emmyk89
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi all!
So I am wondering the best way to bond my guinea pigs. I have a pair of rescued sows (mother & daughter) who I have had for 2.5 years. During that time, I have tried to bond them with 2 neutered males (not at the same time!) I have a couple of past posts I made about the bondings on here.
Scoot, the daughter has been the concern during those failed bondings – she is very very assertive and dominant and I believe possibly fearful of other pigs at the same time. Both bondings occurred in different ways. The first one with reggie – over a full day, where they were all in a play pen (neutral space) separated by dividers for hours, which was their first meeting, then finally dividers were removed later on and she hated Reggie almost immediately – lunging and squealing at him, chasing him and doing the “power lie in” as Wiebke described it.
Then we took in another male about a year later, Wilbur who we had neutered. We had them in a neutral pen with dividers a couple of times before he was neutured then after his neuter was done and healed we had them in pen again separated by dividers then we divided Scoot & merlins cage in half with C and C grids, and Wilbur lived alongside them for months too. Finally we then did the neutral pen first with dividers for an hour or so, then without dividers with all 3 pigs in for the rest of the time. Scoot seemed to like him initially – grooming next to each other and never really taking much notice of him. Until ofc he does what a boy does getting excited and rumbling and nosing their bums and sides etc. Scoot did not appreciate it ended up doing what she did to Reggie (but not quite as bad) – she chased wilbur round a lot (no power lie ins though, she just wouldn’t leave him alone) chattering and some squaring up, so that was a firm no from Scoot again! The point of them living together side by side for a few months was to try and put scoot as ease if she was fearful so she could get to know him a bit, but obv that didn't work or impact her decision at the proper divider-free bonding.
Wilbur was then paired with one of the girls from the trio and lived happily with her till he died in Dec
she is now back with the trio (reggie and her sister, introduced as if it was a fresh online in a neutral area) and they're currently getting along.
An opportunity has risen to adopt a lone neutured male from someone and I wonder if anyone had any more advice on how I could go about another bonding, knowing scoots history.
Like I said, I think she's fearful of other pigs. Whenever I have been holding another pig and showed it her through the bars of the cage she comes over for a sniff , seems friendly initially and then always chatters and occasionly has lunged a bit towards the pig I'm holding (through the bars). She is always on edge generally and as her name suggests - shes very skittish she scoots off constantly and is more of a hider and spends most of her time in hides, under the towels, boxes etc. And she has lived in my living room for the 2 years where we spend most of our time so she is used to our routine/noises etc. You generally can't stroke her unless you approach her very slowly and make no sudden movements, however she is alot friendlier & less skittish then when we got her and has made great progress.
Problem is if her cage mate dies before her she will be alone if she can't get on with other pigs, and she's lovely with her cage mate (her mum) they never fight or anything like that, she usually just pinches her food from her at the worst. She does occasionally barber/eat her mums fur though - it doesn't seem to cause merlin any stress at all, but sometimes you can see the chewed green ends where she has chewed it. I actually saw her doing this Wilbur briefly while they were in the bonding pen.
Has anyone got any suggestions to try and ease her anxiety (if it is that causing her aggression) with other pigs or general bonding tips? I wonder if separating "her" cage with dividers and having him live alongside them for a bit is an issue because she sees that as her cage/territory?
Could taking her and him out in the car in a carrier for a short while help her bond with him? My fella has asked this but I think it will just cause her more stress and associate the other pig with that stress.
I wonder if the "neutral space" we tried to bond them in wasn't really neutral - it's in the same house and scoot has been out and about for their floor time on other occasions on the same floor/mats but washed for bondings.
Other pairings between reggie, Peanut and Yeti and then Wilbur and Peanut went well in the same environment as scoots bondings however, so I think it could just be scoot and she will either like or dislike a pig regardless of any of the above!
What you reckon?
Here's a photos of Scoot because she's very cute really and is still lovely
So I am wondering the best way to bond my guinea pigs. I have a pair of rescued sows (mother & daughter) who I have had for 2.5 years. During that time, I have tried to bond them with 2 neutered males (not at the same time!) I have a couple of past posts I made about the bondings on here.
Scoot, the daughter has been the concern during those failed bondings – she is very very assertive and dominant and I believe possibly fearful of other pigs at the same time. Both bondings occurred in different ways. The first one with reggie – over a full day, where they were all in a play pen (neutral space) separated by dividers for hours, which was their first meeting, then finally dividers were removed later on and she hated Reggie almost immediately – lunging and squealing at him, chasing him and doing the “power lie in” as Wiebke described it.
Then we took in another male about a year later, Wilbur who we had neutered. We had them in a neutral pen with dividers a couple of times before he was neutured then after his neuter was done and healed we had them in pen again separated by dividers then we divided Scoot & merlins cage in half with C and C grids, and Wilbur lived alongside them for months too. Finally we then did the neutral pen first with dividers for an hour or so, then without dividers with all 3 pigs in for the rest of the time. Scoot seemed to like him initially – grooming next to each other and never really taking much notice of him. Until ofc he does what a boy does getting excited and rumbling and nosing their bums and sides etc. Scoot did not appreciate it ended up doing what she did to Reggie (but not quite as bad) – she chased wilbur round a lot (no power lie ins though, she just wouldn’t leave him alone) chattering and some squaring up, so that was a firm no from Scoot again! The point of them living together side by side for a few months was to try and put scoot as ease if she was fearful so she could get to know him a bit, but obv that didn't work or impact her decision at the proper divider-free bonding.
Wilbur was then paired with one of the girls from the trio and lived happily with her till he died in Dec
she is now back with the trio (reggie and her sister, introduced as if it was a fresh online in a neutral area) and they're currently getting along.An opportunity has risen to adopt a lone neutured male from someone and I wonder if anyone had any more advice on how I could go about another bonding, knowing scoots history.
Like I said, I think she's fearful of other pigs. Whenever I have been holding another pig and showed it her through the bars of the cage she comes over for a sniff , seems friendly initially and then always chatters and occasionly has lunged a bit towards the pig I'm holding (through the bars). She is always on edge generally and as her name suggests - shes very skittish she scoots off constantly and is more of a hider and spends most of her time in hides, under the towels, boxes etc. And she has lived in my living room for the 2 years where we spend most of our time so she is used to our routine/noises etc. You generally can't stroke her unless you approach her very slowly and make no sudden movements, however she is alot friendlier & less skittish then when we got her and has made great progress.
Problem is if her cage mate dies before her she will be alone if she can't get on with other pigs, and she's lovely with her cage mate (her mum) they never fight or anything like that, she usually just pinches her food from her at the worst. She does occasionally barber/eat her mums fur though - it doesn't seem to cause merlin any stress at all, but sometimes you can see the chewed green ends where she has chewed it. I actually saw her doing this Wilbur briefly while they were in the bonding pen.
Has anyone got any suggestions to try and ease her anxiety (if it is that causing her aggression) with other pigs or general bonding tips? I wonder if separating "her" cage with dividers and having him live alongside them for a bit is an issue because she sees that as her cage/territory?
Could taking her and him out in the car in a carrier for a short while help her bond with him? My fella has asked this but I think it will just cause her more stress and associate the other pig with that stress.
I wonder if the "neutral space" we tried to bond them in wasn't really neutral - it's in the same house and scoot has been out and about for their floor time on other occasions on the same floor/mats but washed for bondings.
Other pairings between reggie, Peanut and Yeti and then Wilbur and Peanut went well in the same environment as scoots bondings however, so I think it could just be scoot and she will either like or dislike a pig regardless of any of the above!
What you reckon?
Here's a photos of Scoot because she's very cute really and is still lovely
