purplepiggies5
New Born Pup
Hi there,
I had two lovely rescue boars who were bonded from birth, but unfortunately just before their 3rd birthday we lost one of them to cancer. My remaining piggy didn't really seem overly phased, he was a bit subdued for about a week and lost a little bit of weight but has now gained it back (and more), probably due to my guilt feeding him extra veggies when he was alone. But I am out of the house a lot and I really wanted him to not be on his own.
I came across an 8 month old boar who needed rehoming through pets at home after he'd been bonded with another piggy to be adopted (I think it's awful that they are considered second rate when they're "too old to be sold"), but his cage mate had needed surgery and unfortunately didn't survive the anaesthetic. At this point my heart is absolutely going out to this lil guy, and I held him in the store and he immediately starting clinging to me and licking me and I was sold.
This is my first time bonding guineas, and I have found so much conflicting information on how to do it. From sticking them in neutral territory one morning and letting them fight it out and as long as they're good at the end of the day they go home together, to the approach I've taken (which was recommended by my vets) and scent swapping and introducing them for short periods in neutral territory and building this up.
Yesterday we took the leap, after managing whole afternoon/evenings together in the garden (they are inside guineas, summer has been a blessing for this mixing process), I thoroughly cleaned the indoor cage and they both moved in together with all their tunnels and hides from their shared space.
In the garden they were getting on okay, the younger one does a lot of the rumbling and swaying and jumping on the older one but the older one nips back and he leaves him alone. They eat next to each other and yesterday ended up laying down and napping in a tunnel together. I took this as the sign they were ready.
I just need some advice or reassurance really, since being inside there is a lot of rumbling and swaying and mounting from the younger one, sometimes following the older guy around the cage to mount him again. To my knowledge there is no spraying or urine, some teeth chattering but nothing more than what I have heard from my existing guy on his own. Every so often my older guy snaps back and there's a bit of scuffle, some zoomies from the younger one and popcorning on both parts. They get caught up in what looks like fighting but there is no lunging or fur standing on end or showing teeth which are all things I've been told to look for, almost since reflexive from my older guy and the little one doesn't like being put in his place so nips back and so on. There's a lot of noise and chirping and longer wheeks like the kind of noise they sometimes make when they are weeing or pooping (I hope that's a normal experience, both of mine have done it before), is this stress? There are a few times where it is making me really nervous and I'm worried about leaving them alone.
Outside of these little spats, they settle down and will lay down in the cage, I found them both in a no ended weetabix box earlier smushsed next to each other. They have two bowls for veggies and will happily munch through their dinner, and eat from the same hay wheel or piles of hay in their tunnels.
Should I just leave them to crack on with it? Does this sound normal? Is there anything of huge concern there? I need to leave them alone tomorrow for about 7.5 hours and I am really worried I'll come back to a blood bath!
My current train of thought is that if they were really going to go at each other they probably would've done so by now, it's been about 19 hours in the cage together.
If I just leave them to it, how long can I expect them to sort it out by? What can I do to help them settle into their new life together?
Thanks in advance!
I had two lovely rescue boars who were bonded from birth, but unfortunately just before their 3rd birthday we lost one of them to cancer. My remaining piggy didn't really seem overly phased, he was a bit subdued for about a week and lost a little bit of weight but has now gained it back (and more), probably due to my guilt feeding him extra veggies when he was alone. But I am out of the house a lot and I really wanted him to not be on his own.
I came across an 8 month old boar who needed rehoming through pets at home after he'd been bonded with another piggy to be adopted (I think it's awful that they are considered second rate when they're "too old to be sold"), but his cage mate had needed surgery and unfortunately didn't survive the anaesthetic. At this point my heart is absolutely going out to this lil guy, and I held him in the store and he immediately starting clinging to me and licking me and I was sold.
This is my first time bonding guineas, and I have found so much conflicting information on how to do it. From sticking them in neutral territory one morning and letting them fight it out and as long as they're good at the end of the day they go home together, to the approach I've taken (which was recommended by my vets) and scent swapping and introducing them for short periods in neutral territory and building this up.
Yesterday we took the leap, after managing whole afternoon/evenings together in the garden (they are inside guineas, summer has been a blessing for this mixing process), I thoroughly cleaned the indoor cage and they both moved in together with all their tunnels and hides from their shared space.
In the garden they were getting on okay, the younger one does a lot of the rumbling and swaying and jumping on the older one but the older one nips back and he leaves him alone. They eat next to each other and yesterday ended up laying down and napping in a tunnel together. I took this as the sign they were ready.
I just need some advice or reassurance really, since being inside there is a lot of rumbling and swaying and mounting from the younger one, sometimes following the older guy around the cage to mount him again. To my knowledge there is no spraying or urine, some teeth chattering but nothing more than what I have heard from my existing guy on his own. Every so often my older guy snaps back and there's a bit of scuffle, some zoomies from the younger one and popcorning on both parts. They get caught up in what looks like fighting but there is no lunging or fur standing on end or showing teeth which are all things I've been told to look for, almost since reflexive from my older guy and the little one doesn't like being put in his place so nips back and so on. There's a lot of noise and chirping and longer wheeks like the kind of noise they sometimes make when they are weeing or pooping (I hope that's a normal experience, both of mine have done it before), is this stress? There are a few times where it is making me really nervous and I'm worried about leaving them alone.
Outside of these little spats, they settle down and will lay down in the cage, I found them both in a no ended weetabix box earlier smushsed next to each other. They have two bowls for veggies and will happily munch through their dinner, and eat from the same hay wheel or piles of hay in their tunnels.
Should I just leave them to crack on with it? Does this sound normal? Is there anything of huge concern there? I need to leave them alone tomorrow for about 7.5 hours and I am really worried I'll come back to a blood bath!
My current train of thought is that if they were really going to go at each other they probably would've done so by now, it's been about 19 hours in the cage together.
If I just leave them to it, how long can I expect them to sort it out by? What can I do to help them settle into their new life together?
Thanks in advance!
