Failed Bonding

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Widdy555

Widdy555

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So as the title says. .. I had a failed bonding today between my two girls and a rescue neutered boar

Followed all the advice neutral territory, nice veg as distraction etc... izzy was absolutely fine.... but mimi and the boar fought. . I had to use dustpan to separate them and blood was drawn (injured nose and eye )

Wondering if mimi would accept a baby sow as less of a threat than an adult?

Feel a bit traumatised though to say the least xx
 
Widdy555 said:
So as the title says. .. I had a failed bonding today between my two girls and a rescue neutered boar

Followed all the advice neutral territory, nice veg as distraction etc... izzy was absolutely fine.... but mimi and the boar fought. . I had to use dustpan to separate them and blood was drawn (injured nose and eye )

Wondering if mimi would accept a baby sow as less of a threat than an adult?

Feel a bit traumatised though to say the least xx
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I am very sorry. Some sows can be real cowbags! I have got a few of them, and my Tegan is the latest one. Thankfully, her mummy has taken a shine to the little rescue boar I dated instead. :(

To be honest if the bonding has gone wrong so spectacularly, do you have the need to find a third piggy unless you can date at a rescue?

Please have a the eye checked by a vet; it will need treatment. What is going to happen with the boy?
 
I've taken the boar back to Rspca .... One if the many reasons why I wanted to rescue was so that I'd have back up...and I'm glad I did. I don't think having them live separately and doing slow introductions would have worked, the dislike was tangible

And no to be honest there is no need for me to add another... my two girls coexist so lovely together .. It was a want as oppose to a need I would have loved to have had another, especially a boy... but my existing girls sanity and safety is mist important to me xx
 
Oh and yes her eye has been checked out...I work at a vets so one if my friends has just pipped round to check it... luckily it's the skin around her eye and not her actual eye. ...my poor girl xx
 
Widdy555 said:
Oh and yes her eye has been checked out...I work at a vets so one if my friends has just pipped round to check it... luckily it's the skin around her eye and not her actual eye. ...my poor girl xx
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Glad that it hasn't gone into the eye ball. Any failed bonding is gutting. Dating is the best way of finding out, as guinea pigs can have very firm ideas as to who they like and dislike. Not every piggy likes another dominant or more dominant piggy around.

If you would like to extend your group in the future, I would rather recommend adopting a pair of younger sows, again with the proviso of dating beforehand, as the chemistry needs to work out between them. Not every piggy is happy with more than one companion.

That way, the youngsters will have each other for company and you do not have to worry about an outsider issue. With 4-5 piggies you get group dynamics, which are somewhat different. Trios are the most tricky constellation to get right and they are the worst in terms of outsider issues.
 
When you say dating do some rescues do like weekly dates to see how piggies get on before you adopt them?

Yes I've been very lucky with her eye bless her.... few mm higher and her actual eye could have been damaged xx
 
Widdy555 said:
When you say dating do some rescues do like weekly dates to see how piggies get on before you adopt them?

Yes I've been very lucky with her eye bless her.... few mm higher and her actual eye could have been damaged xx
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Yes, most of our recommended rescues do. Currently the best rescue within your wider reach is the RSPCA Walsall, as they have both recently neutered young boars and sow pairs, though with different fosterers.If you have passed a home check with your local branch, you should be accepted by the Walsall branch without a new home check.
Guinea Pig Rescue Centre Locator
 
Thank you... I have emailed Becky at Walsall to see what we can arrange. .. I guess ideally the girls going for a few days to try a few different dates etc would be perfect xx
 
Widdy555 said:
Thank you... I have emailed Becky at Walsall to see what we can arrange. .. I guess ideally the girls going for a few days to try a few different dates etc would be perfect xx
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The RSPCA don't do full residential dating, so you may just book the whole day off to do meetings with rest time in between.
 
