Hi, I am looking for advice on my current guinea pig introduction process. I have two bonded females and I am adding a male who is neutered. I have him in a c and c cage temporarily attached to the girls' cage and the guinea pigs on both sides have been chewing on the dividers and coroplast to try to get to each other. We have done 2 meet ups for them in a playpen in another room. Both times there's some chasing and the male rumble struts over and over and tries to get onto the girls and sometimes there's some squeaking but not too intense. There has been teeth chattering but they are all very interested in each other. How long should I wait to put them all together?
Hi and welcome
Please be aware that every face to face meeting is a full-on bonding session as far as your guinea pigs are concerned that is then aborted by you before they can really get stuck into the full protocol and proceed further.
From a cavy perspective, little meetings are yours are highly frustrating and counterproductive; it is in fact human anxiety and fear of committing fully that this kind of advice caters to (which is why it has become so popular); it certainly doesn't ensure a positive outcome any more than an instant meeting.
The right time for seeing it through is when you have a free day or two so you can allow them to really do all the necessary acceptance, leadership evaluation, hierarchy establishment and then in the two following weeks, the full group establishment in their special territory. You want to ideally move well into the hierarchy establishment stage before transferring them to the cage. If needed, rather leave them in the bonding area overnight as long as there is no major aggression or general tenseness; it will mean that when they settle into their new cage that there will be a lot less dominance and drama. This is another way that goes counter human wishes - you'd love to have them together in their cage as soon as possible whereas it really pays to give your piggies time to establish their group personnel-wise before you add the group territory establishment into the equation.
Please follow our tips re. only huts with two exits or children's stools etc., sprinkle feeding veg and pellets to keep the necessary group establishing dominance as mild as possible but with the understanding that dominance brhaviours are right at the heart of guinea pig social life. With mixed gender bonding, you will also need to factor in that the first shared seasons will be on the lively side; the excess of emotions and pheromones helps to cement the new bond.
Keep in mind that a bonding can fail at any of these stages. Our bonding guide will tell you how to spot the signs when things have not gone to plan.
Whichever way you bond, in the end it comes down to whether the piggies involved do want to be together when the chips are down and can agree on the group hierarchy. What you can never really predict are the interpersonal dynamic that develop during the bonding process. All you can do is take as much additional stress out of the equation to allow them to really proceed in their own space and time with the instinctive bonding manual, which - unlike us humans - guinea pigs perfectly understand at all stages.
The longer you hesitate, the harder this leap of faith that you will have to take will get. If you try to bond your piggies in dribs and drabs, you are very much bonding against every cavy instinct and it takes a lot of desperation to be with a mate from your piggies that makes it work. There is unfortunately no magic wand measure that can change personalities and outlook of your piggies and that can make them accept each other just because you want them to. They are much too much like humans in that respect... and ever bit as complicated!
Our very practical step-by-step bonding guide takes you through all stages of the complex bonding process with special attention to the dynamics and behaviours characteristic for each stage and with special chapters on various bonding aspects. We have added lots of pictures and some iilustrative videos.
Please take the time to read through it before you bond and have it hand during the bonding to understand what is going on:
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
You may also find our behaviours A-Z helpful:
A - Z of Guinea Pig Behaviours
For seasons and sow dominance during the post-intro days:
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
When Sows Experience A Strong Season (videos)
All the best!
PS: We do not have a video uploading facility in our forum, which is run entirely by voluntary member donations. If you want to post a video with a question, please upload on a public setting on a service (like for instance youtube) that doesn't require a membership sign-in. Then you can copy it across into your post.
For any pictures, we have found that the Attach files button under your post when you write it works for all formats; other ways can be a bit haphazard.
