New piggy

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Lynneswh

New Born Pup
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Sep 5, 2019
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Location
East Yorkshire
Hi, just got our 3rd piggy who is 8 weeks old. Had her 5 days and left her to settle, had very little interaction with her, mainly just talking to her. She’s coming out of her shell a little now, eating more and getting used to her environment. I was told to leave her a week before picking her up and leave another week before introducing her to her new friends, 2 females that are a year old. Does this advice sound right? Feel sorry for her being on her own, would it be ok to put her cage near the other two so that can talk to each other or would this be too unsettling for all of them? Thanks in advance!
lynne
 
With piggies under four months old, their social needs are so great and come first so they should immediately be bonded to older piggies and not really left to settle in first. At the very least she should be next to the other two from the beginning but even that isn’t ideal and bonding straight away is best
Please follow the bonding guides and try to bond her with your other pair now. She really is too young to be by herself.
As character compatibility comes first, there is not a guarantee of your other pair accepting her so do prepare for that but as she is younger, your others shouldnt see her as a threat to them.
I’ll add some guides below.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
 
Piggies&buns said:
With piggies under four months old, their social needs are so great and come first so they should immediately be bonded to older piggies and not really left to settle in first. At the very least she should be next to the other two from the beginning but even that isn’t ideal and bonding straight away is best
Please follow the bonding guides and try to bond her with your other pair now. She really is too young to be by herself.
As character compatibility comes first, there is not a guarantee of your other pair accepting her so do prepare for that but as she is younger, your others shouldnt see her as a threat to them.
I’ll add some guides below.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for the advice, I’ll start the bonding process from today and let you know how I get on
 
Lynneswh said:
Think it went ok, were together for 15 mins, bum smelling, 2 little attacks, plenty of face washing, following each other, what are your thoughts? Got more videos also
Click to expand...

Have you separated them again then now? Just wondering why they were only together 15 minutes?

Once you start bonding you have to see it through and complete the process through to either success and they they move to the cage together or failure and they then must live separately. They will need to be in the bonding pen together for many hours. You can’t do it a bit at a time.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Have you separated them again then now? Just wondering why they were only together 15 minutes?

Once you start bonding you have to see it through and complete the process through to either success and they they move to the cage together or failure and they then must live separately. They will need to be in the bonding pen together for many hours. You can’t do it a bit at a time.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your advice, really appreciated. I’ve put the new piggy in the oldest ones clean cage cornered off, do you think this is ok? Was thinking of leaving them like this for a day or so?
 

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If you have physically put them together today, then they needed to stay together and not be separated again. You can’t do a bonding by stop/start processes - it needs to be seen through in one go. By separating after physical contact you interrupt the process which causes stress and means they will have to start all over again in their process.

I really would put them together right now in a neutral area, complete the bonding and let them live together all in one cage rather than being separated like this
 
Piggies&buns said:
If you have physically put them together today, then they needed to stay together and not be separated again. You can’t do a bonding by stop/start processes - it needs to be seen through in one go. By separating after physical contact you interrupt the process which causes stress and means they will have to start all over again in their process.

I really would put them together right now in a neutral area, complete the bonding and let them live together all in one cage rather than being separated like this
Click to expand...
I have put them all together in a neutral cage, seem to be getting on ok, posting a video of one of the older ones lying next to the new one, see if you think it’s ok? Shall I leave them in this cage for a day or so before putting them all in their new cage?
 
Older one seems to be nibbling/licking the new piggies ear, new one isn’t bothered, does this sound ok? Doesn’t seem to be uploading videos
 
Leave them for a few hours, overnight if you are concerned. It all sounds fine between them though. Thoroughly down the cage they are all going to live in, new bedding, a really good clean etc so that it doesn’t smell of the original pair before you move them back in.
It will take around two weeks for them to fully sort out their relationship.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Leave them for a few hours, overnight if you are concerned. It all sounds fine between them though. Thoroughly down the cage they are all going to live in, new bedding, a really good clean etc so that it doesn’t smell of the original pair before you move them back in.
It will take around two weeks for them to fully sort out their relationship.
Click to expand...
Brilliant Thankyou!
 
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