Bonding Pairs Of Female Guinea Pigs?

[Fliss Keen]

Hi,

We currently have two female guinea pigs. We moved house last year and now have much more space available and have been considering offering a home to some more guineas.

There are two female guineas currently up for adoption at our local rescue. We would very much like to offer them a good home however I can't find anything anywhere about bonding two pairs of girls....all the advice seems to be bonding one guinea with a pair.

Has anyone tried this? Does anyone have any advice on whether this is liekly to work or not?

Obviously we don't want to upset our girls. We would love to increase our pair to a little group though and offer a second chance to some needy pigs if we can.

Thanks,
Fliss

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Bonding a duo follows basically the same rules as bonding a single piggy; make very sure that there is no space a piggy can get trapped in a corner or hidey with only one exit. Only add hideys once the worst of the dominance (which usually takes several days) is over. With sow-sow bonding, it usually comes down to whether and how the two top sows are getting on; that is why we recommend dating at the rescue under expert supervision. You should be getting an idea within an hour or so about how dominance is going develop and whether the girls will ultimately get on or not once they have sorted out the hierarchy.

If dating is not an option, I'd rather recommend looking for a pair of younger sows than those you have, as they won't challenge the hierarchy.

We also have got a recommended UK rescues locator on the top bar; these rescues all offer dating at the rescue. Personally, I prefer to date any small group of mine, even if it means quite a trip on train if I have doubts about one or two of my piggies and want to make sure that I don't come home with piggies that won't gel.

 

[madguinealady]

One of each of my quartet won't accept adult sows but no bother with babies so if they don't bond with girls try youngsters, worked for me.The difference to a group of two to a group of four is great, you really see the natural behaviour coming through