Carrotyd
Junior Guinea Pig
Morning all. We took Harry speed dating at a rescue yesterday, and he ended up partnered with a 3 month-old boar who we're still in the process of naming.
The rescue was over an hour away, and both piggies snuggled up in a freshly washed cosy, neither of them had seen before, all the way home in a freshly cleaned pet carrier.
After reading all of @Wiebke's excellent advice on bonding, we put the new fella in our spare (3x2)C&C cage, lined with a newly bought blanket, and with huge piles of hay everywhere and he look petrified and didn't move, but kept squealing hysterically.
I left him a few minutes more - thinking he could do with the time to chill out after the cat journey - but he carried on. So I plonked in Harry and he immediately started following him round; eating from the same piles of food, etc.
With my boyfriend supervising, I went upstairs to sort out their permanent living cage (a 5x2 C&C), scrubbing it from top to bottom, and disposing of any houses or hideys with only one entrance and exit, and replacing then with a mix of fleece tunnels and open ended cardboard boxes.
By the time I'd come downstairs, both boys had retreated to separate areas of the cage and were both dozing, so I scooped them up and took them up to their permanent living area.
Again, I plonked new boy in first (as our rescuer said it's good to let them get the lay of the land first), and he reverted back to panic mode, until Harry arrived.
I sat with them all afternoon, and there really wasn't much to report - with Harry spending the day trotting about the cage, eating from either of the two bowls or hay piles I'd put in or sitting in the tunnels, while the new fella stayed in the same one most of the day, except when coming out to eat.
Perhaps this was the calm before the storm, because I got woken up this morning by the sound of a guinea pig stampede going on in my spare room, caused by the new guy trying to intermittently chase Harry and mount him.
Harry runs away, and doesn't seem to be all that interested in confronting the new guy about his odd way of thanking him for letting him be his life partner.
They've just had their morning veggies and calm seems to have been restored again, and I'll be returning to my observation station in the spare room to watch them again later. But what do you guys think so far? Are things going okay and is there anything else I should consider doing?
The rescue was over an hour away, and both piggies snuggled up in a freshly washed cosy, neither of them had seen before, all the way home in a freshly cleaned pet carrier.
After reading all of @Wiebke's excellent advice on bonding, we put the new fella in our spare (3x2)C&C cage, lined with a newly bought blanket, and with huge piles of hay everywhere and he look petrified and didn't move, but kept squealing hysterically.
I left him a few minutes more - thinking he could do with the time to chill out after the cat journey - but he carried on. So I plonked in Harry and he immediately started following him round; eating from the same piles of food, etc.
With my boyfriend supervising, I went upstairs to sort out their permanent living cage (a 5x2 C&C), scrubbing it from top to bottom, and disposing of any houses or hideys with only one entrance and exit, and replacing then with a mix of fleece tunnels and open ended cardboard boxes.
By the time I'd come downstairs, both boys had retreated to separate areas of the cage and were both dozing, so I scooped them up and took them up to their permanent living area.
Again, I plonked new boy in first (as our rescuer said it's good to let them get the lay of the land first), and he reverted back to panic mode, until Harry arrived.
I sat with them all afternoon, and there really wasn't much to report - with Harry spending the day trotting about the cage, eating from either of the two bowls or hay piles I'd put in or sitting in the tunnels, while the new fella stayed in the same one most of the day, except when coming out to eat.
Perhaps this was the calm before the storm, because I got woken up this morning by the sound of a guinea pig stampede going on in my spare room, caused by the new guy trying to intermittently chase Harry and mount him.
Harry runs away, and doesn't seem to be all that interested in confronting the new guy about his odd way of thanking him for letting him be his life partner.
They've just had their morning veggies and calm seems to have been restored again, and I'll be returning to my observation station in the spare room to watch them again later. But what do you guys think so far? Are things going okay and is there anything else I should consider doing?
