Bonding a bonded pair and lone pig

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HEvan

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Hi,

Unfortunately I had to put my little star to sleep 😭. They think all her issues was due to spinal injury.

I got a bonded pair of sows (impossible to find a single sow), similar age to my saffy. I'm currently at the sight and smell stage. Overnight, i swapped some of thier stuff into each others spaces. They sniffed between the bars, are calm and eating hay side by side.

However, they are not talking or popcorning, just seem mostly unfazed by each other. Is this still a good sign?

All three as such sweet girls.
 

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I'm sorry for your loss.

I’m afraid you won’t know how things will go until you actually try to bond them on neutral territory and see if they can form a hierarchy. If your single sow is not dominant and can slot into the hierarchy of the bonded pair then hopefully things will go well.
Otherwise, they will be quite happy to live as they currently are in a divided cage.

Good luck for the bonding
 
Piggies&buns said:
I'm sorry for your loss.

I’m afraid you won’t know how things will go until you actually try to bond them on neutral territory and see if they can form a hierarchy. If your single sow is not dominant and can slot into the hierarchy of the bonded pair then hopefully things will go well.
Otherwise, they will be quite happy to live as they currently are in a divided cage.

Good luck for the bonding
Click to expand...
Saffy was the "dominant" but I think it was more because star was so submissive.

I really hope they can all live together as saffy was so affectionate and cuddly to star. I just need to pop out but then I'm going to try in neutral territory. Fingers crossed.
 
Oh is is better to put them all together or meet one at a time?
 
Put them all together in one go. All the best with the bonding, I hope it works out.
 
You need to put them all in a neutral territory bonding pen and leave them for several hours to see if they can form a bond.

Dominant sows are rarely prepared to step down and bonding a single with a bonded pair is not always straightforward - if Saffy is dominant then then Saffy and the dominant piggy in the pair may not get on (fingers crossed all will be well) so do prepare yourself for that.

Guides below
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
 
I just put them together in a neutral space. All was going well for first 10 mins then they all started teeth chattering and one of them lunged for saffy. I separated at this piont.

I had some hay on there but nothing else. Should I include things from both of thier cages? Or a hidey each?
 
HEvan said:
I just put them together in a neutral space. All was going well for first 10 mins then they all started teeth chattering and one of them lunged for saffy. I separated at this piont.

I had some hay on there but nothing else. Should I include things from both of thier cages? Or a hidey each?
Click to expand...

No hides should be used in a bonding pen - just hay and water.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
 
No hides were used. I used new fleece and a big pile of hay.

I will try again later. The devider is back in the 3rd cage and they are all happy eating hay side by side. So I'm hoping for the best.

However, if I can't bond them, I'm aware they can live side by side happily, however my current pig is used to free roaming the lounge when I'm home. Can non bonded pigs free roam the lounge at the same time or will they require separate times?
 
HEvan said:
No hides were used. I used new fleece and a big pile of hay.

I will try again later. The devider is back in the 3rd cage and they are all happy eating hay side by side. So I'm hoping for the best.

However, if I can't bond them, I'm aware they can live side by side happily, however my current pig is used to free roaming the lounge when I'm home. Can non bonded pigs free roam the lounge at the same time or will they require separate times?
Click to expand...

They will require separate times.
 
Noooo they had a fight 😭
Again normal dominance behaviour, then the new pig lunged and a full tornado scuffle happened. I seperated straight away. Saffy is injury free but poor biscoff has a cut between her nose and lip. She seems spooked. Is bank holiday today so vets arnt open tomorrow. I cleaned with some saline solution. The cut is about 1mm not bleeding but looks a bit swollen. Will this effect her eating?
 
I’m sorry to hear this.
It shouldn’t do. Just keep an eye on it and see a vet tomorrow if you are worried.

A fight is of course a form answer that they do not like each other and sadly will not bond. I’m sorry it hasn’t worked out.
 
HEvan said:
I feel so guilty right now! 😭😭
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Oh please don’t. You’ve done a lovely thing in trying to find her some new friends. The only thing you cant control is their compatibility.
Living side by side with others is absolutely fine - she will still have interaction through the bars and will still be happy.
(Two of my boys don’t like each other and have to live side by side)
 
Yeah I'm not going to move them around today, give both sides a time to just chill and get over that trauma and then re-arrnage the cage tomorrow. I will get that lip checked tomorrow at the vets aswell.

I used a plastic grid to seperate. It was so fast and I panicked and I'm really hoping I didn't bonk her head or hit an arm. Saffy seems unfazed but biscoff isn't happy 😔
 
Piggies&buns said:
Oh please don’t. You’ve done a lovely thing in trying to find her some new friends. The only thing you cant control is their compatibility.
Living side by side with others is absolutely fine - she will still have interaction through the bars and will still be happy.
(Two of my boys don’t like each other and have to live side by side)
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Sorry to keep asking questions. But if they got into a fight, is it safe to have the cages connected or have a little gap?
 
I found an oven glove worked the best for separating fights when trying to bond my girls,
but it should be fine to have the cages connected,
Good luck,
 
HEvan said:
Sorry to keep asking questions. But if they got into a fight, is it safe to have the cages connected or have a little gap?
Click to expand...

Please don’t worry about asking questions, we are here to help.

See how they get on but it should be fine to have the cages connected.
My two boys got into an actual fight but due to my set up they aren’t in a connected cage as such - one is in a hutch and the other is on a commercial cage next to it but when one is out they don’t have any issue being one bar between them
 
Piggies&buns said:
Please don’t worry about asking questions, we are here to help.

See how they get on but it should be fine to have the cages connected.
My two boys got into an actual fight but due to my set up they aren’t in a connected cage as such - one is in a hutch and the other is on a commercial cage next to it but when one is out they don’t have any issue being one bar between them
Click to expand...
I have them side by side, but the 2 who had a fight keep teeth chattering and the new one seems agitated. Will this settle down?
 
HEvan said:
I have them side by side, but the 2 who had a fight keep teeth chattering and the new one seems agitated. Will this settle down?
Click to expand...

Yes it should settle in time.
You can cover the barrier for the time being to let tensions settle and then gradually remove the cover a little each day until they get used to being next to each other
 
Piggies&buns said:
Yes it should settle in time.
You can cover the barrier for the time being to let tensions settle and then gradually remove the cover a little each day until they get used to being next to each other
Click to expand...
I had normal wired c&c separating them but when they got antsy I put plastic grids along the middle. I left them to it and it's settling, no more teeth chattering just chatting. Phew
 
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