I'm looking for some guidance and advice for our bonding. We have 4 pigs already; a neutered boar and 3 sows. The boar is 3yo, the sows are 2yo and 18mo. All get on really well. We have taken on what the rescue called a "problem child". She didn't get on with her previous herd and hasn't been successfully bonded to another boar either while in rescue. She's 18months too. Our pen is fairly large and we wanted to give her a shot. She has been housed in the same play pen as our herd but with dividers and C&Cs separating much physical interactions apart from noses. So far early introductions have been fairly promising and neutral floor time has stretched to almost an hour with no major dramas. Most we have had is some yawning, teeth chattering and rumble strutting. We have tried to put her in the herds playpen without the dividers twice and so far the worst we have had is two lunges with a bit of nipping and squealing but no blood. I'm very anxious with them and don't want anyone getting injured. Does anyone have any suggestions that we may try? I've been told we should just let them live together and only separate in extreme circumstances as every time we separate it's effectively like starting over. We do want to take things slowly though with her history. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? We really don't want to take her back to the rescue as she is super sweet and deserves a good life like all pigs but we don't want anyone getting hurt either
Hi
Since the introductions have all been on the mild side, PLEASE commit and let them finally get on with instead of
aborting the bonding process soon after acceptance - it is like an arranged marriage with a couple of formal meetings between two families in full attendance and you can't get past 'Hello' and 'What is your job?' and some really awkward chit chat with everybody listening in when the full
uninterrupted bonding process for guinea pigs is actually taking about two weeks in all through several more crucial stages until the group is fully established personally as well as territorially. If you want them to live together for the long, you have to give them a chance for getting married and settling together.
It is very frustrating for the piggies when they are not allowed to work as far as the leadership and group hierarchy estalishment, not even to mention the settling together as a group where dominance behaviours are right at the vert heart of the bonding process. Piggies don't do play time; every face to face meeting is a full-on bonding session. Please trust your piggies, sit by and do not interfere unless tension gets really intense or there are other clear signs that they are not coming to an agreement about leadership/ranking issues and the bonding has failed.
Even with a piggy with fear-aggression, you always take them as far as possible until you spot them getting tense and going on overload. Then it depends on whether they exchange friendly behaviours between the bars to signal that they still want to be together or not when the chips are down. Don't separate any sooner than you absolutely have because they still need to work through the whole bonding process just the same as everypig, and that includes the hierarchy establishment. The further they can get, the better; especially when behaviours are still very much in the mild range as you are reporting.
PS: I've bonded plenty of 'unbondable' or 'difficult' rescue adoptees with real fear-aggression/high stress/lack of socialisation issues over the years myself.
Here is our step-by-step bonding guide, which takes you through all stages of the complex bonding process with the attendant behaviours and dynamics for every stage, including the post-intro dominance phase and which also features a chapter on fear-aggression.
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
For more information on single behaviours or behaviour groups:
A - Z of Guinea Pig Behaviours
Rather let the group stay in their bonding pen overnight once you have committed and all piggies are very careful to not cross the line (even if they may go close to it a few times) to allow them to settle all all the roughest part in the bonding pen without any furniture and just a sheet, blanket or beach towel pegged over the top to minimise the risk of defence bites and fights.
Make sure that you haven't got any hides with just one exit or any dead corners for the first few weeks until the dominance phase is over and they have settled down together.
All the best!
Bonding is like an operation: it is totally nerve-wracking but the more you dither making the crucial jump over
the cliff edge, the higher the cliff will grow for you.
