Introduce Now Or After New Cage Put Up?

[threelittlebubs]

Hello!

I've had my 2 girls living together happily for 2 years now. We lost our sweet boy Odo this April and finally felt ready to bring in new piggies.

We have now taken in 1 baby (6 weeks old) and a very docile/calm girl (2 years). Right now I've got the 2 girls in one cage and 2 girls in the other cage.

I've been switching them in their cages to introduce smells and giving blankets interchangeably too. No big problems.

We are in the process of building a huge room size guinea pig "cage" for all 4 but it's not finished yet. Should I hold off introductions until later? I've heard introducing and re-introducing can be problematic. Any thoughts?

 

[Wiebke]

Hello!

I've had my 2 girls living together happily for 2 years now. We lost our sweet boy Odo this April and finally felt ready to bring in new piggies.

We have now taken in 1 baby (6 weeks old) and a very docile/calm girl (2 years). Right now I've got the 2 girls in one cage and 2 girls in the other cage.

I've been switching them in their cages to introduce smells and giving blankets interchangeably too. No big problems.

We are in the process of building a huge room size guinea pig "cage" for all 4 but it's not finished yet. Should I hold off introductions until later? I've heard introducing and re-introducing can be problematic. Any thoughts?

Since you don't have any single piggies that are desperate for company, I would recommend to wait until they can all live together if you can finish within a reasonable time frame. That way, they can start as a group in new territory, which makes group dynamics a bit more straight forward as they are all on equal footing.

 

[Swissgreys]

I would also be tempted to wait.
If you introduce them now and then move them soon afterwards it may unsettle them.
And don't forget to post a photo of all 4 girls in their new cage set up - it sounds fab!