Help! Bonding New Sow To Existing Couple

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missljay

missljay

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Hey guys, sorry if this is long winded but I'm new to this forum.

Basically I have just got a new sow (Daisy) to add to my other 2 ladies (Rosie & Ginge). Daisy has come from another home who could no longer care for her/ had no room for her anymore.

Since day one Daisy has been chasing and nipping/biting my other 2 girls, teeth chattering ect so I've been conscious to keep them separate and to introduce them for say an hour a day.

The problem is my other 2 are really skittish on a good day (I adopted them at 5 months but they hadn't really been handled at all) and they are petrified of her! They're both younger than her (they're 7 months and she's 13) and I don't know if its relevant but Daisy has had 2 litters.

Food sharing really doesn't look like its working so any other ideas?

Thanks for reading xx
 
since they are all scared. i would suggest letting daisy live side by side with them for a while so they can all get used to each other. once you feel they have, then try again introducing them in a totally neutral area. i wouldn't stop and start bonding as then the process of them working out the hierarchy has to start all over again. pick a time where you can supervise for at least a few hours, and try again. hopefully living side by side for a while and being able to interact through the bars, will hopefully help them all to settle.

of course, they may never get on, but you also have the option of taking them to a rescue and asking them to bond them for you.
 
Well what they're homes are next to each other any way ( Daisy's cage is within the enclosure). Would bathing them together help? I've read about it but didn't know whether it would work x
 
i would leave them a while longer just to let them all settle more and get used to each other. just because they all seem unsettled and this will make bonding less likely.

i think there is a section on the forum somewhere with tips for bonding. i'm not sure where it is but maybe search for that and see if any of it helps. :)
 
Lovely Thanks! It's just been horrible to watch, I'll just leave them a another week and let them calm down.

If they don't bond would it affect Daisy's quality of life if she was kept alone?
 
It's best that they live together but if it doesn't work out despite your best efforts Daisy can live beside them so she has company even if they can't get together. That's better than no companion or fighting with companions.
 
Ok thats reassuring. I feel slightly guilty with her though because she keeps trying to get into the enclosure. But when she's there its chaos lol
 
Hi and welcome!

What are the ages of your sows, please, and what is the background of them? Has your new girl always been living alone or did she have a companion? How long have you had all your piggies? Are they your first piggies?

Please give your girls time to get used to each other and to settle down. Be aware that bonding doesn't happen in short meetings; the girls can only work through their issues in longer, at least several hours long stretches of time.

You may have to accept that they won't work out together. Single guinea pigs can often be completely over the top in their reactions because they have never learned to handle social situations when they were young and they can be rather fear-aggressive. It can sometimes take a long time to work past that and your other girls may by that time have made up their mind that they don't want her. You will have to tolerate a certain amount of dominance as part of the bonding process, but you have to judge whether it is on an acceptable level. If the tension remains stubbornly high, then I would call it off and look for alternative solutions. By far not all piggies will accept each other.

Please make sure that there are no hideys with just one exit or ideall no hideys at all during meetings on neutral ground; they are the points where problems can flare up if a piggy feels cornered with no way out.

You may find these threads here helpful in judging what is going on:
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/faq-introducing-and-re-introducing-guinea-pigs.38562/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/dominance-behaviours-in-guinea-pigs.28949/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/sow-behaviour.38561/

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We would also like to ask you to please state your issue in your title. We are doing our best to try and answer every post, but it helps to attract the right people if you say what problem you need advice and support on.
 
Hey :) Rosie & Ginge are both about 7 months. I got both of them together from an adoption charity which operates in our local pets at home store. They'd both in been in store from 7 weeks til 5 months so they're both still pretty new to the being held and cuddled thing. They were up for adoption together with another 2 but they o didn't have enough room for 4 at the time.

Now as far as I'm aware Daisy has lived with both boars and sows alike. Her previous owner is really shocked about her behaviour towards Rosie & Ginge. She has reared 2 litters too, the latter left her about 4 weeks ago. She was with her old family from 7 weeks til last week so I think shw still misses her old momma. Shes about 13 months now.
 
Well I've had them away from the cage on one of their fleece having a 'picnic' sort of introduction. Then Daisy just snaps and chases them off. She's so dominant with them its crazy x
 
That is strange behaviour for a sow. I've never even had a boar who was that dominant. I think the only thing you can do for now is read through the behaviour and bonding section and wait for them to get used to each other more before trying again.
 
do you trust that the previous owners separated any baby boys from her in time? any chance she could be pregnant again which is why she is acting this way? hopefully she isn't, but maybe ask the previous owners just incase.
 
Oh my word I never even thought of that! She is bigger than my other 2 but I never thought of that. I know this sounds daft but how can you tell apart from a bump?
 
It's very difficult to tell with guinea pigs until quite late in the pregnancy, I don't know much about it.
 
i don't know how you tell sorry. hopefully it's a long shot and she's just unsettled at the moment. but definitely worth asking them if it's possible. x
 
MIRACULOUS DEVELOPMENT :) I decided to bath them altogether earlier on ( bath bonding theory )and I haven't had 1 nip/chase/teeth chatter since :D Rosie & Ginge are still scared of her but I think that will take time. Any ideas what the heck has happened lol? ?
 
aw, that's good news so far. i guess they all feel like they're part of the same group now with all smelling the same. fingers crossed they can move forward with their bonding now. :)
 
Your girls seem to have actually worked their way past initial acceptance into the dominance phase before you separated. Daisy, having been a mum and being much bigger, is clearly coming out on top, has asserted her dominance and hasn't found any challenge to her claim.

Please give them time to settle down together. The dominance phase is never nice and you often see behaviour that is considered inappropriate in our ever so politically correct society, which tends to come as a shock to people who have never done a bonding before. Chasing etc, general throwing weight around, chucking out of hideys and from bowls is par for the course. It will stop after a fe
 
Thanks for your reply guys! Daisy's still partial to the odd chase about ( she seems to enjoy it to be fair), just need to calm Rosie & Ginge down - still incredibly skittish x
 
Chasing underpiggies about is a typical part of dominance behaviour. It will hopefully get less and less as time goes on.
 
1 step forward, 2 steps back :(

Daisy's biting habits have returned with a vengeance ( little tufts of Rosie fur every where) and my other 2 are petrified even more. I have no idea what haa changed in the space of 24 hours :'(
 
It is always difficult to say what has happened; it may just be that Rosie hasn't got out of the way quick enough.

Perhaps you may want to think about alternative solutions if this doesn't settle down and stays tense?
 
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