24 hours ago we introduced Oreo (9 week old female) to our 3 guinea pigs (1 male and 2 females).
We followed the instructions on here, and the initial signs were great.
Lots of grooming and licking and general relaxed munching of grass.
After about 45 minutes Ruby (our dominant sow) got a little bit 'pushy' with Oreo, and instead of backing down Oreo challenged her back.
There was a scuffle with nipping and fur being pulled out by both girls (no skin was broken and it only lasted a few seconds).
They had a second scuffle a few minutes later and Oreo did back off, but afterwards she chattered her teeth loudly whenever Ruby got too close.
Ruby was fascinating - I have never seen a guinea pig fully fluffed up and rumble strutting like that before - it was actually truly impressive in a slightly terrifying way.
From this point on Ruby would regularly approach Oreo and chase her, and Oreo would retreat and squeal, which although not fun to watch, I took as a good sign that Oreo was relenting and Ruby was establishing her dominance.
It happened frequently, and Lucy and Eddi actually started to protect Oreo and place themselves between her and Ruby, or go to Oreo and groom her after she had been chased.
In between that all of the pigs would lay down or eat, and Ruby and Lucy even had a little run and popcorn.
Things calmed down a lot, and after about 4 hours Ruby approached Oreo and sat next to her and started to wash her own head and face, but Oreo seemed too fearful to accept this overture of friendship and ran away squealing.
Eventually when they all seemed as calm as they were going to get, we moved them back into the C&C (fully cleaned and with no potential 'trap' areas).
Since then there have been no major incidents, and sometimes Ruby and Oreo will be quite close to each other without a problem, but then Ruby will turn and Oreo will run away squealing and hide.
Oreo will hide for about 30 minutes and then come out and walk around the cage again.
We have seen her eating and drinking, and she actually seems to be a very bold little piggie given how stressful the last 24 hours have been for her.
So my question is what now?
Normally we get the pigs out every day for run time and lap time, but I am assuming it is better to leave them alone for a while?
I think they are getting there, but I also feel they haven't quite sorted everything out yet.
So is it best to leave them in the C&C for a few more days, or would they benefit from a change of scenery and spending time in a different run (either outside or inside)?
At this point I am no longer worried that the bonding will fail entirely, but could it all still go wrong?
Thanks to anyone who got this far - hopefully my next post will be all about how happy everyone is and I can include some photos of Oreo. I had planned to take some yesterday, but it is quite difficult to operate a camera when you are perched on the edge of your chair wearing oven gloves
We followed the instructions on here, and the initial signs were great.
Lots of grooming and licking and general relaxed munching of grass.
After about 45 minutes Ruby (our dominant sow) got a little bit 'pushy' with Oreo, and instead of backing down Oreo challenged her back.
There was a scuffle with nipping and fur being pulled out by both girls (no skin was broken and it only lasted a few seconds).
They had a second scuffle a few minutes later and Oreo did back off, but afterwards she chattered her teeth loudly whenever Ruby got too close.
Ruby was fascinating - I have never seen a guinea pig fully fluffed up and rumble strutting like that before - it was actually truly impressive in a slightly terrifying way.
From this point on Ruby would regularly approach Oreo and chase her, and Oreo would retreat and squeal, which although not fun to watch, I took as a good sign that Oreo was relenting and Ruby was establishing her dominance.
It happened frequently, and Lucy and Eddi actually started to protect Oreo and place themselves between her and Ruby, or go to Oreo and groom her after she had been chased.
In between that all of the pigs would lay down or eat, and Ruby and Lucy even had a little run and popcorn.
Things calmed down a lot, and after about 4 hours Ruby approached Oreo and sat next to her and started to wash her own head and face, but Oreo seemed too fearful to accept this overture of friendship and ran away squealing.
Eventually when they all seemed as calm as they were going to get, we moved them back into the C&C (fully cleaned and with no potential 'trap' areas).
Since then there have been no major incidents, and sometimes Ruby and Oreo will be quite close to each other without a problem, but then Ruby will turn and Oreo will run away squealing and hide.
Oreo will hide for about 30 minutes and then come out and walk around the cage again.
We have seen her eating and drinking, and she actually seems to be a very bold little piggie given how stressful the last 24 hours have been for her.
So my question is what now?
Normally we get the pigs out every day for run time and lap time, but I am assuming it is better to leave them alone for a while?
I think they are getting there, but I also feel they haven't quite sorted everything out yet.
So is it best to leave them in the C&C for a few more days, or would they benefit from a change of scenery and spending time in a different run (either outside or inside)?
At this point I am no longer worried that the bonding will fail entirely, but could it all still go wrong?
Thanks to anyone who got this far - hopefully my next post will be all about how happy everyone is and I can include some photos of Oreo. I had planned to take some yesterday, but it is quite difficult to operate a camera when you are perched on the edge of your chair wearing oven gloves
