Introducing guy piggies

J

Jacko&Davey

New Born Pup
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Hello Hello,
I have a three year old male guinea pig, Jacko. He needed a friend so I found a younger male piggie to be his new companion. They seemed compatible according to some of the information I found. Davey (the new younger pig) has been through his quarantine period and they now live in the same room with separate cages. I recently tried to exchange some items that were covered in each others scent. Davey was fine but Jacko got a little agressive and nippy towards the item. Is this normal for a first time full exchange? Or is this a sign my existing guinea pig is too territorial?
 
Welcome to the forum

We do not recommend exchanging items/scent swapping. It can actually cause a hostile feeling as the piggy is smelling another piggy in their territory. They can then meet the piggy with that smell and feel invaded and cause the bonding to fail.

You can’t ever tell if they’re compatible until they are put in neutral territory.

The way you introduce piggies is to put them in a neutral territory bonding pen with just hay and water (no hides) and see how they get on. If all goes well then they stay in the bonding pen for a minimum of several hours (over night is fine if you aren’t sure how things are going, and then move to a throughly cleaned out cage which they are to share. You do not separate them at all after this point.
The cage needs to be 180x60cm or a 5x2 c&c. It then takes two weeks for them to fully solidify their bond.
Once they are in their cage you can start to add hides with two exits (nothing with a single exit as it can lead to fights if one feels trapped)

If it doesn’t go well in neutral territory and the bonding fails, then they will sadly need to remain separated and side by side permanently.

The guide below explains the full process

Wiebke

Thread 'Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics'

1 Introduction
2 Pre-bonding
- Quarantine and sexing
- The need for a plan B
- The rule-breaker: Youngsters under 4 months (sub-teenage)
3 Setting up an introduction
- Getting to know each other
- ‘Buddy baths’ – why not
- Scent swapping - why not
- Setting up a neutral bonding area
- How to start the bonding
4 Acceptance phase: Do we like...
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Wiebke

Thread 'Reacting to group or territorial changes: Dominance and group establishment/re-establishment'

- What can trigger a new hierarchy sort-out?
- What can I do to mitigate the impact?

With an average life span of only around 3 years and a hostile environment, wild guinea pig social life is much more fluid and eventful, whether that is losses, births, regular leadership changes, new boars being accepted or changes to the territory due to climate extremes, infectious illnesses, predation and the waxing and waning of group fortunes and the amount of territory they can claim around their denning areas.


What can trigger...
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