Adopting neglected piggie’s

Tiny Bubbles

Tiny Bubbles

Junior Guinea Pig
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We are not exactly new to owning guinea pigs. We have a beautiful girl, Bubbles - we have had her for about five years. We just saw an ad for two female guinea pigs, for free. They were bought on a whim, and are living outdoors...it is cold here. They are about 8 months old from what we know. So, we are going to go and pick them up.

We also have a rabbit who lives downstairs, the guinea pig lives upstairs. We will take the guinea pigs to the vet to have a check up, but we cannot do that until Monday. I hope this does not sound dumb, but would it be okay to keep them in a room down the hall from our current guinea pig. I just wonder if there are illnesses that can spread, as I do not know anything about these two new girls that we are picking up.

Any advice is appreciated.
 
I think what you are doing is perfect. Considering they were free, you never know if they have any illnesses like mites which spread quickly.

After your guinea pigs are checked out (and are hopefully okay) make sure introduce your new pigs to Bubbles properly. If they get a bad first impression of each other, they could get into fights or just not get along with each other. This happened to my friend, who is also a guinea pig owner. They had to return one of their guinea pigs to the pet store because they constantly getting into fights with each other. I recommend setting up a fun area where they can all run around in with lots of guinea pig toys and space. This will help your guinea pigs develop a relationship with each other. Good luck with your new pigs!
 
Thank you for your reply. We just picked them up. Unfortunately, for now, they are in a 40 gallon aquarium! This is until we can figure out where else to put them! Our other guinea pig has home a cage that is 6‘ x 4‘.

We actually were not considering putting her in with Bubbles - just because of her age, we adopted her at about two years of age, and we have had her for about five years. We were thinking maybe she is too old to introduce new guinea pig? Although, I wonder if we should rethink this? Is it a good idea to try to introduce an older guinea pig to two new guinea pigs?

So far, the new girls are doing good in their temporary aquarium! At first they were timid, but now they are eating their treats!
 
I meant putting “them” in with Bubbles! I am awful with relying on spell check and not proofreading!
 
Has bubbles always lived alone?
You can definitely try to bond them, a guinea pig is never too old for a friend, but it comes down to their personalities they may not get along or like each other.

There's some really good info on here about bonding guinea pigs, worth having a read.
 
You need to keep them separate for a quarantine period which I think is around 2 weeks. When you do bond them, it needs to be in a neutral area free from all smells from any piggy. Read the bonding guides on here which can be found under guinea pig guides at the top of the page very well before you do and good luck.
 
Hello and welcome. How lovely that you have taken these girls in. A vet check is definitely recommended, as is the quarantine period of 2 weeks.
Even though Bubbles is older, she may well like company. I think once the quarantine period is over I would consider an attempt at an introduction in an entirely neutral space. I have introduced older single piggies successfully to other piggies. It all depends if they get along. And a 6ft x 4ft enclosure would be perfect for the 3 to live in together.
Here are some guides that help explain the introductions process.
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Sow Behaviour
 
Thank you for all of the replies - much appreciated!

Bubbles has always lived alone while with us, and to our knowledge, she lived alone when with her previous owner.

We will do the vet check with the new girls on Monday, and take a few weeks to decide if we are going to try to introduce them to Bubbles, or just leave them separate.

Thanks again!
 
Tiny Bubbles said:
We are not exactly new to owning guinea pigs. We have a beautiful girl, Bubbles - we have had her for about five years. We just saw an ad for two female guinea pigs, for free. They were bought on a whim, and are living outdoors...it is cold here. They are about 8 months old from what we know. So, we are going to go and pick them up.

We also have a rabbit who lives downstairs, the guinea pig lives upstairs. We will take the guinea pigs to the vet to have a check up, but we cannot do that until Monday. I hope this does not sound dumb, but would it be okay to keep them in a room down the hall from our current guinea pig. I just wonder if there are illnesses that can spread, as I do not know anything about these two new girls that we are picking up.

Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...

Hi!

Please follow the advice in these guides here:
What to check and look out for in new guinea pigs (vet checks, sexing, parasites&illness)
Importance Of Quarantine

Yes, it is OK to keep them where you plan to. That is well away to prevent any transmission. Just feed, handle and clean your old piggy always first and the newbies last so there is the least risk of you transmitting anything to your single piggy. Use good hygiene (especially handwashing) in between looking after the three different parties and use an old pullover or apron when taking the newbies out. Disposible gloves can also help if there are real worries about ringworm. ;)
 
Welcome to the forum
Well done for rescuing these two.
Hope we will see lots of pictures once they are more settled
 
Great to here you’ve given these two piggies a loving home. Arn’t people awful who advertise their pet for nothing, as if they are worthless, it’s so sad. At least these two girls have a happy ending x
 
Congratulations on your new babies :wub:
I would keep them separate for the 2wk period & definitely get them (Guinea savvy) vet checked (please get their sexes confirmed as all 3 girls before introductions too).

Have a read through the good bonding threads mentioned on here too.
If your original girl has always been single, after quarantine I would house newbies separately but near her & let her get used to Guinea company for a couple of days. Enabling her to see, smell & talk to them, even touching through mesh/wire if possible?

My 5+year old has always had company of at least 2others & she became quite depressed on her own, I have successfully bonded her since with a 13wk old & a few months later another 14-16wk old.
Orca & her sister were approx 6months old (possibly older) when I bonded them with Grace, my original lonely/bereaved girl approx 2.5'ish

Guineas are social animals & your original girl will probably love the company & simulation of other Guineas.

Good luck & let us know how you get on :)
Ps pigtures always gratefully received ;)
 
If you end up introducing your new piggies to your current old lady, and the bonding goes ok, I think you will see her get a new lease of life. It would be great to see a video of when she first becomes aware of them, whether in a separate cage or at a bonding. I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised. Imagine how you'd feel meeting another human being for the first time in your life. Lol.
 
We will get some pics once they are settled, for sure (maybe even a video!).

Hubby bought some more cubes last night and we made them a decent size pen for now. While they are still hiding most of the time, they are slightly more active now that they are out of the aquarium!

They are both very skinny - almost feels like picking up a tiny sock half filled with rice (can’t think of another way to describe it!). Other than that, they are eating lots of veggies and pellets. So far, they have not tried any Timothy treats or vitamin C snacks, but I assume maybe this is because they are not familiar with this type of food. They are also not big fans of hay. One of the girls, however, seems to enjoy playing in the hay! They don’t know what to make of the water bottle. So, we will keep a bowl of water in there until they figure it out!

Overall...so far, so good!
 
....good grief....I just noticed my horrific use of an apostrophe in the title! I was in a rush when I wrote that first message as we were heading out to pick up the girls...Whoops!
 
Vet check done! Aside from having to shave and cut some matted areas by both of their ‘girl bits,’ and one of the girls appears to have a hear murmur (though this could have been due to stress), everything looks good. One weighs 390 grams, and the other 440 grams. No signs of URI, mites, lice, etc.
 
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