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 Henry and Feebee Chadwick
 Sweetie Chadwick
Guinea Pig Dating and Behaviour Information
Guinea pigs are very social animals and love company,therefore we only rehome in pairs or pair up single Guinea Pigs through our dating services. Many retail outlets will sell single Guinea Pigs but this is a sad practice condemning a social animal to a life alone.
Who does it talk to when your at work,out with your family,chatting with your friends ?
Who can it cuddle too when its feeling unwell or cold in the winter ?
Who does it play with when its sitting in its cage all day waiting for you too come home ?
Who can it smell and nuzzle when it wants some comfort ?
Makes you think doesnt it........and if you have a single Guinea Pig then its not your fault you bought a single Guinea Pig,its the person who sold it
Boar and sow dating ?
This came about due to the vast amount of calls concerning single Guinea Pigs who, had lost a companion or owners had learnt that their Guinea Pig would enjoy the company of a friend. Being a rescue we do not breed Guinea Pigs but often have single Guinea Pigs arrive. I decided to offer dating as being very interested in Guinea Pig behaviour, it gave me the opportunity to pair up Guinea Pigs up of all ages and continue to learn from this.
What is the benefit of this ?
Your Guinea Pig is matched to a suitable companion, you will not have bought a Guinea Pig from another source only to find they wont take it back !!
If we do not have single rescue Guinea pigs in the rescue, we will happily put you on our dating waiting list and keep you updated.
We have brilliant results with bondings and do ensure owners are supported with after advice on initial care at home.We also appreciate things can change Guinea Pigs have their own personalitys, just get back in touch with us if you are concerned at all.Contact us if you would like to go on our waiting list we will try to get your Guinea Pig fixed up as soon as possible. Its important a bereaved guinea pig gets a new companion as soon as possible, so dont delay contact us.We can give you interim tips during over the phone advice.
Bonding procedure
Call me to discuss your situation, I ask questions about your Guinea Pigs personality to enable a suitable match to be considered.
A visit is arranged and you bring your Guinea Pig with you,so we can introduce the prospective couple to one another.
Allow 1 hour for your visit,if all goes well you can take your adopted Guinea Pig away with you with full instructions on post bonding care. People travel from all over the region to the rescue.Occasionally we may ask you to leave your Guinea Pig with us for a few days,this will be discussed at the time.
Pete and Morgan as featured on BBC radio stoke
Boar / Sow behaviour advice
Normal Dominance/Getting-To-Know-You Behaviour:
These types of behaviour can include: Bottom wiggling, raised fur or hackles, hip swaying
Purring or quiet/low rumbling whilst doing the above or sometimes without the movement
"Nose offs" - not necessarily aggressive, it's just like teens squaring off to each other and swaggering a bit
Bottom sniffing and cheek to cheek rubbing - scent glands are situated in these areas, so these will be popular!
Dragging the bottom along the ground (a bit like territory marking)
Mounting (from all angles - head, side and rear!) and chasing or chasing and mounting combined
Mild teeth chattering (fairly quiet chattering, almost like they are munching loudly on dry food or hay just with a bit more volume, but NOT the loud clatter for aggression, see below)
Warnings / Getting irritated and more serious:
If one or more pigs are snorting, (a bit like a quiet sneeze or a puff can mean extreme irritation), stressed squeaking with increased volume, head bobbing nose offs accompanied with very loud teeth chattering and slight raising up on back legs, yawning to show the teeth and/or giving narky little nips, kicking out and/or wee squirting, then I would be watching very carefully and get ready to distract them as they could be about to have a fight.
Serious aggression/fighting:
If the above events do not calm down fairly quickly, this can escalate into the pigs lunging or pouncing at each other, loud rumbling, obviously vicious bites rather than nips, a concentrated mixture of most of the above warnings (snorting, obvious rearing up on their haunches as if rearing up to fight, raised hackles, loud rumbling, yawning and loud teeth clacking - this noise is unmistakeable), and will likely result in pigs causing serious damage to each other - the pigs will have to be separated immediately.
Never put in your bare hands to separate, always have a towel handy to throw over them as those pigs will not realise or care that your hands are getting in front of their teeth and can result in really nasty bites.
So what may cause this type of behaviour?
Stroppy age?
Are they at the stroppy hormonal teen stage (anything between on average 3 months to 15 months)? If so, they may just be testing for dominance. This can go on for a while and will need monitoring, but usually settles down eventually.
Time of year perhaps?
Spring can invoke all kinds of ancient instinctive behaviour when the weather starts to warm up, the hormones start to get going and the boys are looking to strut their stuff. This can often result in increased normal dominance behaviour and lots of rumblestrutting and mounting to prove to all around that they are men and they are feeling good! Also, the heat of the summer can sometimes get to them, resulting in bad tempers and frustration as they are hot and uncomfortable, and may start squabbling with their cagemate. Another reason to keep your guineas as cool as possible during the hot months!
What else can trigger them to fall out?
Other things that may set them off are being near females, change of environment, illness, bullying or simply the teenage hormones kicking in. If you suspect an illness may be causing behavioural problems, please make a vet visit.
Sows come into heat every 16 days and you can notice behaviour as discussed in normal dominance behaviour.They do not have periods,just can seem a bit premenstrual !!
Possible ways to avoid a fallout
Loads of space, as much as you can spare. Try a C&C cage, plenty of examples can be found in the Housing section of this forum.
Two of everything - including dry food bowls, wet food bowls, water bottles, toys, hidey-holes, tunnels etc.
Bathing can often help, but make sure you use the same shampoo for both pigs!
