Bonding Problems and severe injury

Status
Not open for further replies.
Midge&Panda

Midge&Panda

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Messages
2,128
Reaction score
293
Points
620
Location
Plymouth, Whitleigh
After 6 long weeks yesterday I was able to introduce Albert to his ladies. It stared off with a little bit of bum wiggling, chasing and chattering teeth. After a couple of hours they all seemed to be settled even eating from the same bowl and laying down together. There was still a bit of chasing but nothing too serious. Unfortunatly last night I heard Midge wheek going into see what was going on I discovered she had been bitten on the nose. (Sliced down through one nostril). We called the vets for advice, they were happy for us to take her today aslong as she was still breathing and eating ok. I am now at a loss as to what to do as of bonding and living arrangements, can they be re-introduced or because blood and injury has occurred is it a case of Albert having to live on his own. Any ideas or thoughts would be welcomed.
 
I'm not really an expert as we have only recently introduced our boars to their new cage mates (individually of course). Could it be that, because you have several females accepting a new male, the dynamic is a little more complex. I'm sure Wiebke and others will know more on this subject but would it make sense to introduce Albert to one girl at a time over the course of a couple of hours/days even?
 
Do you know which piggy was the biter? The one time it happened to me was between two sows, one of whom was feeling cornered and out of her depth; she bit in defense. Fall outs between cross gender pairs are frankly very rare.

You can try re-introductions on neutral ground after a calming down period of a day or two and see how it goes?
 
Thank you both for your advice it's really helpful :) we pressume that Albert bit her as she had been chattering her teeth at him when they saw each other
 
I think a lot of it was due to the hierarchy of the cage, Midge was always 'top dog' and kept the other girls in order. Because she had been spayed she was introduced to him earlier than the others and they got on fine. The youngest girl Rosie seems to absolutly hate him and I'm thinking that she might be the catalyst in all of this. I will re-introduce Midge to him once her wound has healed but with Rosie I'm not too sure. He just has to walk past the cage and her teeth are chattering.
 
In my experience what you really need to do when they are together is just be very observant and go with your gut instinct.

When we tried to introduce a boar to our original 2 females, the top female had none of it. There were constant fights and eventually her ear got ripped. They were seperated for about 24 hours.
When we tried to re-introduce they went straight back to fighting, couldnt even be near each other without it kicking off, so it was obvious that it wasnt going to work.

On the other hand, I now have 4 girls, and recently things have been kicking of with them. No actual injuries yet, but some fairly serious chasing and jumping on each other. The difference though is that after a few minutes of "fighting" they decide they love each other again and will be sleeping and eating together. So I know its not as serious as the time before.

Somebody once said to me, and I now agree with it, that a good way to tell if its a serious/permanent fall out is if they can still share food/eat together. If they cant even be around each other without fighting then its probably a no go.
 
Not all sows will accept a neutered boar. How many girls have you exactly got - just Midge and Rosie, or more; so you could keep Midge and Albert together and still have another group if things don't work out? I would certainly not try any new introduction until the teeth chattering has died down, which will take some time.

I have found that it is usually better to introduce a new piggy to a group as a whole and not to bond in stages; by doing it in stages you upset the hierarchy for both groups every time you make a change, especially when you take the top piggy out of the equation. That will usually cause a lot of tension.
 
Thanks for all the advice. We have 5 sows and Albert. Midge is the eldest, then Panda, Maisie, Pappy and Rosie. the middle 3 girls are fine with him so if thing dont improve he will be living with Pappy and Maisie and the other 3 will live together. Something else I was thinking of was when its time to re-introduce doing it in the outside run so hopfully they will be more interested in the grass and it will also be neutral territory.
 
Lots of grass and veggies is always good when introducing. Plenty for everyone, and plenty of hideys for everyone too, ones with 2 exits!
 
A run is always good neutral territory for intros!

Anyway, you may find that a pair and a quartet may work better for you in the long run - but you know your girls best and who is best friends with who.

Sometimes it is well worth taking your time and wait with the whole group merger a few weeks or even months of living next door to each other so they can become a lot more relaxed about each other's presence.

I have had difficult piggies before; months down the line they are relaxed and happy - and a lot more accepting and sociable, as they no longer feel threatened!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top