Can guinea pigs live separately but see each other often and still be happy?

Question

My girlfriend and I currently do not live together, but we will in the near future, and we are considering getting guinea pigs. Seeing as guinea pigs are social creatures we decided we would want to get two in order to support healthy and happy piggies.

We don't want to shuffle their cage from house to house during the week so we decided that we would possibly want to hold them separately at our homes and bring them together whenever we see each other. Which is just about every day. When we move in together in the next 2 years they will be joined together in one cage. Both will be same gender and have already been together for some time.

Would this work? Would they remember each other and get along as two females? I am worried that if they do not constantly live, eat and sleep together in the same cage they will forget about on another and need to constantly reintroduced.

Is this a valid concern?

Answer 1

In general no. I am willing to concede that there are some anecdotes where this has worked but for the majority it will not. Guinea pigs are social but they are also terratorial. They are willing to share(to a point) thier habitat with other guinea's they have bonded with but will chase off(or attempt to) any intruders. I notice even my bonded pairs have a dominant one and some spots that the dominant cavy does not like to share with it partner.

Each time they are reaqqainted one of them will be stressed out from being transported, then reintroduced to the others habitat. Its not good for the health of either cavy. However what you can do if you have an need for this anyway is to put them both into a transport together and take them for a walk or ride. This puts a bit of stress on them both and most cavies I have had tend to bond quickly in shared stress situations.

For context I have been raising show cavies for several years and currently have 5 Teddy sows and 2 boars. I have had to rebond pairs several times over the past few years.