So it is nearly time for Badger to move in with his girlfriends. He is almost 6 weeks post neuter. I know that sows and boars usually bond well but how much chasing/mounting and chattering is normal and when should I step in? Also how long should I stay watching them before it is safe to say that they are ok? My plan is to take the girls cage apart and completely sanitise it (pet safe stuff) and put in fresh bedding etc and then introduce them in that cage as that is where they will all live. Does that sound ok? The cage is 6x2 and when I add badgers panels on it will be a 6x3 is that big enough for them all? Does age make any difference badger is about a year old and the girls are about 6 months.
Bonding sows and neutered boar
- Thread starter Zira24
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I had a good tip on bonding areas on this very forum, and that was to use the bathtub for the initial meet.
They can't climb out, and if you cover the bottom of the tub with a bit of old cloth they won't get their feet stuck in the plug hole. It's also easy to clean up afterwards and is a totally neutral space.
A previous bonding I did when I used the main cage as you propose to do, did not go as well as the one where I used the bathtub.
I expect someone more expert will soon be along to answer your other questions. Good luck!
They can't climb out, and if you cover the bottom of the tub with a bit of old cloth they won't get their feet stuck in the plug hole. It's also easy to clean up afterwards and is a totally neutral space.
A previous bonding I did when I used the main cage as you propose to do, did not go as well as the one where I used the bathtub.
I expect someone more expert will soon be along to answer your other questions. Good luck!
Hi
Please choose a different bonding area. Guinea pigs have a much finer sense of smell than us and they are very territorial. A new guinea pig can be seen and will feel like an intruder, which can start the bonding on entirely the wrong foot. The cage is their territory and they will see it as that even if you have eradicated their group scent. Best is anywhere unfamiliar that doesn't carry any territorial group scent at all and which is not part of their regular territory.
There is a video of a failed boar and two sows bonding which lasted all of 3 minutes after the boar ignored all warnings and it ended in a (non-aggressive) tussle in the mixed gender bonding chapter of our bonding guide (link below).
The other signal is when acceptance doesn't quite happen and the sows increasingly make front against the boar with increasingly hostile behaviours and tense body language - this can happen several days into a non-aggressive bonding that is neither going quite smoothly but is also not an instant fail.
I do however abort if tensions go high and stay. With a formal re-intro on the following day (same area), it will usually show quit quickly whether it was just stress or whether the bond has failed.
I generally give the bonding process overnight in the bonding area to allow the piggies to work through the roughest bit of the hierarchy establishment. It makes for a much more peaceful settling into the cage because they are going to do that as a bonded group and not as an added stress factor in the middle of the group establishment.
Here is our step-by-step bonding guide with special aspects - and with both videos and pictures of key behaviours:
