Hi everyone. We sadly lost one of our girl guinea pigs at only 5 months old and having only had her for five weeks. We were devastated and wanted to make sure her little friend had a companion as soon as possible.
We've been bonding her slowly with another female who we are told is a month younger but seems smaller. The initial meeting seemed to go well but once we got home our girl got territorial and was nipping at the other.
The lady we got her off took her back for a few days and then we got another cage and brought her back. We have been switching them between the cages to get used to each others scent, have placed the cages next to each other so they can hear one another and been introducing them in a pop up run for half an hour to an hour at a time.
At first our girl was doing a lot of bum sniffing and nose butting but no biting. The other little one was very vocal and timid, burrowing under anything she could find.
It's been 2-3 days and now they will sit on me with each other cuddling and run around the run and eat together. My girl still does the occasional nose but and the other protests loudly but never goes back. She sometimes even gets loud if mine goes really close but I wonder if that's because she's a little scared after her first encounter?
My girl has also been popcorning like mad and keeps looking into the cage for the other one.
Our new arrival has come out of her shell lots but still seems a little nervous. Should I move them in together yet or give them longer?
We've been bonding her slowly with another female who we are told is a month younger but seems smaller. The initial meeting seemed to go well but once we got home our girl got territorial and was nipping at the other.
The lady we got her off took her back for a few days and then we got another cage and brought her back. We have been switching them between the cages to get used to each others scent, have placed the cages next to each other so they can hear one another and been introducing them in a pop up run for half an hour to an hour at a time.
At first our girl was doing a lot of bum sniffing and nose butting but no biting. The other little one was very vocal and timid, burrowing under anything she could find.
It's been 2-3 days and now they will sit on me with each other cuddling and run around the run and eat together. My girl still does the occasional nose but and the other protests loudly but never goes back. She sometimes even gets loud if mine goes really close but I wonder if that's because she's a little scared after her first encounter?
My girl has also been popcorning like mad and keeps looking into the cage for the other one.
Our new arrival has come out of her shell lots but still seems a little nervous. Should I move them in together yet or give them longer?