emmyk89
Junior Guinea Pig
Hey all,
I have 2 females that are mother/daughter pair (rescued from horrible conditions on the Internet a year ago) the daughter (scoot) being very dominant.
I had tried to bond these 2 with my neutured boar last year but after coming on here and posting about it, it was determined that one of them took an instant dislike to him and so they didn't get past the acceptance phase and that bonding was abandoned (now he is happily with a pair of girls himself)
So, this week turns out a workmate who had a pair of males - one which recently died and the surviving one is neutered (but has never been with females, they say it was precautionary at the time as they wernt sure if he would bond with a male but he got on with another male so never put him with any females) and they don't want any more pigs so want to rehome him.
They brought him (oreo) to our house today and we put them in a run together, neutral space etc with a divider and Scoot seemed OK with him. No chattering, no power lie-in from scoot and all 3 of them even preened themselves together at the divider. After about an hour of that, we put them together but the male was quite insistent to get behind them and hump/sniff etc, he was doing lots of rumbling and "pipping" (the happy noise they make) around. Merlin (scoot mother) was fine, she kept out of the way really doesn't seem bothered by him at all.
Scoot however I'm not sure what the next stage was whether this is normal bonding or a sign they won't get on. He was very insistent to mount Scoot at the beginning (he would try to mount, and they would kind of run in a circle with his head still on her back and so her head would be on his) which she squealed loudly at him for.
After this they had a few "stand offs" where she squeals quite loudly at him when he's close by, spesh when around her backside but also even when he was just sniffing pee on the floor, she would lunge her head at him and he would run away, but occasionally she would pursue him to squeal more, which would make him chatter and turn side on, which would then make her chatter (a bit, not as loudly as oreo) and they then would be both side on, heads raised with occasional snapping, minor lunging, minor chattering then they would turn/walk in the other direction away from each other.
Oreo soon builds up courage again to go over to the girls and the same thing would happen (with chartering to a lesser degree he only does that when she pursues him which she didn't always). At one point bizzarly, they seem to get on and lie down literally sides touching each other no sign of anger or fear at all, for about 5 mins. Untill he moves to get up etc she started squealing loudly at him. She clearly wasn't totally relaxed when he was close by, and only seemed more at ease when he was a couple of feet away. But at the same time, she wasn't too distressed or aggressive that they were in the same run together.
She was very squealy, lungy and chased reggie relentlessly when we tried to bond them last year so I know when she definitely doesn't like another pig, but her behaviour this time is not that bad but also not that friendly, and I can't work out what they're doing.
Scoots squealing sounds annoyed really, so I'm not sure if this is just something that they can work out between them till he learns basically no means no and to quit trying to get behind her (which I see with my other trio when reggie tries to mount them and they don't want him they squeal at him, snap at hime occasionally or pee on him haha), or whether she really will not like him at all. Scoots squealing at oreo is the same type of squeal to what she does sometimes to merlin when neelin having a run around at full speed and runs past her, so I know she can be a grump. Oreos current owner says he was the submissive one out of the pair he was just in.
Any advice/insights would be really appreciated
I have 2 females that are mother/daughter pair (rescued from horrible conditions on the Internet a year ago) the daughter (scoot) being very dominant.
I had tried to bond these 2 with my neutured boar last year but after coming on here and posting about it, it was determined that one of them took an instant dislike to him and so they didn't get past the acceptance phase and that bonding was abandoned (now he is happily with a pair of girls himself)
So, this week turns out a workmate who had a pair of males - one which recently died and the surviving one is neutered (but has never been with females, they say it was precautionary at the time as they wernt sure if he would bond with a male but he got on with another male so never put him with any females) and they don't want any more pigs so want to rehome him.
They brought him (oreo) to our house today and we put them in a run together, neutral space etc with a divider and Scoot seemed OK with him. No chattering, no power lie-in from scoot and all 3 of them even preened themselves together at the divider. After about an hour of that, we put them together but the male was quite insistent to get behind them and hump/sniff etc, he was doing lots of rumbling and "pipping" (the happy noise they make) around. Merlin (scoot mother) was fine, she kept out of the way really doesn't seem bothered by him at all.
Scoot however I'm not sure what the next stage was whether this is normal bonding or a sign they won't get on. He was very insistent to mount Scoot at the beginning (he would try to mount, and they would kind of run in a circle with his head still on her back and so her head would be on his) which she squealed loudly at him for.
After this they had a few "stand offs" where she squeals quite loudly at him when he's close by, spesh when around her backside but also even when he was just sniffing pee on the floor, she would lunge her head at him and he would run away, but occasionally she would pursue him to squeal more, which would make him chatter and turn side on, which would then make her chatter (a bit, not as loudly as oreo) and they then would be both side on, heads raised with occasional snapping, minor lunging, minor chattering then they would turn/walk in the other direction away from each other.
Oreo soon builds up courage again to go over to the girls and the same thing would happen (with chartering to a lesser degree he only does that when she pursues him which she didn't always). At one point bizzarly, they seem to get on and lie down literally sides touching each other no sign of anger or fear at all, for about 5 mins. Untill he moves to get up etc she started squealing loudly at him. She clearly wasn't totally relaxed when he was close by, and only seemed more at ease when he was a couple of feet away. But at the same time, she wasn't too distressed or aggressive that they were in the same run together.
She was very squealy, lungy and chased reggie relentlessly when we tried to bond them last year so I know when she definitely doesn't like another pig, but her behaviour this time is not that bad but also not that friendly, and I can't work out what they're doing.
Scoots squealing sounds annoyed really, so I'm not sure if this is just something that they can work out between them till he learns basically no means no and to quit trying to get behind her (which I see with my other trio when reggie tries to mount them and they don't want him they squeal at him, snap at hime occasionally or pee on him haha), or whether she really will not like him at all. Scoots squealing at oreo is the same type of squeal to what she does sometimes to merlin when neelin having a run around at full speed and runs past her, so I know she can be a grump. Oreos current owner says he was the submissive one out of the pair he was just in.
Any advice/insights would be really appreciated
