unexpected birth and rehousing pigs

Question
I bought a guinea pig on my wife's suggestion because I am allergic to cats and hamsters don't live long enough.  Anyway We bought a small male and took him home.  He was nice to hold at first but after a few days he became increasingly annoyed and was acting out even biting.  All the research I had done said they do better in pairs so we went back to the pet store and bought his old cage mate a larger male (is what we were told) we put them together and the first little guy calmed down.  Yesterday after having the pigs for a month the new one gave birth to a little one surprise the second one was not a male.  Anyway we obviously had to separate them but now that they are separated the original pig is starting to acting up at first but now he is just depressed  and just lays there.  He still eats but I cant put him back in with the girl and the newborn but I don't know how to cheer him up.  Any suggestions on what to do for now and how to go about putting them back together in the future?  I looked into getting the male neutered so as to put them back together when the little one reaches maturity in about four weeks but what should I do with the little one will it be ok with the older two?  Any advise you have will help greatly

Answer
Hello Brian,

If your ever planning to put the originals together, one of them has to be done! Or you will face the same problem over and over again!

The newborn, should get along fine, as long as you get him sexed early on, if he is a male then there could be some problems, as two males and one female isn't good. However if he is a she, then they will get along fine.

However in most cases the babies do not get along well with their parents after being separated for a long period of time!

In the mean time, handle the male as much as possible, hold him, let him run around your sofa, sit with him, spend extra attention on him. Maybe let him see the female from where he is but not get to her! It sounds like teasing, but he may feel happier just to see her again!


I don't advise putting them together, for a little bit then taking him away again, not only because the mother might forget, abandon etc her cub and also it is even harder for the male.

Good luck with you little family, any other queries I haven't answered, I am happy to help!


Megan