Introducing Guinea Pigs...

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Hi Everyone,

First post on here, please be kind! I have two guinea pigs, one named Miss Guinea (approx 1.5/2 yrs old) and one named Sweet Pea (saw the name on a blog/info site and found it very fitting). I got Miss Guinea about 3/4 months ago, she was in the shop a long time. I decided that she needed a friend as I am at work alot during the daytime and so purchased Sweet Pea last weekend, she's approx 12 weeks old. I firstly put Sweet Pea into a hutch indoors (Miss Guinea is kept indoors too) separately to let her settle in. This afternoon I placed them on the floor in two pens that were next to each other. They seemed to get along fine and so I put them into the same pen. They have been getting on amazingly! Alot better than I had expected. The only concern I have is that they seem to like mounting each other. Only twice per piggie but I was wondering whether this was normal behaviour? They are both definitely female, confirmed by myself and the shop. They were together for about 30 mins on neutral territory until I parted them to get on with my own stuff.

Also, what should the next step be? I put Miss Guineas 2nd home onto the floor and they were both inside together with no squabbling. Should i clean Miss Guinea's cage and put them both in (probably tomorrow), or carry on with the floor time? If so how long for?

Any advice would be appreciated...
 
I will also add that Miss Guinea has been squeeking rather loudly since I split them up! And spending alot of time looking in Sweet Pea's direction.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum :)p

All sounds pretty normal to me. The mounting will die down once they've sussed out which girl will be in charge. The main thing is you've got no teeth chattering going on.

Good luck, hope your girls remain best pals :)
 
The mounting is normal. They are just trying to assert dominance. There is no need for you to separate them. Guinea pigs are social animals and get very lonely living alone. I think you should put them together. Have the cage totally clean so it is a neutral ground. How big is the cage? I really recommend you getting a c and c cage as it gives piggies enough space with no need for floor time.

Welcome to the forum. It would be great to see miss guinea and sweet pea. :)
 
all sounds good to me, just keep a close eye on them and lookout for teeth chattering
 
Thanks for all the speedy responses! Will get some pictures up when I can.

What does teeth chattering sound like and mean?
 
Its an unmistakeable sound the make. If youmove your own teeth up and down , that noise but really loud and fast is teeth chattering, its usually happens with other signs of irritation. Its a warning sign. If you google it you should be able to hear some different guinea pig sounds.
 
If they do it a little, it's not too much of a worry. My Marmite is a grump and chatters quite a bit, especially when our littlest pig, Hettie, is in her way rolleyes

It gets really, really loud and constant when they're really upset and is one of the first signs of a potential fight, the next sign is yawning... not because they're sleepy though, it's to show the other their great big teeth.

If the worst should happen, whatever you do don't make a grab for them as those teeth are very sharp! Chuck a tea towel or something over them and the sudden confusion should spilt them up.

Hopefully it won't come to that though, they sound quite happy so far :)
 
They are fine together! The body language of the darker piggy is relaxed. :)
 
I just worry too much!

Especially as there seems to be a fair amount of rumbling from the darker one (Miss Guinea), but no 'yawning' or scrapping as such. Will put them separately for tonight (havent got time to clean out cage) but will make things nice and clean and scent-free tomorrow and see how they get on in the cage.

Thanks again for the advice.
 
Just wanted to give an update on this...

This afternoon (after spending the night/day separately) i put them both on neutral territory again and no obvious aggression (that i could spot), and they seemed to be getting on fine. I re-arranged the cage they will be sharing and completely cleaned with plenty of cage disinfectant to try to change the smell (it seems to have worked). Introduced both guineas and they seem to be getting along fine.

Miss Guinea (the 2 year old, darker) is doing alot of rumbling and following of Sweet Pea (12 week old, lighter). She will pursue for about 5/10 mins then give up and go to her food/hay. They will quite happily share their food bowl/hay supply and housing area and Miss Guinea feels comfortable enough to 'lie down' in front of Sweet Pea. They also spend alot of time chattering when they arent rumbling (medium-high pitched, not a squeel, quite fast). The breaks in between the rumbling can vary from 5 to 30 mins. Sometimes Sweet Pea will get annoyed and turn around quickly/run/kick but no bearing of teeth/yawning.

Is the rumbling normal? Will they settle down/how long will it take?

Judging by what I can see they are getting along fine, just not sure about dominance/territory.

I do worry quite alot, but just want the best for my piggies.
 
My girls took about 3 days to sort themselves out, the middle one tried to take on the eldest (18 months) but there was a lot of baring teeth & chasing, with a little nipping of rumps & stopping the youngsters going in the houses by the eldest. It was scary to watch, but as no blood was drawn I left them to it.

Now the middle one & the eldest are great friends & actually seem to leave the youngest (daughter of the eldest piggy) out of it a bit rolleyes I often find them very close to each other in the mornings although not actually snuggled up together :)
 
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