Introducing 2 Males - Urgent

Status
Not open for further replies.
Samantha M

Samantha M

New Born Pup
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
Messages
6
Reaction score
4
Points
45
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
We rescued a male guinea pig about 6 weeks ago who we believe to be about 2 years old. He had been handed into a shelter as his cage mate had died and he was lonely/not being himself. We recently bought a baby male guinea pig to keep him company and have introduced them properly today....they have had their cages side by side for a few days with lots of noise from the older guinea pig! Today I let the 2 of them out together on neutral territory. Their has been lots of bum sniffing, mounting and chasing each other (mainly from the older guinea pig) but they haven't fought. What should I do next? Put them back in their own cages separate again and do the same thing for a few days? Or just clean the big hutch and put then in together? I've never kept guinea pigs before so any advice is much appreciated!
 
Samantha M said:
We rescued a male guinea pig about 6 weeks ago who we believe to be about 2 years old. He had been handed into a shelter as his cage mate had died and he was lonely/not being himself. We recently bought a baby male guinea pig to keep him company and have introduced them properly today....they have had their cages side by side for a few days with lots of noise from the older guinea pig! Today I let the 2 of them out together on neutral territory. Their has been lots of bum sniffing, mounting and chasing each other (mainly from the older guinea pig) but they haven't fought. What should I do next? Put them back in their own cages separate again and do the same thing for a few days? Or just clean the big hutch and put then in together? I've never kept guinea pigs before so any advice is much appreciated!
Click to expand...

You cannot separate boars once you have started bonding, especially if there is no reason whatsoever. Each time you separate, the boars have to start right back in square one.

Please just clean their hutch and make sure that you have got everything in twos, including a hidey for the baby if the attentions of the adult boar are getting too much. A small tunnel or a cardboard box filled (but not stuffed) with soft hay and two openings that will allow the smaller boar, but not the large boar in will do.

Please make sure that you can watch the dynamics in the hutch and that your boars are protected in the cold nights that are expected in the coming week. Ideally, you bring your hutch already under cover now for the winter.

Here are our guides:
Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs
Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
 
That's helpful, thanks! Apart from the mounting they seem to be getting on okay, I have 2 of everything so I think I'll clean the cage out and just put them in together. I've brought the hutch indoors anyway as the rescue guinea pig seemed very lonely so he's inside where he can get as much attention as possible and I can keep an eye on him. Lovely to see him coming out his shell.......even if it is to mount the young one lol!
 
As long as you offer the youngster a chance to escape if the humping gets too much, you should be fine.
 
Thanks guys, they seem to be getting on fine so far and the bigger one has even been popcorning for the first time, amazed at the change in him so soon!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top