May I Try To Reintroduce Two Dominant Guinea Pigs?

[Ingrid]

I gave my daughters three Guinea pigs for Christmas (one for each of my daughters). My son bought another guinea pig a month later. We introduced them an the cage is custom made therefore a lot of space and it seemed they were ok for a couple of weeks. One of the first boars was the boss but suddenly the new one stared to want to be the boss. Then in the past weeks the new one has hurt really bad the other guinea pig and the hurt guinea pig is bullying the one that doesn't like to fight. Now I have the previous three together and the new one by himself (but the boss is bullying the quiet one too much). The new one doesn't like to be alone but he likes to fight too much. Should I wait and reintroduce them again after a while?​

 

[Guineapigfeet]

Do you have four boars? How old
are they?
Some one with more experience than me will come along I'm sure, but I think boar quads have a very low success rate, boar trios are tricky too unfortunately - too much testosterone! Cage size can play a part, how large is their cage?
Particularly if there has been blood drawn, I would not risk it again.

 

[Ingrid]

Hi. Yes I have 4 boars. Caramel (leader), Charlie and Coffee Cake are about 4 months old. And Snow Ball is about a 4 months and a half. The cage is three levels and has lots of space. I had it all open space because I was in the process of buying pig gloos, but I read that is was better to have something with openings in case there were some bullying, therefore I put some plastic stools for each of them. I don't know why Snow Ball decided that Caramel was not allowed in any of them. So I moved one to the second floor, then Caramel decided not to allow the rest of them in the second floor. Then one day Snow Ball bit Caramel really bad in the play pen that I have for the floor/play time. Since then I have tried to put them together. They used to be okay for 30-45 min. Then Snow Ball bit Caramel again. So I have separated Snow Ball, but he doesn't like to be alone, he makes sounds as if he is crying.

 

[Wiebke]

I gave my daughters three Guinea pigs for Christmas (one for each of my daughters). My son bought another guinea pig a month later. We introduced them an the cage is custom made therefore a lot of space and it seemed they were ok for a couple of weeks. One of the first boars was the boss but suddenly the new one stared to want to be the boss. Then in the past weeks the new one has hurt really bad the other guinea pig and the hurt guinea pig is bullying the one that doesn't like to fight. Now I have the previous three together and the new one by himself (but the boss is bullying the quiet one too much). The new one doesn't like to be alone but he likes to fight too much. Should I wait and reintroduce them again after a while?​

Hi! it is certainly worth trying to see whether your new boy and the quiet one from the trio will gel. It depends on the individual character balance, so you can never predict the outcome.

Here are our bonding tips and guides, as well as a thread that is explaining what is currently going on.
Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs
Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[Ingrid]

Hi. I clean the cage and wash everything every Saturday and keep the boars in a play area. Today I divided the play area in two and put Charlie (quiet one) with Snow ball (new one) together. Snow ball chase Charlie around but he doesn't hurt him so I put them together in the cage. I divided the cage (and rearranged everything) in two as well using acrylic and it seems to work so far. Charlie gets annoyed but he looks happier now. Snow ball still rumbles and makes lots of noises when he sees the other two and tries to go to the other side until he gets tired. When they were in the play area they ended up sleeping side by side Snow ball and Caramel, I'll see if it gets better hopefully in the future they can be all together again. I am thinking about a month from now try to reintroduced them again.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi. I clean the cage and wash everything every Saturday and keep the boars in a play area. Today I divided the play area in two and put Charlie (quiet one) with Snow ball (new one) together. Snow ball chase Charlie around but he doesn't hurt him so I put them together in the cage. I divided the cage (and rearranged everything) in two as well using acrylic and it seems to work so far. Charlie gets annoyed but he looks happier now. Snow ball still rumbles and makes lots of noises when he sees the other two and tries to go to the other side until he gets tired. When they were in the play area they ended up sleeping side by side Snow ball and Caramel, I'll see if it gets better hopefully in the future they can be all together again. I am thinking about a month from now try to reintroduced them again.

Please accept that chasing, mounting etc is NORMAL bonding behaviour. You only separate if there are fights when one boy has had enough or if the mounting is so incessant that the other boy can't eat and sleep.You CANNOT do boar bonding in little bits and you won't get any guinea pig bonding where teenagers and adults just join each other without the need to establish a hierarchy. You only get that with babies, which yours no longer aren't.
Please carefully read through all our guides, especially the dominance behaviour guides, or you will never get there!

 

[Freela]

In any guinea pig group, there is going to be chasing, mounting, and perhaps some scuffles in sorting out the hierarchy. This is normal and can't be helped. They need to sort out a pecking order. That said, my understanding is that keeping four boars together is unlikely to be a stable situation. Your best bet may be to try to make two pairs of boars. Hopefully someone with more boar experience can help, and read over the info on bonding and normal dominance behaviors too. Lots of luck and hope you can make a stable situation!