When we first got a guinea pig we just got one cavy, a male called Rocket who we inherited from a friend. We didn’t know any better and so got him a hutch, some sawdust, some food and water and put him in there and thought he would be just fine.
However the more we spent time getting to know about guinea pigs; who they are and what they are like, the more we discovered that they are not meant to be alone.
The thing was that Rocket never squeaked at all, in fact we barely heard from him.
He was very quiet and just used to sit around all day.
So we got him another male to hang out with.
Well he certainly got livelier.
It took them some time to get used to, but after a period of bedding in, he is much livelier.
He now lives with 3 other males and they are very happy squeaking away and chasing each other around, eating whatever they can find. They are very comfortable living with each other. They occasionally fight and don’t get on, but most of the time the get on very well.
Guinea pigs are social animals and thrive in the company of others.
So if you just have one guinea pig, do consider getting another.
They will thrive.
We just got two male Guinea pigs from a shelter. One is 4 months and the other is 1 year old. The younger one is a sweet heart and we can tell wants company but the older one seems more scared and upset. Right now they are housed separately with a wire cage panel between them. We have put them in a play pen together three times now, but the older one runs and bites the other one. We have only had them 6 days. How long will it take for them to like one another? Will they always have to be apart? What can we do to help?