In Switzerland, it’s illegal to own just one guinea pig. This is because guinea pigs are social animals and they are considered victims of abuse if they are alone
I'm interested in how this works in terms of pairing.
I have a lone guinea pig. I had two rescue pigs that were rescued from a bad situation, and one sadly died after 6 months. We've had two separate partners, but despite a lot of work in trying to partner them up he's never been able to not fight a potential cage partner.
I want him to have a partner, but the stress for both of being constantly in fight or flight is concerning. We even considered rehoming at a rescue centre and giving a huge donation, but it would just pass the problem on.
As a gerbil owner this is a constant dilemma for me aswell. One tends to always die much sooner than the another and it breaks my heart seeing the other be left alone. If I then get another one then the same thing is just going to happen again due to their age difference and if I get two there's like 50% chance they don't get along and now I have two terrariums with one gerbil in one and two in the another.
If anyone else is considering getting gerbils my advice would be to either get 3 males or go with a hamster instead since they live alone. I currently have 3 females but I almost had to separate them earlier due to fighting. This is less likely to happen with males.