Help! Introducing A New Piggie To My 2 Current Piggies

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anyar.dris

anyar.dris

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Hi,

I just want to ask some questions. I hope you can help me or give me some info.

We adopted a new guinea pig, a neutered male Timmy (6-12 months old), to keep my 2 female piggies Meemee & Deedee (2yrs. old) active. They've been gaining weight lately because they don't run a lot and just sleep and eat most of the day. The sows are free to run around the living room and also have a run setup on the floor. The used to run from their hutch (it has 2 floors) to the setup run back and forth but they seem to got bored of it already (?) or just turned lazy.

Anyway, we got Timmy 2 weeks ago and of course we experienced and did things needed in introducing him and such. At first, the sows and the boar fought (Timmy got nipped by Deedee and she also nipped Meemee). But we managed to get the things sorted with the sows. Now they seem to be really interested with Timmy.

The problem is Timmy doesn't seem to know how to properly communicate with the girls. We know that he's always excited to see the girls but he still always rumbling at them when they come face to face. Their run on the floor have a divider now so they can be all together in some way. At night time, Timmy gets the whole run and Meemee and Deedee go to the hutch where they usually sleep. Every morning, we put the divider back and we can see Timmy gets so excited to see the 2 girls. He would squeek and run around doing happy jumps at the same time. But whenever he comes face to face with the 2 girls, he would rumble at them and then continue doing all the happy jumps and squeeking. Both girls would just ignore him now and only snaps if they get annoyed already.

Hubby and I don't know when would Timmy stop doing it, or if he would ever. The fosterer of RSPCA where we got him from said he was bullied by the other 2 piggies that he came with. Apparently, they all belonged to a hoarder who had 84 guinea pigs. I'm thinking that this might be the reason why he seems to have problems communicating with other piggies? Or we are just reading and interpreting wrong the signs that he is showing? I would really feel bad if in the end we'll end up returning him because he can't get on properly with the 2 girls. I'd hate to do that. I like them all to be together and I know it's still early to say what will happen.

Can you give me some advice on what to do properly? I've read that giving them all a bath together will help to get them all at the same ground. We did that last week and nothing changed. :(

About 4 days ago, Deedee suddenly lost her appetite and won't eat as before. She used to be the first one to go to the food and would always follow me to the kitchen door whenever I start preparing their food. But she hasn't done that for 4 days now. We took her to the vet and she was given an all clear when it comes to health. The vet found a lump in her (in her right side but not really inside the tummy or ribs) and told us to monitor it in case it's getting bigger and if it's what causing the lost of appetite. She was given B12 and some booster food and we currently syringe feed her. Although the weird thing is, she only stopped eating the fruits and veggies but continuously eat lettuce, hay, grass, dandelions, readi grass and a few biscuits. Hubby said that he read online that some piggies will stop eating if there's a sudden change in the environment or if there's a threat. Do you think it's because of Timmy? Do we need to give him back to the RSPCA already? Or we have to wait a bit more time if things will get better?

Thanks in advance and thanks for reading my message. Also, I'm really sorry for a very long post.
 
Hi, I have 2 boys & no experience bonding sows with a male. However, from everything I've read on here, they seem to be exhibiting normal sow/boar behaviours towards each other. Please don't give Timmy up and you should put all 3 together permanently & just let them sort things out themselves.

I've tagged @Wiebke who has many, many piggy groupings and will be able to give you more detailed help.
 
Thanks for the response Lilly. We currently are separating Deedee with Timmy since she stopped eating and being perky. Hubby said we'll postpone introduction for now until she gets back to her usual and at the same time trying to eliminate the cause(s) of the sudden change just in case it's Timmy.

Yesterday afternoon, we put Meemee & Timmy in the run on the lawn since it was a sunny and warm day. They seemed to get along fine, even stayed together in a house made of box that they like. Timmy was still rumbling from time to time although Meemee was just ignoring her because she was more focused on eating grass (food is really her weakness haha :D). It was nice to see them cuddled up inside the box. And then Timmy started rumbling again and Meemee snapped because of it. :doh: So we put them back inside the house and stayed in the run on the floor with a divider. :soz:

I really do hope they all end up friends eventually. I don't want to end up returning Timmy coz he seems so happy even if he rumbles. He's timid though and he keeps on running to hide whenever we walk pass by him. He's also a bit of a nutter whenever he's happy and he does always make me laugh. :D
 