Wiebke said:
The RSPCA don't do full residential dating, so you may just book the whole day off to do meetings with rest time in between.
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That would be feasible ☺.... can they really tell from just one meeting though? The girls Met kylo for about 5 mins and travelled back with him for 40mins absolutely fine (though maybe I was missing signs? Mimi didn't like being sniffed/avoided).... The aggression only started when then got home even though I had brand new play pen and put it upstairs were the girls dont normally go, new blankets etc)

X
 
Widdy555 said:
That would be feasible ☺.... can they really tell from just one meeting though? The girls Met kylo for about 5 mins and travelled back with him for 40mins absolutely fine (though maybe I was missing signs? Mimi didn't like being sniffed/avoided).... The aggression only started when then got home even though I had brand new play pen and put it upstairs were the girls dont normally go, new blankets etc)

X
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Gethin was with Tegan for about an hour before we travelled home (with different carriers, as it was a longer journey); within that time, acceptance should normally happen (or not). 5 minutes are very short for testing for intitial acceptanceThings can always go wrong during the dominance phase, but you can usually tell before whether things are not going well or not.
Here are some tips for what to look out during bonding: Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics
 
Widdy555 said:
I've taken the boar back to Rspca .... One if the many reasons why I wanted to rescue was so that I'd have back up...and I'm glad I did. I don't think having them live separately and doing slow introductions would have worked, the dislike was tangible

And no to be honest there is no need for me to add another... my two girls coexist so lovely together .. It was a want as oppose to a need I would have loved to have had another, especially a boy... but my existing girls sanity and safety is mist important to me xx
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I just wanted to say that I am really sorry the bonding did not work out. For you and the pigs :hug:
But I was impressed by your honesty about the situation, and also love that you were at least giving a rescue pig a chance :nod:
I totally get the 'want' to have another pet, even if you don't technically need one.
 
Thank you... I'll have a good read through. On the initial meeting mimi and izzy were quite worried by their new surroundings and just froze. ... In hindsight I can see I should have given them time to relax and interact at that initial meeting. .. hopefully Walsall are more experienced at bonding than me

When you got teagan and Gethin home what did you do next to encourage bonding? ☺
 
Widdy555 said:
Thank you... I'll have a good read through. On the initial meeting mimi and izzy were quite worried by their new surroundings and just froze. ... In hindsight I can see I should have given them time to relax and interact at that initial meeting. .. hopefully Walsall are more experienced at bonding than me

When you got teagan and Gethin home what did you do next to encourage bonding? ☺
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I put them in a bonding pen in our kitchen to work out through the worst of the dominance before transferring to the cage.

DSCN3076.webp
 
Swissgreys said:
I just wanted to say that I am really sorry the bonding did not work out. For you and the pigs :hug:
But I was impressed by your honesty about the situation, and also love that you were at least giving a rescue pig a chance :nod:
I totally get the 'want' to have another pet, even if you don't technically need one.
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Ah thank you Swissgrey:hug:...hopefully I'll be able to give another rescue piggie a home. ...but if not, as long as my girls are happy I'm happy xx:wub:
 
Wiebke said:
I put them in a bonding pen in our kitchen to work out through the worst of the dominance before transferring to the cage.

View attachment 44564
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Thank you.... ah yes that's what I did... that was when the aggression started, about half an hour later...resulting in the fights.... hopefully just a clash of personalities/dislike and they (by they I mean grot bags mimi ha ha) will accept a different piggie/s
 
:no:Oh dear... since the failed bonding it seems that mimi is not happy with her sister

She's been chasing her, blocking her out of bedroom area and generally stressing. I've not seen them together once without poor izzy running as far as poss from mimi

I've put two food bowls in and there's already a few different hideys so they don't have to share anything ....hopefully that will appease them and they will settle down? Is there anything else I should be doing?

I'm coming round to the idea of getting two new piggies in separate cage am rather than trying to add any to my existing couple..... I don't want to force anything that they aren't comfortable with on my girls. ..Their happiness comes first... I just hope they recover from this once the dust settles? :help:
 
It's so horrible to see....she just charged a her poor sister .. and I feel so responsible
 
I'm just not sure what to do.... do I leave them to sort it out? Or do u separate for a while?

Izzy (so far) is not retaliating....when her sister chases her she just runs away squeaking. But whenever mimi sees her they both freeze...and then she chases Izzy
 
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