Bonding advice/reassurance!

[Sharon.Mackay]

Ok so as some of you know we lost our boy Teddy on Tuesday And we have rescued a baby to bond with Dougal. Dougal is the most territorial piggy we have ever had! So we knew the bonding would need to be taken slowly and carefully. To start with we just set up a neutral area in the hall, and bathed the boys together. It went fairly well but Dougal was very grumpy with Ringo and we felt he was getting stressed, no violence just chasing and the normal stuff. So we are leaving the dining room door open so they can run in there too. They tend to stay away from each other and when Dougal does come near he chatters but never attacks. Is this too much room? I mean is it worth doing as they just stay away from one another for the most part! My thinking was it is a gentle way to introduce, still a bit of company for eachother and then in seperate cages at night for now. Ringo is very happy and Dougal is a changed pig! Very chirpy and hyper. The baby is doing laps now and I have just seen his first popcorn! How apt was that |) Dougal does look for him every hour or so, so it must be working?
Ok so after that epic story! what do you all think?

 

[SpinningNickel]

There are many experience people here who can give you better advice about how much space you should allow, etc. but from what I've read I think like it seems to be going pretty well. I took Machu to a rescue for dating (Milhaven) and was told it's pretty rare that an older pig will completely reject a baby, so I'm sure they'll be ok. My only concern is that it's really soon, and Dougal might still be missing Teddy. So taking it slow is definitely the way to go.

But my Machu does what you're describing too -- if I've taken Yoshi out of the cage for a cuddle or something, Machu looks round for him and wheeks -- and if Yoshi is scared he runs and hides behind Machu like a little kid! So it all sounds pretty ok to me.

 

[twiams]

this threads really useful if your interested

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

What your doing sounds fine, however you may want to slowly limit there space so that going from having one big room to a cage that in comparison is really small doesn't come as too much of a shock to them having to be so close sort of thing.

 

[Wiebke]

You may find Suzy's boar dating thread with videos and good descrioptions of how she does it and where she draws the line helpful: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=59233

 

[PAMELAKT]

Its a start, but seperating them every night will mean they have to start from square one each time.

Now you have done that & they have been introduced I would maybe limit the space using the guides you have been given on the links above. Chasing & mounting and even mild teeth chattering is ok - albeit scary to watch. If they are both angrily teeth chattering then be wary, but if one is just occasionally doing it then I would say that is alright.

Chasing is normal behaviour...