Tara95
Adult Guinea Pig
I'm hoping to bond my neutered boar in 3 weeks time with my four sows after the recommended 6 week wait time. He will be just under 4 months old (15 weeks) when he starts living with them after living alone (but next to) his two sisters and two slightly older 5-6 month old sows for the past two months, would've been seperated for nearly three months at the time of introduction. For the past 2 months, the two sets of sows have bonded nicely, with a few minor territorial issues at the start. Since they have got quite a generous cage upgrade there have been relatively no issues over territory and will happily share a big hidey together, whereas a month before (in a previous smaller cage) there would've been issues. One of the newer members (the sister of the neutered boar) has formed a really nice relationship with one of the older sows and has gone from the most nervous skinny runt who would always get bullied by every pig to one of the most confident, larger pigs of the heard possibly even the leader. However, as nice as this has been to see her respected and most liked by the older sows who used to bully her this new hierarchy has caused the bond between her and her other sister to be damaged. The last week I have noticed that she expresses dominace towards her sister (who is actually the biggest guinea pig of the herd and the most submissive now) I understand that this is normal behaviour but I feel that the other sister is the most least liked member of the herd, I wouldn't say she's bullied, and they'll often all eat together and share territory without issues but she doesn't seem to have the "friendship" that the other three guinea pigs have. Luckily, the "left out guinea pig" seems to have one of the best relationships with her brother (they're the only teddies of the herd and she will often run to him and squeak snuggling him against the bars when her sister yesterday pretended to bite her over some lettuce so I'm hoping that him being introduced to the herd will help her fit in more or at least have a "friend" as after all they were the original "bonded pair since birth".
I am aware that bonding is a tricky thing, as I imagine Winston will be quite humpy as he has been trying to get to the females for a long time and some of the females may not like this as they have been used to him being behind bars for the last few months. Apart from that they all seem to be very interested in him and will sit by the bars laying next to him at times. I have been reading various threads and will introduce them at neutral territory. How big should this be for 5 guinea pigs during the introduction? Don't want to make it too big if I can help it as I will need the spare grids to create their main hutch which will be 6 x6 (210cm x 210cm) which I will be completely cleaning and replacing the old laminate with new corr-ex at the same time as it's got a bit manky already. Many thanks
I am aware that bonding is a tricky thing, as I imagine Winston will be quite humpy as he has been trying to get to the females for a long time and some of the females may not like this as they have been used to him being behind bars for the last few months. Apart from that they all seem to be very interested in him and will sit by the bars laying next to him at times. I have been reading various threads and will introduce them at neutral territory. How big should this be for 5 guinea pigs during the introduction? Don't want to make it too big if I can help it as I will need the spare grids to create their main hutch which will be 6 x6 (210cm x 210cm) which I will be completely cleaning and replacing the old laminate with new corr-ex at the same time as it's got a bit manky already. Many thanks