CavyMom58
Junior Guinea Pig
Today I attempted my first true bonding. I adopted and brought home my new boy Joey on Friday. He is 4 years and 5 months old, is golden brown with black flecks in his hair...American short hair, I believe. And he is small compared to my other piggy, Abe. Abe is big at 1500 grams. Joey weighs in at 1056 g. I hope to fatten him up a bit. 
I put a couple of C&C grids together to separate them in the pen and left it that way for two days. This morning I used my bathroom as a neutral zone and placed them together on the floor. They chased each other and did a lot of humping, nose bops, and noise making, but they did not fight. Eventually they each did some grooming, they took breaks to eat hay and Abe ended up lying down a bit. Then they would resume their antics. I decided to give them each a bath (they needed it by then). Whew! I cleaned out their pen and removed the partition... then put them in it. They've slept, been eating, and exploring the cage with occasional complaining at each other and facing off. No more humping and I've not heard any teeth chattering. The cage is large and I have provided two of everything such as hideys, water bottles, hay bins, pellet bowls, etc. I don't feel like it's completely over yet, but I'm hopeful this continues to be fight-free. Would love for them to be buddies. Any further suggestions are welcome.
Reply
Truffolo, CTWC, fluffysal and 1 other person
fluffysal
LocationSuffolk, UK
Jan 6, 2025
It sounds good. I remember the smell of a boar bonding...
Jan 7, 2025
The saga continues... As the evening went on my bigger fella, Abe, that I've had since April demonstrated increasing bullying of my newly adopted small fella, Joey. They seemed to be getting less tolerant of one another as time passed, with more face offs and louder teeth chattering. So I decided to avoid injury and put the partition back in their pen. I suspect my boy Abe would have continued to bully the little guy which is just not fair or good for him, even if they didn't fight. He used to do that to his previous cagemate also.
This morning all is peaceful and quiet. They both seem pretty content. They each have a 2x3 area of a C&C cage which is the best I can do size-wise. So... cagemates with their own space. Not such a bad deal...
Jan 18, 2025
So 3 days ago I decided to try bonding my two boars again. This time I emptied their cage of stuff, did a basic cleaning, just put some hay in the center, took the partition out and put them back in. I stood watch for about an hour while they chattered, rumble strutted, lunged a bit, mildly chattered their teeth, and did a good deal of chasing and complaining. But they did not bie/fight. Since decided to leave them together and keep a close eye the rest of the day. They calmed down a good deal so they are still together. The attached photos is them this evening, resting on my lap together.
. I'm a happy PigMum... 
I put a couple of C&C grids together to separate them in the pen and left it that way for two days. This morning I used my bathroom as a neutral zone and placed them together on the floor. They chased each other and did a lot of humping, nose bops, and noise making, but they did not fight. Eventually they each did some grooming, they took breaks to eat hay and Abe ended up lying down a bit. Then they would resume their antics. I decided to give them each a bath (they needed it by then). Whew! I cleaned out their pen and removed the partition... then put them in it. They've slept, been eating, and exploring the cage with occasional complaining at each other and facing off. No more humping and I've not heard any teeth chattering. The cage is large and I have provided two of everything such as hideys, water bottles, hay bins, pellet bowls, etc. I don't feel like it's completely over yet, but I'm hopeful this continues to be fight-free. Would love for them to be buddies. Any further suggestions are welcome.Reply
Truffolo, CTWC, fluffysal and 1 other person
fluffysal
LocationSuffolk, UK
Jan 6, 2025
It sounds good. I remember the smell of a boar bonding...
Jan 7, 2025
The saga continues... As the evening went on my bigger fella, Abe, that I've had since April demonstrated increasing bullying of my newly adopted small fella, Joey. They seemed to be getting less tolerant of one another as time passed, with more face offs and louder teeth chattering. So I decided to avoid injury and put the partition back in their pen. I suspect my boy Abe would have continued to bully the little guy which is just not fair or good for him, even if they didn't fight. He used to do that to his previous cagemate also.
This morning all is peaceful and quiet. They both seem pretty content. They each have a 2x3 area of a C&C cage which is the best I can do size-wise. So... cagemates with their own space. Not such a bad deal...Jan 18, 2025
So 3 days ago I decided to try bonding my two boars again. This time I emptied their cage of stuff, did a basic cleaning, just put some hay in the center, took the partition out and put them back in. I stood watch for about an hour while they chattered, rumble strutted, lunged a bit, mildly chattered their teeth, and did a good deal of chasing and complaining. But they did not bie/fight. Since decided to leave them together and keep a close eye the rest of the day. They calmed down a good deal so they are still together. The attached photos is them this evening, resting on my lap together.
. I'm a happy PigMum... 
