Should I Give My Boys More Time To Bond?

[Beanie26]

Following the death of Peanut (my 17 month old male guinea pig) I was left with another male, Chester approx 19 months old.

I went to my local animal rescue shelter with Chester to meet a new male friend, Jasper last Saturday (he is apparently around 14 months old but is much larger than Chester as he is long haired and crested). We introduced them on the floor of the rescue centre and left them for about half an hour. Apart from some mild dominance behaviour from Chester (chasing Jasper and humping his back), they seemed to get on reasonably well, so we decided to take Jasper home on the proviso that we could return him if things didn't work out.

When we got them home, we put them in a fully cleaned run together and Chester became more dominant - teeth chattering, humping, rumblestrutting, etc. This lasted for a few hours. Chester had always been very laid back and quite nervous, so I was surprised at his behaviour. Jasper apparently had been bullied by another guinea pig that he used to live with and had had to be separated from. I was afraid to leave them together overnight in case one of them got hurt, so I put them both back in their own cages.

The following day I put them back into the cleaned out run together but there was a complete role reversal. Jasper became very dominant and constantly showed dominance behaviour towards Chester for around 2 hours. At this point we decided that we had to get Chester out as he appeared to be being bullied and was looking very tired, startled and stressed (constantly chased, humped, etc and Jasper was yawning at him to bare his teeth and rumblestrutting. I think he also tried to nip him at some points.

I have kept putting them together in the run for a few hours a day under close supervision (and then back into their separate cages at night which are next to each other) every day since Saturday, but things don't really seem to be improving very much. As of last night, Jasper was still showing a lot of signs of dominance. He would let Chester realx for a couple of minutes and then go after him again.

I really don't know what to do. We have the option of taking Jasper back this weekend and looking elsewhere for a much younger and smaller piggie, but I don't know if this would confuse Chester more. I also don't want to give up on Jasper, but I wonder if he's learnt the bullying behavious from his previous home. I am unable to keep two separate cages longer term due to a lack of space.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Please be aware that boars have to restart the full bonding process from scratch each time you separate, and that that the constant disruption can cause major problems with the dynamics and, at the worst, lead to failure. Ideally, you need to sit things out for several days as long as the dominance behaviour stays in the mild to medium range and the humping is not so bad that one of the boars is unable to eat. drink and sleep.
If it doesn't work out between your boys, then please contact the rescue. It is never a happy outcome, and it leaves you generally gutted, especially in the wake of losing a beloved piggy.
Here are our relevant bonding guides from the top of the section:
Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics

If things don't work out between Jasper and Chester, your next port of call for Chester would be Glynneath Guinea Pig rescue off Neath, as they offer residential boar bonding, so Chester will be fully bonded at the rescue with one of their boars and only comes home with a new friend if the bond is stable. It is well worth travelling further to the few rescues that have got the time and knowledge to do this. You are lucky to have a full boar bonding rescue within reach.

 

[Beanie26]

Thanks for this advice. Starting tomorrow I'll put them in together and leave them for a few days so long as it doesn't get too aggressive. I thought I was doing the right thing by gradually introducing them for short periods of time but after reading your advice I hope I haven't made things worse. I'll keep a close eye on them and let you know how we all get on. Fingers crossed they settle.