Rumbling is what a boar does, his just saying look what a big handsome boy I am girlys . sounds like Timmy is being a very well behaved boy, not being a pest and always trying to hump, good boy Timmy. Has DeeDee stopped eating or it she not first to the food. If DeeDee has stopped eating she needs to go to the vet as she is ill. In your first post you said she was eating but not the first to the food and you said she tried to nip Timmy. If this is the case it sounds like she is the more dominant sow. The dominant ones can lead the way first to food, best hidey ect. Is she just stepping back and letting Timmy lead now. I wouldn't keep separating as this is making them go back to the very start again, and again. Do watch DeeDee with the nipping or lunging.
 
Timmy's behaviour is absolutely normal and par for the course. The girls will only show interest in him when they come into season, but especially at the beginning of the relationship you wonder whether a neutered boar has got any other vocabulary than rumblestrutting "look what a strapping lad I am and how excited I am to be with you!" Timmy is fully accepted by your girls; they will bond over the next few seasons, which can be on the dramatic side. I have made the experience that sows often go more lazy than boars as adults despite all the space you are offering.
Several of my neutered "husboars" present or past were done because they were bullying other boars or struggled to bond. No problem when it comes to girls, especially if he is bottom of the hierarchy! ;)

Please have DeeDee seen by a vet as soon as you can. Loss of appetite is a serious indicator of something wrong (usually something painful). In the meantime, please weigh her daily instead of weekly at the same time of the day. Top her up with mushed pellets made with boiled, cooled water to keep the guts from closing down. Use a 1ml syringe from which you have cut off the narrow tip just below where it widens. Give half the syringe in one go; that is about a mouthful. Wait until it has gone down. Do the same with water, about 1ml for every 3-5ml of syringe food.
Here is a list of the main causes of loss of appetite: http://www.guinealynx.info/anorexia.html
 
We took Deedee to the vet on Friday and she has been given b12 and extra care food. We are syringe feeding her since Friday. She eats hay, grass, lettuce, but not the fruits and veg they always have. Although we can force feed her with apples and she does eat it eventually. Last night before I went to sleep I did manage to get her to eat 2 slices of cucumber and a slice of carrot so that's a start. This morning, she didn't eat them again other than hay, lettuce and grass, along with the syringe food. Hubby has been blending her fruits and veggie though and Deedee likes it. She also was a bit perky today though and wanted to get out of the hutch. I do hope she does get back to her usual and starts eating again.

Btw, should we keep her with Timmy even if she's still experiencing the loss of appetite.?

Thank you for all your responses. It makes my mind at ease. Hubby used to have just boars in the house and we only got girls because I insisted, so we adopted the 2 girls since they were 5 weeks old. Hence hubby and I are not really that knowledgeable about introducing a boar to sows.
 
I would start a new thread under the health & illness. That way the people that know more about illness will see this. If all 3 are OK together and the other 2 can't catch what she has I would leave them together. If you separate her it could stress her out more. Hope she's better soon
 
I would post in the Health & Illness section regarding Deedee's appetite. We put Timmy and Deedee in the run on the lawn today and it didn't end up very well. Timmy started rumbling and slowly approached Deedee. When he was already near Deedee, she started chattering and went after Timmy. So we had to separate them. Deedee was quite stressed out after that and didn't settle down until she was on the couch. It's probably because They haven't been together for 4 days since Deedee didn't want to go out of the hutch when she started losing her appetite. It's usually just Timmy and Meemee interacting all the time.

Thank you all for the help. :tu:
 
anyar.dris said:
I would post in the Health & Illness section regarding Deedee's appetite. We put Timmy and Deedee in the run on the lawn today and it didn't end up very well. Timmy started rumbling and slowly approached Deedee. When he was already near Deedee, she started chattering and went after Timmy. So we had to separate them. Deedee was quite stressed out after that and didn't settle down until she was on the couch. It's probably because They haven't been together for 4 days since Deedee didn't want to go out of the hutch when she started losing her appetite. It's usually just Timmy and Meemee interacting all the time.
Thank you all for the help. :tu:
Click to expand...
It does seem like Deedee has some sort of health issue at the moment & this may be affecting her behaviour towards Timmy - she just isn't in the mood to be bothered by a boar. Hope you can get to the bottom of that.
 
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