I really need some advice.

[jmacka93]

I'm really not good with this bonding thing.
I cleaned the cage, gave Penny, Luna and Parker a bath, I dried them all and they seemed okay being with each other so I pugt them all together in the cage. Parker and Penny have been lunging at each other and teeth chattering, and Parker has pulled out some of Penny's fur. I could see that they were getting stressed so I took Parker out of the cage.
Should I put them back together and see if they will bond? Penny has seemed very scatty since I introduced Parker, and I picked her up and was bitten (pretty badly about 1.5inch long and it hasn't stopped bleeding).
I really need some advice. I have read the thread on bonding too.

 

[PAMELAKT]

I'll let someone more experiences answer - but personally I wouldn't. Soon as they are lunging and pulling at things I really don't think its a good sign they are going to get along...

 

[Shellza]

Did you put them together in neutral territory before putting them in the cage?
You need to find somewhere that none of them have been before and it often helps to have food (veggies or grass etc) to occupy them. Make sure you have plenty of hidey holes (with 2 exits so no one can get pinned in).

Lunging for each other doesn't necessarily mean it won't work. My girls were like this with Archie at first. I did think at one point it wouldn't work, but now they are all best buddies and hate to be apart.

Has Parker been living alongside Penny and Luna beforehand? That would help to get them acquainted. Maybe leave them next to each other for the rest of the day and try again tomorrow in neutral territory. Little and often. With boys it's best to just put them together and leave them, but with girls it's different and will take a bit longer for them to accept him.

I hope this helps, and I hope the bonding works in the end.


Sorry, just noticed one of them has been bitten. This is generally a sign that it won't work. Try leaving them side by side for a few days so they can all calm down. Someone else with more bonding experience will hopefully be able to give you some better answers.

 

[Guinea pig slave]

Aw, know how upsetting it is when things don't work out as we had hoped.
We always had a plan B before attempting any bonding with our piggies and separated a new girl from the herd due to her fighting with the top piggy. No wounds but I couldn't bear the distress it caused for the piggies and resorted to plan B of sow dating (which was successful)
Usually, when serious fighting has occurred i.e. blood, it indicates as others have said, they will not accept each other - like people, we cannot like everybody we meet.
Personally, I wouldn't attempt it again but consider other options - dating your piggy at a good rescue means they choose the buddy themselves to live with.
Keep us posted on things and sorry things have not worked.

 

[Wiebke]

Have your piggies had time to get acquainted through the mesh/bars first and did you do the intros on neutral ground for a good time beforehand? Have you thoroughly cleaned and rearranged the cage (inlduding walls and furnishings) before you put the piggies in? some piggies can get quite aggressive with what they consider an intruder in "their" territory.

Give all piggies time out to relax and calm down; that can take a few days. Only start again on neutral ground if there are no longer any signs of hostility when they meet through bars.
REALLY take your time with meetings on neutral ground. those should last for as long as possible (barring any fights and outright aggression), ideally a few hours at least, so the piggies can work through the initial acceptance well into the dominance phase. make sure that you do not have any hideys with the piggies where they can become possessive or feel cornered in. If the meetings are too short, they will have to start right back in square one each time and will get rather fed up with it. You will have to play it by ear and look for clues from the piggies' body language to gauge when they are ready for each next step. If things have gone wrong, always start one step back. Hopefully, they will accept each other in time, but it will be a slow and rather nerve racking process for you!

Only move them in together permanently when they are relaxed with each other.

Here are bonding tips: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562
Here is a list of aggressive behaviours in mounting order; this applies to both genders: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

 

[Guinea pig slave]

Meant to add that it may be worth popping your piggy to a vet to get the wound looked at - infection would cause a whole new heap of worry and a wound of that size must be painful for her

 

[jmacka93]

Did you put them together in neutral territory before putting them in the cage?
You need to find somewhere that none of them have been before and it often helps to have food (veggies or grass etc) to occupy them. Make sure you have plenty of hidey holes (with 2 exits so no one can get pinned in).

Lunging for each other doesn't necessarily mean it won't work. My girls were like this with Archie at first. I did think at one point it wouldn't work, but now they are all best buddies and hate to be apart.

