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DanielleMeyer

DanielleMeyer

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Let me start off by saying my local a spca doesn't get a lot of guinea pigs in they mostly deal in dogs and cats. This being said I adopted my girls (willow and clover) from there 3 weeks ago and they are settling in great. Yesterday I get a call from the woman at the shelter that I dealt with when adopting my girls. She tells me they got in a single female and is wondering if I would be interested in taking her on. I never planned on adding a third piggie but the thought of her by herself breaks my heart. I've bonded females before but never added a third to a pair. I've read the information on here but was wondering if anyone has done this before and might have some tips. I feel like I have to try. Here is the picture of her I was sent.
 
I would definitely give it a try. It is much easier with females than with males though sometimes it doesn't work. Wow! she is gorgeous :)

I took in a 5-year-old girl who was depressed after losing her 7-year-old neutered male friend the previous week. As she had special needs ie needs regular dental work, I decided to bond her with a 4-year-old blind girl & her 5-year old mother. A couple of small hiccups but 6 weeks down the line & they're now a lovely trio.So yes, please give it a try :) x
 
DanielleMeyer said:
Let me start off by saying my local a spca doesn't get a lot of guinea pigs in they mostly deal in dogs and cats. This being said I adopted my girls (willow and clover) from there 3 weeks ago and they are settling in great. Yesterday I get a call from the woman at the shelter that I dealt with when adopting my girls. She tells me they got in a single female and is wondering if I would be interested in taking her on. I never planned on adding a third piggie but the thought of her by herself breaks my heart. I've bonded females before but never added a third to a pair. I've read the information on here but was wondering if anyone has done this before and might have some tips. I feel like I have to try. Here is the picture of her I was sent.
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It is great that you want to give this girl a try; it may work out or not - but you can at least give her a chance. Trios can be a bit tricky as they are most prone to outsider problems, especially when you add to a well bonded pair, but there are quite a few happy sow trios, so it is definitely worth a try! You may need to quarantine first if this has not happened at the shelter.
Importance Of Quarantine

If it doesn't work out, would you consider keeping her next to the others and think about adopting another sow as companion when the shelter is getting one in?
I know that shelters in the US have only limited capacities as to the time and care they can spend on pets (usually there is not vet care offered); they are not rescues in the proper sense and more like what we call a pound here in Britain. Many of the proper non-kill US rescues I know of actually do their best to pull as many guinea pigs as possible of any shelter within their reach. Sadly, good rescues in the US are far and few in between. :(

Here are our various guides with lots of information and tips. Please take your time to read through them carefully; it is worth it.
Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics
Sow behaviour
 
Stewybus said:
I would definitely give it a try. It is much easier with females than with males though sometimes it doesn't work. Wow! she is gorgeous :)

I took in a 5-year-old girl who was depressed after losing her 7-year-old neutered male friend the previous week. As she had special needs ie needs regular dental work, I decided to bond her with a 4-year-old blind girl & her 5-year old mother. A couple of small hiccups but 6 weeks down the line & they're now a lovely trio.So yes, please give it a try :) x
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I'm going to pick her up this morning. I can't leave her there alone when there is a chance that I can give her a good home.
 
Wiebke said:
It is great that you want to give this girl a try; it may work out or not - but you can at least give her a chance. Trios can be a bit tricky as they are most prone to outsider problems, especially when you add to a well bonded pair, but there are quite a few happy sow trios, so it is definitely worth a try! You may need to quarantine first if this has not happened at the shelter.
Importance Of Quarantine

If it doesn't work out, would you consider keeping her next to the others and think about adopting another one as companion when the shelter is getting one in? I know that shelters in the US have only limited capacities as to the time and care they can spend on pets; they are not rescues in the proper sense and more like what we call a pound here in Britain. Sadly, good rescues in the US are far and few in between.

Here are our various guides with lots of information and tips. Please take your time to read through them carefully; it is worth it.
Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics
Sow behaviour
Click to expand...

She has been quarantined so that's not an issue. Yes I don't think I could ever take her back to the shelter so I am working on a plan to keep her no matter what happens with my girls. Unfortunately our shelters are terrible with small animals. As much as I hate to do it cause I have only ever adopted from the shelter I may have to turn to Craigslist to find her a friend if she doesn't bond with my girls.
 
Well I picked her up. I'm going to leave her in the box for a couple hours and let her adjust to the new sights and smells. Hopefully she won't be stressed out when I introduce her to my girls. She's very sweet so hopefully she will fit right in. She's so beautiful.

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DanielleMeyer said:
Well I picked her up. I'm going to leave her in the box for a couple hours and let her adjust to the new sights and smells. Hopefully she won't be stressed out when I introduce her to my girls. She's very sweet so hopefully she will fit right in. She's so beautiful.

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I would recommend to create a little pen next to the girls' cage, so your little newbie can settle in and get her bearings and the girls can get to know each other. It is worth waiting until at least tomorrow as that means that there is less risk of one of the girls overreacting.

She's a pretty little thing, isn't she? My Helygen is not too dissimilar.
 
Wiebke said:
I would recommend to create a little pen next to the girls' cage, so your little newbie can settle in and get her bearings and the girls can get to know each other. It is worth waiting until at least tomorrow as that means that there is less risk of one of the girls overreacting.

She's a pretty little thing, isn't she? My Helygen is not too dissimilar.
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The only pen I have is their floor time pen which I was going to use to introduce the girls. Do you think it would be okay to put her in there?
 
DanielleMeyer said:
The only pen I have is their floor time pen which I was going to use to introduce the girls. Do you think it would be okay to put her in there?
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Yes, is okay. You can do introductions in the bathtub instead. Ideally the girls can see and sniff at each other before they are formally introduced.
 
So putting the pen next to my girls cage went so well I decided to start the introduction tonight. That also went really well. They spent three hours together with only minor squabbles between the new girl and my dominant Willow. I put them in the cage together and this is what I have now. The black and white is my dominant piggie.

20151120_173722.webp
 
Glad that all has gone well with minimal dominance and that they are very happy together!

It is always very important that you have got a plan B at the ready when you stage intros with guinea pigs that cannot go back, but when it comes off well, it is a great feeling to see a new guinea pig happily integrated! I would imagine that your new girl is #2 in the hierarchy or you would have seen more dominance from the lower ranked girl who would be busy ensuring her status.
 
Aw that's wonderful, so glad that you could take her and that she has slotted in with the others. Looking forward to updates x
 
Wiebke said:
Glad that all has gone well with minimal dominance and that they are very happy together!

It is always very important that you have got a plan B at the ready when you stage intros with guinea pigs that cannot go back, but when it comes off well, it is a great feeling to see a new guinea pig happily integrated! I would imagine that your new girl is #2 in the hierarchy or you would have seen more dominance from the lower ranked girl who would be busy ensuring her status.
Click to expand...

I'm still going to my storage today to dig out one of my other cages just in case something still goes wrong. It doesn't hurt to have it on standby. Yeah it kind of surprised me about Clover but she is so gentle and laid back. I'm guessing she just doesn't care about being second as long as she has enough to eat :lol!:
 
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