Bonding guinea pigs

[scpiggy]

My guinea pig pumpkin has been alone for a while after the death of her sister and her refusal to bond with our other guinea. While pumpkin is an absolute darling around most people (unless you get in between her and her veggies ) she has been known to turn into quite a monster around other piggies.
My sister is fostering a young mother and her new born baby and we're going to try them out with pumpkin. I would be putting them in a neutral area and if they do get on they will be moved to a new run that pumpkin has never been in. Hopefully they will get along but any suggestions on the best way to bond piggy's especially with pumpkin being so dominant would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[Wiebke]

Basically, you are already doing what can be done!

Make sure that you have as many food dishes as piggies; ideally well spaced apart. With a baby around, better only have tunnels or huts with two exits around, so that the baby can't be "locked in" and has an escape route.

Be aware that you should interfere as little with the bonding process as possible once it's underway, as it'll only upset and irritate the piggies who want to get on with the job in their own way.

Very dominant sows can carry on bullying other pigs for weeks on end. Rumblestrutting, chattering, mounting, nipping and head butting are part of it; bloody bites and fights are not!

Wishing you and all girls the best of luck! Standing back will be the hardest thing for you to do, as subtlety is not part of sorting out the hierarchy!

 

[Claire K]

Good luck with bonding your piggies - let us know how it goes.

Claire x

 

[piggyme234]

Awww my little sis found the forum. I didn't realize until today that Sarah would really want Matilda and Sherbert even though it was mentioned when I was first looking after them. Now I have 3 people who might want them, lucky them. My main concern is that Matilda and Pumpkin would both try to protect baby Sherbert from each other. What do others think?