Has Parker been living alongside Penny and Luna beforehand? That would help to get them acquainted. Maybe leave them next to each other for the rest of the day and try again tomorrow in neutral territory. Little and often. With boys it's best to just put them together and leave them, but with girls it's different and will take a bit longer for them to accept him.

I hope this helps, and I hope the bonding works in the end.


Sorry, just noticed one of them has been bitten. This is generally a sign that it won't work. Try leaving them side by side for a few days so they can all calm down. Someone else with more bonding experience will hopefully be able to give you some better answers.

Meant to add that it may be worth popping your piggy to a vet to get the wound looked at - infection would cause a whole new heap of worry and a wound of that size must be painful for her

I did introduce them on neutral territory first and they are now side by side. It's me who has been bitten when I picked Penny up to check if she was okay (Parker had a chunk of fur in her mouth). Sorry if that confused a few people. Just put it in because Penny doesn't bite unless she is really scared/annoyed.

 

[Shellza]

I did introduce them on neutral territory first and they are now side by side. It's me who has been bitten when I picked Penny up to check if she was okay (Parker had a chunk of fur in her mouth). Sorry if that confused a few people. Just put it in because Penny doesn't bite unless she is really scared/annoyed.

Oh sorry :red . Well in that case I would consider trying again doing as Wiebke has said. Keep them side by side until they have all calmed down and there's no aggression between the bars.

Fingers crossed it will work out in the end

P.S. I hope the bite heals!

 

[jmacka93]

Have your piggies had time to get acquainted through the mesh/bars first and did you do the intros on neutral ground for a good time beforehand? Have you thoroughly cleaned and rearranged the cage (inlduding walls and furnishings) before you put the piggies in? some piggies can get quite aggressive with what they consider an intruder in "their" territory.

Give all piggies time out to relax and calm down; that can take a few days. Only start again on neutral ground if there are no longer any signs of hostility when they meet through bars.
REALLY take your time with meetings on neutral ground. those should last for as long as possible (barring any fights and outright aggression), ideally a few hours at least, so the piggies can work through the initial acceptance well into the dominance phase. make sure that you do not have any hideys with the piggies where they can become possessive or feel cornered in. If the meetings are too short, they will have to start right back in square one each time and will get rather fed up with it. You will have to play it by ear and look for clues from the piggies' body language to gauge when they are ready for each next step. If things have gone wrong, always start one step back. Hopefully, they will accept each other in time, but it will be a slow and rather nerve racking process for you!

Only move them in together permanently when they are relaxed with each other.

Here are bonding tips: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562
Here is a list of aggressive behaviours in mounting order; this applies to both genders: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

Thanks for this. They are now living side by side and Penny and Parker are still chattering at each other. Luna doesn't seem bothered by any of it. I'm going to leave them like that for a while.

 

[jmacka93]

Oh sorry :red . Well in that case I would consider trying again doing as Wiebke has said. Keep them side by side until they have all calmed down and there's no aggression between the bars.

Fingers crossed it will work out in the end

P.S. I hope the bite heals!

No worries and thanks My finger has now started to stop bleeding. Any time I would move it the wound would open back up. Ah well, at least Penny isn't injured.

 

[Wiebke]

It sounds very much like Penny suddenly panicked. Give her ample time to calm down.

Amber, I guess, is the undersow? It is usually up to the top sow to accept a husboar; the lower ranked sows will just go along.

 

[jmacka93]

It sounds very much like Penny suddenly panicked. Give her ample time to calm down.

Amber, I guess, is the undersow? It is usually up to the top sow to accept a husboar; the lower ranked sows will just go along.

All 3 are girls
Luna has always been a 'chilled out' piggie. It seems to me that Penny doesn't like change very much beause it affected her a lot when she was taken away from Luna (because of c-section) and just as she got used to that, she was introduced back with Luna.
When Parker came to live with us, I was told I should introduce them all straight away, but I knew I should quarantine her.
So when I tried today, Luna accepted Parker fine, but Penny was having none of it. Penny has had a big cuddle and she seems to be okay now.