Bonding chasing

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Rachel1990

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Hi, so I’m bonding our bereaved Rosie with two girls who we got 3 weeks ago. Initially it didn’t go well last week and it was constantly lunging at each other so we separated them again. We tried again last night and there was a bit of lunging and lots of teeth chattering. I slept down near the playpen so they could have all night to sort it out. it looks like one of the new girls is constantly chasing Rosie though, no teeth chattering but as soon as the new girl the dominant one goes near Rosie she legs it. Don’t know if I should separate them and try again another time. They’ve been together for 12 hours now
 
How old are they all?

Is everybody trying to interact or is Rosie isolating herself? Have they napped together or eaten together as a herd?

Trying to bond an established pair with a single can be one of be hardest bondings to try and sadly often fails.

If things aren’t going well at a second attempt, then it would be safe to say it has failed and there would be no point trying a third time.

Wiebke

Thread 'Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?'

1 Singles and Pairs
Singles: Challenges and solutions for different singles situations (link)
Pairs: A closer look all possible pairings (link)
2 Trios and More by Gender
Boars
- Trios and quartets - Why better avoided
- Large Groups...
  • Like
Wiebke

Thread 'Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics'

1 Introduction
2 Pre-bonding
- Quarantine and sexing
- The need for a plan B
- The rule-breaker: Youngsters under 4 months (sub-teenage)
3 Setting up an introduction
- Getting to know each other
- ‘Buddy baths’ – why not
- Scent swapping - why not
- Setting up a neutral bonding area
- How to start the bonding
4 Acceptance phase: Do we like...
  • Like
 
Piggies&buns said:
How old are they all?

Is everybody trying to interact or is Rosie isolating herself? Have they napped together or eaten together as a herd?

Trying to bond an established pair with a single can be one of be hardest bondings to try and sadly often fails.

If things aren’t going well at a second attempt, then it would be safe to say it has failed and there would be no point trying a third time.

Wiebke

Thread 'Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?'

1 Singles and Pairs
Singles: Challenges and solutions for different singles situations (link)
Pairs: A closer look all possible pairings (link)
2 Trios and More by Gender
Boars
- Trios and quartets - Why better avoided
- Large Groups...
  • Like
Wiebke

Thread 'Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics'

1 Introduction
2 Pre-bonding
- Quarantine and sexing
- The need for a plan B
- The rule-breaker: Youngsters under 4 months (sub-teenage)
3 Setting up an introduction
- Getting to know each other
- ‘Buddy baths’ – why not
- Scent swapping - why not
- Setting up a neutral bonding area
- How to start the bonding
4 Acceptance phase: Do we like...
  • Like
Click to expand...
I believe Rosie is 5months old and same with pepper and I think ginger is 9months old. Pepper is the dominant one. Rosie tried to be but by the end she just looked scared of pepper. About an hour ago pepper really chased Rosie and tried biting her bottom so we’ve separated Rosie from pepper and ginger again. The did nap together and when they woke was when the chasing started and just looked like bullying.
 
Chasing and Nipping (which is a gesture of power) are both normal but you have to gauge when it has gone beyond normal and into a failure.

The general guide is if they nap and wake up and merrily get on with eating etc (that doesn’t mean to say no dominance will take place) then it has worked.
If they woke up and immediately got back into what seemed more than mild dominance, then sadly it most likely means the bonding has failed and they will need to stay separated permanently
 
It is so tricky to distinguish between them initially and sometimes I feel like it's a fine line between accepted heirachy type behaviour and bullying although bullying at its worst will mean them being stopped from eating etc by the 'bully' 😢
 
Rachel1990 said:
I’ve separated them again and I will try again next week, I will bath them all first and see how it goes.
Click to expand...

Please don’t bathe before bonding - it is an outdated myth and is not recommended. It can actually add more stress to the process and doesn’t help with bonding at all (bonding is about finding a match in character and ability to form a hierarchy. Bathing won’t make either of those happen).
The details of why not to do it are in the bonding guide

As it hasn’t gone well twice now, I would advise that this is a failure and you should not try again. If they don’t like each other now then unfortunately they never will - they don’t change their minds about each other

Wiebke

Thread 'Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics'

1 Introduction
2 Pre-bonding
- Quarantine and sexing
- The need for a plan B
- The rule-breaker: Youngsters under 4 months (sub-teenage)
3 Setting up an introduction
- Getting to know each other
- ‘Buddy baths’ – why not
- Scent swapping - why not
- Setting up a neutral bonding area
- How to start the bonding
4 Acceptance phase: Do we like...
  • Like
 
I’m really sorry but I agree completely with @Piggies&buns that this is a failed bonding. Please don’t try introducing them again - it won’t work and could end with injuries. Sows can be very particular and bear grudges. Once they have decided (and they have demonstrated this clearly) that they don’t like each other there is really nowhere else to go. Bathing and reintroducing won’t make them change their minds. I’m sorry that this isn’t what you want to hear. It would be ok to keep them side by side so that Rosie has company in the form of neighbours.
 
Ok I will leave them separated. Since putting them back in cages they are shouting at each other and bitting the bars. Going to put Rosie’s cage other side of room for rest of the day.
 
Rachel1990 said:
Ok I will leave them separated. Since putting them back in cages they are shouting at each other and bitting the bars. Going to put Rosie’s cage other side of room for rest of the day.
Click to expand...

Oh dear - they really don’t like each other. So sorry
 
CTWC said:
I've said before who would think that these lovely little bundles of love could be so temperamental 🤔
Click to expand...

I have had my fair share of troublesome sows. Actually more than my fair share. They can be very difficult about bonding.
 
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