If you have females, try and keep them a distance from the boys if you think it may be this that is causing the problem - if the females are in a completely different area, try and handle the boys first before the girls as the smell of females on hands, clothes, items or faces can set them off too.
Hay is often a good distractor as well.
Try a DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheremone), these waft calming pheremones over the pigs which can help them to calm down. It must be the dog one though, not the cat one.
If they are still squabbling and looking like they are really getting on each other's nerves, try a trial separation with a mesh divider - quite often a few hours "time out" can really help them calm down, but try not to leave it too long before you try them together again.
Of course, sometimes they may just not be able to get along and simply don't like each other! Sadly, there is little that can be done about this, and if they look constantly stressed even if they are not seriously fighting, it's worth getting their health checked and then get in touch with the rescue for advice.
This article is from The Guinea Pig Forum -www.theguineapigforum.co.uk
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Boar and sow dating......True or false ???
"My 12 mth old boar has passed away and i really dont want him to stay on his own,but someone has told me he cant be paired up because boars fight ?"
FALSE !!!
Boars of ALL ages can be paired up with a boar companion.Boars are quite hormonal between 8mths and 12mths so we would recommend a baby boar in the first instance but remember each Guinea Pig is an individual with its own personality so it may accept an older Guinea Pig too.Just call us for FREE advice.
 Wallace and Rocket firm friends after their date
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" My sow just wont seem to accept another friend since her neutered boar companion passed away,but i really feel its stressing her being alone,i have been told its best just to leave her on her own now ?"
FALSE !!!
Guinea Pigs grieve just like us ! She may just need some TLC and a gentle introduction to a companion.We can advise you on this.
 Arthur and Merlin friends after their date
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" I have a 5 year old boar / sow whose sibling has passed away i have been told we may as well leave him / her on his own now as it may stress them and they wont take to another Guinea Pig ?"
FALSE !!!
Bereaved Guinea Pigs are very vulnerable to depression just like us,its important you try to pair them with a new companion.In the meantime make sure they are indoors around you for extra attention and contact us for advice.
 Oliver and Cindy Chadwick
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" I bought a couple of boar Guinea Pigs from a large pet store and one has passed away 9 months later,they have told me they will have to stay on his own now as its impossible to pair up a 9 month old boar as they will kill each other ?"
What ?? So FALSE !!!!
Yes he is getting into his hormonal stage but a little baby boar would be just the answer to his popcorning dilemma or a lovely elderly boar who can be an uncle to him !!!
 Sally and Dylan neutered boar after their date
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"The Potteries Guinea Pig Rescue have an excellent record with pairing all different ages and sex of Guinea Pig, all the above questions and answers are based on real life situations and bondings at the rescue ?"
TOTALLY TRUE !!!!!!!!!!!!!
All the above are real questions from people who contacted us for help,their successful dates !! are in our list below.
A selection of our successful pairings so far this year all ages from 6 weeks to 5 years !!
Peppa 2 yr and Sooty 6 wk-Boars
Shaylee 6wk and Ruby 2yr -Sows
Bruce 1yr and Maisie 1yr- Neutered boar and sow
Merry 5yr and Sullivan 4mth- Boars
Oscar 3yr and Flynn 5mth - Boars
Peggy 2yr and Molly 2yr - Sows
Hugo 9mth and Socks 9mth - Boars
Timi 6wk and Jasper 2yr - Boars
Rory 10mth and Troy 4mth - Boars
Harvey 10mth and Little H 7wk - Boars
Eli 6mth and Jez 6mth - Boars
Uncle Caramel 4yr and Ben age 7wk - Boars
Florence 10mth and Susie Boo 6wk -Sows
Uncle Holly (boar) age 18mth and Jamie age 7 wk - Boars
Jack 4mth and Toby 3wks - Boars
Sparrow age 4 and Cookie age 6wk - Boars
Sage age 4mths and Basil age 6wks - Boars
Tyler 6wks and Fuzzy age 2 - Boars
Polly age 2 and Tanisha age 3mth -Sows
Basil age 12wks and Benny age 12mths - Boars
Hensel age 1yr and Harry age 6wks - Boars
Coco age 2.5 and Peggy age 2.5 - Boar and Sow pair
Winston 5wks and Flinn 1yr - Boars
Baby Boo 10wks and Barnie 10wk - Boars
Bruce 5mth and Marvin 5mth - Boars
Ollie age 1yr and Ben age 4wk - Boars
Cadbury 3mths and Truffle 5wks - Boars
Lottie age 4 and Ebony age 3mth - Sows
Charlie age 1yr and Teddy age 8wks - Boars
Amy 10wks and Bruce 4years - Boar / sow pair
Basil age 5mth and Herbie age 8wks - Boars
Aslan 4 months and Milo 7wks - Boars
Peppa 5yrs and Pippa 7wks - Sows
Rocky 1yr and Ben 8wks - Boars
Hilda, Martha, Jemima and Polly - Sows age 3 to 10 weeks !
Mr Fluffy age 4 months and Stuart age 7wks - Boars
Samson age 8mths and Milo age 6wks
Sooty age 3 months and Sweep age 3 months - Boars
Galaxy age 7 months and Poodle age 7 months - Boars
Charlie age 3 years and George age 8 weeks - Boars
Custard age 2 and Noel age 6 weeks - Boars
Robert age 2 and Timmy age 4 months - Boars
Partouff age 2 and Boar age 10 weeks - Boars
Charlie age 3 and Boar age 10 weeks - Boars
Hensel age 1 and Florence age 1 - Neutered boar and sow
Our list is growing arrange your date now
Greg and Titch Chadwick when they met
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Polly and Tanisha on their date
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