Bonding a trio

MrPiggles

MrPiggles

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Dec 16, 2018
Messages
68
Reaction score
63
Points
220
Location
West Lancashire
Hi everyone

We are trying to bond our bereaved sow with a bonded pair of sows, they are all of a similar age, they were okayish for the first ten minutes then major teeth chattering teeth baring and lunges between the two dominant ones. This is day one. Terrified they will fight, they met on neutral ground but are now in a divided cage and still the same behavior through the bars 🥺is this normal or not a good sign? My nerves are so high. We have them on trial to see how they get on from a Rescue x
 
It doesn't sound very positive at the moment. Unfortunately once a piggy decides another is not welcome then there is no changing their mind and sows can be particularly stubborn with this especially as they get older (remembering my own stubborn and difficult to bond little asbo sow as I type this). Leave them interacting through the bars for a few days and see whether you think things settle to a point where they might be willing to try an introduction again
 
I’m afraid I agree this doesn’t sound very encouraging. Once a sow has taken a dislike or has a grudge against another sow it is unlikely that they will accept them. If you are feeling like you want to continue then as Kelly suggests, all you can do is leave them a few days to calm down and try again in neutral territory, but be prepared it may kick off and escalate much sooner second time around.

which rescue did they come from? Do the rescue not do bondings themselves?
 
Thank you I had a feeling this might not work. Such a shame but we will try again hopefully x
 
They were on foster so came to use from their foster home. I feel we took a risk with three sows maybe a bit niavely.
 
I’m a foster carer and I do bondings in my home. Which rescue was this?
 
Maybe not as much as we hoped, we feel guilty for being a bit hopelessly optimistic too. We know they will take them back if it comes to that, we just don't want either Piggies to come to harm/be shipped around too much x
 
If you are getting attempted bites then I’d call it now as a failed bonding (sorry). If you can keep them separate that would be best until you return the pair of sows. If you have to keep them in a divided pen my best advice is to add something to the bars so they can’t see or interact through the bars. Here is an example of one I had to rig up in an emergency a while back.
 

Attachments

  • 786D1ADD-4244-4DC4-8CBA-532C81B022CA.webp
    786D1ADD-4244-4DC4-8CBA-532C81B022CA.webp
    72.1 KB · Views: 8
Thanks Vicki I have made up something very similar myself and it is now all calm and quiet, thank you for your help with this x
 
Unfortunately, I have to agree with the assessment.

If you can travel to a rescue that offers rescue dating (like the Potteries Guinea Pig Rescue in Kidsgrove/Stoke-on-Trent that @VickiA fosters for), then please do so. It may be that your single sows suffers from anxiety (fear-aggression) or just needs to find a submissive companion of either gender (sow or neutered boar) that cannot challenge her superiority, but only an expert bonder can tell you from watching the body language and interaction whether a bonding has a chance and whether she has got some hang-ups that need to be taken in to consideration.

In my own experience bonding single piggies can be quite a challenge - but rescue dating is the best way for working out what is the problem without having to adopt lots of piggies on spec or getting into trouble when handing failed companions back.
 
Hi! Yes we have :) we have Gal living alongside our neutered boar and a new baby girl and all seems to be working well. Gal has interaction but also her own space. Thank you for asking xx
 
@Josie&Galilei, I have that exact same issue. How did yours work out in the end?

I adopted a pair of one year olds to put with my recently bereaved 4 year old. Initially they were fine together for maybe 15 mins or so. It was neutral ground. There was the odd inquisitive but brief sniff from one or the other, but then one of the younger ones kept walking up almost sideways to my older one with her rear raised and all 3 would teeth chatter non stop. At times the side walker would leave and go back to the other side of the enclosure, but at times they'd have a tussle together and I just couldn't risk my older girl getting hurt, so put a divider between them just for a minute or so then took it away. Only for it to happen again. It wasn't non stop teeth chattering. At times, they would stop to have a munch of hay, but the atmosphere felt tense most of the time. After one of the tussles the older one had some wetness on her side, not sure if it was from an attempted bite or some pee spray.

In my case, due to the CORVID19 threat, dating was not available, and although I have the option to return the pair, instead I have divided my double storey hutch into separate single floors and I'm keeping them. I am collecting a 2yr old neutered boar later today to see if he will be a better match for my older girl. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻
 
Thanks! I'm proud to say that my bereaved Molly now has a husboar called Shrimp!

Cliché as it may be, but it did seem like love at first sight. She was so completely different to when I introduced her to the pair of girls. She didn't teeth chatter and even accepted the few times he mounted her. Her face was like "Really? Now? OK well just hurry up and get it over with" and the few times she didn't want to oblige, he just happily trotted off and gave her some space. It's a beautiful thing to see. So glad I got him when I did because animal adoptions have been stopped now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top