Currently Bonding

emiso

emiso

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Dec 8, 2024
Messages
53
Reaction score
20
Points
145
Location
Texas
Hi! Today I am bonding my father and son guinea pig, (Dipper & Stripes). Dipper was always paired with the mother Moto but she recently passed away about a month ago 😢💔, today I have started bonding them and for the last 4 hours there has been very little mounting and mainly just occasional nips at Stripes and power grooming from Dipper. Dipper has slept on his side numerous times and they have not cared for eating right next to each other so I’m confident that the next few hours will go well.

I wanted to just ask for any tips since I’m a bit nervous about them being in a new cage together tonight even if I check on them throughout the night. Its okay that Dipper nips at Stripes when he comes too close to his vegetables and stuff right? I attached a video of what it looks like, this stops pretty quickly then they just move on. No blood is drawn at all it just seems like a “back off” type of thing each time it happens, and the mounting stops very quickly the few times it happens and Stripes just runs off then its over with and they eat together.

I am planning on keeping them in this bonding pen for about 4 more hours then moving them into a freshly cleaned 4x4, they had a 2x4 before. I am not going to give them any houses or hideys that don’t have multiple exits, probably just tunnels and felt + felt forests. Please just let me know if there is any tips or anything wrong with their bonding! Thank you! 😊
 
Sounds like it’s going well. Can you keep them in the bonding pen overnight? I always give them as much time in it as possible.

I’m sorry about Moto. ❤️
 
I could try to keep them in it overnight but the thing is since they are so used to being in their room I did the bonding pen in my sister’s room because they are unfamiliar with it and it is most quiet here. My little sister is only 10 so she can’t really watch them if I left them in there but do you think a good alternative would be to leave them in there till around 8pm then take them to their clean cage and check on them throughout the night? That would give them 11ish hours in the pen then some time in the new clean cage where I’ll check on them all throughout the night.

And thank you 🤍
 
How do I upload a video? I need to ask if I should separate them for what just happened but it says the few second long video is too long to upload
 
I can’t find out how to upload a video here so I turned it into a link. This is what happens maybe once every 30 minutes? Is this something that means I should separate them? After this video he just laid down and went to sleep.

mov: IMG_1197.mov
 
emiso said:
I can’t find out how to upload a video here so I turned it into a link. This is what happens maybe once every 30 minutes? Is this something that means I should separate them? After this video he just laid down and went to sleep.

mov: IMG_1197.mov
Click to expand...
I’ve decided to separate them, Dipper keeps doing that to Stripes and I’m on a different time zone than everyone else on this forum but I’d rather be safe than sorry with keeping them apart tonight. The nips haven’t drawn blood as far as I know but it is hard to tell with Stripes long fur. They will all still be in cages directly next to each other but I don’t really know what to do from here.
 
That does look a little concerning, but I've never done bonding so I can't say for sure. Hopefully an expert will be along in the morning (UK time) to give you the right advice.
(Fingers crossed it's not a bond-breaker...)
 
That to me looks a worry. That doesn’t appear to be a minor gesture of power nip, it seems more concerning than that.

They can initially accept each other but then fail in the later parts of bonding when sorting out hierarchy etc.
I think what I would do if they were initially ok is leave them side by side for a few days to calm down, and then give it one more go in neutral territory. It should be quite obvious quite quickly once they go into neutral again whether they actually want to be together or not.
The thing with boars is that bonding is a one time thing - it either works or it doesn’t so if you do go for one more neutral territory meeting, then it is the permanent decider.

(We ask the video is uploaded to YouTube and the a link posted here - we can’t host video directly on the forum as it is prohibitively expensive and the forum is run purely on member donations.)
 
Piggies&buns said:
That to me looks a worry. That doesn’t appear to be a minor gesture of power nip, it seems more concerning than that.

They can initially accept each other but then fail in the later parts of bonding when sorting out hierarchy etc.
I think what I would do if they were initially ok is leave them side by side for a few days to calm down, and then give it one more go in neutral territory. It should be quite obvious quite quickly once they go into neutral again whether they actually want to be together or not.
The thing with boars is that bonding is a one time thing - it either works or it doesn’t so if you do go for one more neutral territory meeting, then it is the permanent decider.

(We ask the video is uploaded to YouTube and the a link posted here - we can’t host video directly on the forum as it is prohibitively expensive and the forum is run purely on member donations.)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the tips, they are currently in a cage side by side so I’ll try again either Tuesday or next weekend because those are my days free. I honestly don’t think they will go together, Stripes has been bullied before and is very submissive and never really fights back at all but he doesn’t necessarily show signs of submission much either as he runs away too much to allow anything to happen. Dipper is a low tempered guinea pig and he only ever worked out with Moto because she was so calm and he loved her her whole life regardless of his short temper.

Considering I don’t think him and Stripes will work out, is it okay to try and bond him with my other guinea pig Venom? A short summary, Venom and Dipper were originally together their first few months of living but we rescued a guinea pig that we were told was a boy and they started to fight over who gets to have her then Dipper ended up being paired with her. There was never any huge fights they just both wanted to be with Moto, the girl. Do you think its worth a shot to try Venom and Dipper together again and see if they will be fine again now that we don’t have Moto?

I will post on youtube next time, I had no idea. Thank you so much!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top