males divided up into two pairs.
In the meantime, do make doubly sure that you have them all sexed accurately. See:
https://www.guinealynx.info/sexing_pups.html
In the meantime, do make doubly sure that you have them all sexed accurately. See:
https://www.guinealynx.info/sexing_pups.html
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
I think I would at least try the large group of females together in a really, really big cage, creatively set up. Sef has more experience with boars than I do (none). If you wanted to be bold about the males, you could also group them together in a really large cage while they are so young but be ready to divide the cage in half if it doesn't work or as they get older, when they are likely to have more dominance issues. It is likely they would eventually have to be paired anyway though.
I agree with Lynx and sef about trying the large girls group, and I would pair up the boys. As for the babies, they can stay with their moms for as long as you want, you don't need to worry about separating them because of nursing.
So i attempted the large group of sows and it was terrible...everyone started fighting. So now they are separated into 2 groups of 3. However, the 4 boys are getting along nicely so far. Why are my girls fighting? The 2 adults always got along before and during pregnancy. Will they be able to live together again? Even some of the baby girls fought each other. Maybe they were just riled up from all the tension, i dont know. Yikes
And yes i tried this in a very big cage....it's 9 grids across by 2 width with an extra rectangle section like an L shape.
Yes lol...and im putting another 5x2 cage in the room so i can split up the boys...i have 4 of them together on an upper level for now. So yeah there are 2 groups of 2 girls each with their moms with a divider up between. Can they get hurt trying to fight through the divider?? Im a little worried.
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
You do want a safe divider with openings they can't get through. Clear plexiglass will prevent them from fighting. And with the males, you may need a cover so they don't get out and get in with the girls and impregnate them. Males can be very creative when it comes to escaping to be with the females!
Sorry, I should have been clearer! I meant to say that the female babies could stay with their mom, and that they would naturally be weaned. The girls wouldn’t have to be separated from their mothers if they were all getting along (to answer your question of whether they need to be separated to be weaned). The males, however, should definitely be separated.
Piggies https://imgur.com/gallery/qa6flSO
Here are some pics of my cage..i hope that link works i havent use imgur before. The divider is just the grids double connected or however you say that...the picture describes it much better lol. It's okay so far i just dont want them to hurt themselves if they do decide to fight but i think it will be fine.
Here are some pics of my cage..i hope that link works i havent use imgur before. The divider is just the grids double connected or however you say that...the picture describes it much better lol. It's okay so far i just dont want them to hurt themselves if they do decide to fight but i think it will be fine.
SHOP AMAZON