Should I Or Shouldn't I?

[x95emma95x]

Hi there!

Just a bit of background, although it says I am new to the Guinea Pig Forum, I had an account a long time ago yet was inactive for a long period of time. I have owned guinea pigs for 5/6 years now, my current two being Lenny, a 3 Year old long haired mop, and Noel, a 5 month old grey short haired boy.

Now my predicament is this -

My first two guinea pigs were two males, Sooty and Sweep. They lived together for a while, but fell out big style when I was away on holiday and my grandma and grandad were looking after them. When we returned, it was past the point of no return, and I was simply lucky that neither of them had been seriously hurt. They had a few scabs here and there. So they lived out the remainder of their days separated in my 6x8 foot shed set up.

When Sweep passed away, that is when we got Lenny. Lenny and Sooty, after a settling in period, were introduced and got along for a little while. As Lenny approached his grumpy 'teenage' years, they began to constantly rumble at each other, NEVER showing signs of relaxing. I didn't want to risk what had happened before and therefore split them up. Multiple attempts at bonding them after that showed that they were simply not a match, although thankfully, with no blood spilt.

Unfortunately, just before Christmas we lost Sooty too which absolutely broke my heart. Noel then came into our lives. The introduction process has been slow, I've read everything there is to read about introductions, and I'm determined to do it properly.

Recently they have been playing out together on the lawn, and getting on swimmingly. I haven't yet put them together in the shed. Today, they have been on the lawn for a few hours and even had a snuggle! I managed to snap a really cute photo but it's trickier than just pressing a button to post them on here, I remember now! Haha.

Now I know that you are supposed to put them back into a clean cage. I cleaned them out on Wednesday this week. I'm conflicted as to what to do! As I also know that whenever they are separated and put back together again, they have to start the process form the beginning. My original plan was to give them a bonding bath one day in the Summer holidays (I'm a teacher) and pop them back into a freshly cleaned out cage.

Could I just have some suggestions from my fellow pig owners, what would you do if it were you?

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi there!

Just a bit of background, although it says I am new to the Guinea Pig Forum, I had an account a long time ago yet was inactive for a long period of time. I have owned guinea pigs for 5/6 years now, my current two being Lenny, a 3 Year old long haired mop, and Noel, a 5 month old grey short haired boy.

Now my predicament is this -

My first two guinea pigs were two males, Sooty and Sweep. They lived together for a while, but fell out big style when I was away on holiday and my grandma and grandad were looking after them. When we returned, it was past the point of no return, and I was simply lucky that neither of them had been seriously hurt. They had a few scabs here and there. So they lived out the remainder of their days separated in my 6x8 foot shed set up.

When Sweep passed away, that is when we got Lenny. Lenny and Sooty, after a settling in period, were introduced and got along for a little while. As Lenny approached his grumpy 'teenage' years, they began to constantly rumble at each other, NEVER showing signs of relaxing. I didn't want to risk what had happened before and therefore split them up. Multiple attempts at bonding them after that showed that they were simply not a match, although thankfully, with no blood spilt.

Unfortunately, just before Christmas we lost Sooty too which absolutely broke my heart. Noel then came into our lives. The introduction process has been slow, I've read everything there is to read about introductions, and I'm determined to do it properly.

Recently they have been playing out together on the lawn, and getting on swimmingly. I haven't yet put them together in the shed. Today, they have been on the lawn for a few hours and even had a snuggle! I managed to snap a really cute photo but it's trickier than just pressing a button to post them on here, I remember now! Haha.

Now I know that you are supposed to put them back into a clean cage. I cleaned them out on Wednesday this week. I'm conflicted as to what to do! As I also know that whenever they are separated and put back together again, they have to start the process form the beginning. My original plan was to give them a bonding bath one day in the Summer holidays (I'm a teacher) and pop them back into a freshly cleaned out cage.

Could I just have some suggestions from my fellow pig owners, what would you do if it were you?

Thanks in advance guys!

Hi and welcome back!

I would give it a try to bond your boys in a neutral area. You can leave off any bonding baths; they have not stood the test of time as so many of the other 'sure-fire' old time bonding tricks.

If you have got some hours on the weekend where you can keep an eye on the boys, that should do the trick as they have already worked through acceptance and know where they stand to each other in terms of dominance, so the process should be quicker and smoother overall, especially as they obviously want to be together.

Please take the time to read our new bonding guide; you should find it helpful:
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics

All the best!

 

[x95emma95x]

Thanks a lot for your detailed response @Wiebke ! Apologies that I didn’t respond but I have been putting things into place to get the piggies bonded.

Yesterday they spent an hour or so on the lawn together whilst I cleaned and adjusted the shed slightly. They have now spent the night together! Which is fantastic. I set up a time lapse video to see what they were getting up to when I stopped watching but it goes so fast I can’t tell! I could see periods of rest and leaving each other alone though which is good right?

This morning I’ve been in to check on them and sat in with them for a while. Lenny (the older one) is doing a lot of unprovoked chasing at the moment. I’m going to leave them for a while and see if it calms down. They have two of everything and only open ended hideys so hopefully things will settle.

Thanks for the help! X

 

[Wiebke]

You always have to sit out the dominance phase. It is not easy, but absolutely vital.