Eddie & Elvis
Adult Guinea Pig
Hi all,
I'm looking for some advice on how soon after introducing a new piggy to my group it is okay to put my pigs in their run on the kitchen floor so as to not disrupt the bonding process by moving them to somewhere they could potentially view as a new territory.
For context:
After losing my boy Eddie earlier this year, my girls Eliza and Edna started to become more hormonal and grumpy with each other so I decided to adopt a boy to change the dynamic and hopefully calm things down.
So after taking Eliza and Edna to a rescue for piggy dating, I brought home new (neutered) boy Arthur last Thursday. Since then, they have been living together in their 3x4 C&C cage.
As it's only been a week, they're definitely still in the process of working out the hierarchy. There is still some rumblestrutting, nipping and teeth chattering going on, mostly between Eliza (who was top pig before Arthur's introduction) and Arthur. But in between these episodes there doesn't seem to be tension as they will eat from the same hay pile (there are 2 hay piles so no one can be blocked from eating) and sleep near each other.
Normally at the weekends I put the pigs in a run on the kitchen floor (which is bigger than their cage) so they get a change of environment with different hideys and tunnels etc in it and also so I can change the fleece in their cage more easily. But I'm unsure if they will view this as a change of territory and I don't want to potentially upset things and make the bonding process more difficult.
So is it okay at this stage to put them in their run on the floor or should I wait until things are more settled to do this?
I'm looking for some advice on how soon after introducing a new piggy to my group it is okay to put my pigs in their run on the kitchen floor so as to not disrupt the bonding process by moving them to somewhere they could potentially view as a new territory.
For context:
After losing my boy Eddie earlier this year, my girls Eliza and Edna started to become more hormonal and grumpy with each other so I decided to adopt a boy to change the dynamic and hopefully calm things down.
So after taking Eliza and Edna to a rescue for piggy dating, I brought home new (neutered) boy Arthur last Thursday. Since then, they have been living together in their 3x4 C&C cage.
As it's only been a week, they're definitely still in the process of working out the hierarchy. There is still some rumblestrutting, nipping and teeth chattering going on, mostly between Eliza (who was top pig before Arthur's introduction) and Arthur. But in between these episodes there doesn't seem to be tension as they will eat from the same hay pile (there are 2 hay piles so no one can be blocked from eating) and sleep near each other.
Normally at the weekends I put the pigs in a run on the kitchen floor (which is bigger than their cage) so they get a change of environment with different hideys and tunnels etc in it and also so I can change the fleece in their cage more easily. But I'm unsure if they will view this as a change of territory and I don't want to potentially upset things and make the bonding process more difficult.
So is it okay at this stage to put them in their run on the floor or should I wait until things are more settled to do this?
