friendly neighbourhood guinea pig blog

I've never had girls so I don't have any experience with the difference in personalities in different genders unfortunately!

Some things to keep in mind when deciding between boars and sows:

If you want to a large herd you may want to get girls; boars can be hard to keep in more than pairs unless you either get lucky in how their personalities mesh, are willing to spring for a large enclosure to reduce territorial issues, or have split/multiple enclosures (eg. two bonded pairs). Boars will also need a bigger enclosure than the same number of sows.

Boars and sows will have different health needs - boars are more likely to need genital cleaning cleaning (and young boars might get boar glue in their/each other's fur), while sows will need to be watched for ovarian cysts and will have some behaviour changes around their estrous cycle.

If you want a mixed gender group, only including one boar is best (otherwise the males will fight due to the presence of females). The male will need to be neutered or all females spayed if you aren't prepared for the health concerns associated with pregnant sows, and to house or rehome a LOT of guinea pigs.

every day crumb looks more like those hairy caterpillars