Adding a New Guinea pig

Niblers momma

Niblers momma

New Born Pup
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Hi,
I just found this forum when searching a question I had about my newly acquired guinea pigs. My daughter rescued a pair of guinea pigs, and had no idea the female was pregnant. Ended up having 3 babies, 1 boy and 2 girls. She has to travel for a while, so I now have the 3 babies, born December 26th 2020. I will be keeping the baby boy Nibler permanently , but just babysitting the 2 girl babies for about 2 months. She'll be taking the momma and daddy (who is now neutered) with her. The 2 girl babies share a very large cage, but poor Nibler is alone in his huge cage because can't have any pregnancies. So I have found a baby boy Guinea pig at a local rescue to adopt so Nibler won't be lonely. My question is, once I pick up the new Piggie on Tuesday, how do I introduce him to Nibler? Do I just put him in niblers cage and let them just get to know each other? I haven't had Guinea pigs since I was a young kid, so this is a new learning experience. I've done so much research into what they should eat, toys for them....etc... But would love any advice on introducing new piggie. Or maybe piggies just automatically get along with each other and nothing to even worry about. Thanks so much for any tips or advice.
 
Do not introduce them in his cage as Nibler will be defensive of it. Do it in a neutral area where neither pigs have been. Don't put any hides or anything in there all they should have is a pile of hay. Hopefully someone more experienced with this can help more. Good luck!
 
Hello and welcome :) When you introduce them, you want to do it in neutral territory so a place neither guinea pig has been before. Place a large pile of hay and no hides in the bonding area. Once you are satisfied the boys have bonded, place them in the freshly cleaned cage
 
Thank you so much. I have a small extra cage so I guess I can put both of them in there when I bring the new baby home. I'm hoping it goes smoothly. How long does it usually take until it's ok to put them both in the big cage together that Nibler lives in? I appreciate all your advice very much.
 
Hi and welcome. You’ve been given super advice above. How old is the baby piggy? If under four months he needs to be bonded straight away. If older then he’ll need to be quarantined. I’d advise you to double check that he’s a boar.

It would be better if you do it in a play pen. A small cage could cause issues. Boars need minimum 150x60cm though 180x60cm is better.

Have a read of the guides I’ve linked to below. If you feel it necessary, you can leave them in the bonding area overnight. The only thing that should be in there is a pile of hay and veg at their usual time.
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
 
Niblers momma said:
Hi,
I just found this forum when searching a question I had about my newly acquired guinea pigs. My daughter rescued a pair of guinea pigs, and had no idea the female was pregnant. Ended up having 3 babies, 1 boy and 2 girls. She has to travel for a while, so I now have the 3 babies, born December 26th 2020. I will be keeping the baby boy Nibler permanently , but just babysitting the 2 girl babies for about 2 months. She'll be taking the momma and daddy (who is now neutered) with her. The 2 girl babies share a very large cage, but poor Nibler is alone in his huge cage because can't have any pregnancies. So I have found a baby boy Guinea pig at a local rescue to adopt so Nibler won't be lonely. My question is, once I pick up the new Piggie on Tuesday, how do I introduce him to Nibler? Do I just put him in niblers cage and let them just get to know each other? I haven't had Guinea pigs since I was a young kid, so this is a new learning experience. I've done so much research into what they should eat, toys for them....etc... But would love any advice on introducing new piggie. Or maybe piggies just automatically get along with each other and nothing to even worry about. Thanks so much for any tips or advice.
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome

It is great that you are giving Nibbler a new home and that you want him to have a friend.

Please NEVER stick another piggy into an established territory (i.e. cage or hutch) unless you want to start World War III. Take the time to carefully read our comprehensive step-by-step bonding guide with plenty of pictures and videos of key behaviours and bonding dynamics. The guide also covers the run-up and the ca. two weeks post-bonding dominance phase in which the details of the group hierarchy are being worked out (something that many people are not aware of).
Please accept that every single bond comes down to a character compatibility and mutual liking; there is no single magic wand measure that can change personality or make somepig like another one - and piggies are every bit as complex and picky as humans when it comes to relationships! Before you start bonding, you need to have a plan B at the ready in case the character match doesn't happen; especially as Nibbler is just about turning into a teenager, so the bonding is highly likely to wake up his hormones.
Here is the link: Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

Here is more information on boars and their specific quirks and challenges, which you may find very helpful:
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths

All these guides are part of our very useful practical and comprehensive New Owners guide collection, which specifically addresses all the areas we get the most questions and concerns about in as precise how to detail as possible. Our 15 years existence as a lively forum and our own long term ownership experience have all gone into these guides. You may want to bookmark the link, browse, read and re-read at need. You will find lots of very interesting and sometimes suprising information in there, including a little course in Piggy Whispering: Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides
 
Hi i did a bonding too recently and used c&c panels to section off an area of my kitchen (i could just have easily used sturdy boxes) The kitchen units formed 2 sides and i fenced off a third side with the panels.

I was bonding an adult to a baby and everything was settled in 2 to 3 hours. I was then able to move them into a temporary c&c cage.

I have done previous bondings in a run in the garden. You do need something roomy and open topped so you can reach in fast in an emergency.


The bonding i tried that failed went wrong within the first 15 mins - but successful bondings can be pretty lively for a few hours and you do need that neutral large space.

Good luck!




Whoops! Didnt realise i was cross posting with weibke:doh:
 
Thank you all again for the great info and links. I really have soooooo much to learn still. I will use the large open playpen instead of the small extra cage. I'm getting very nervous, I didn't realize how complex this will be. How can you tell they are ready to move in to the permanent cage? And will they actually physically fight and hurt each other? I guess I'm trying to figure out at what point I would have to step in and actually separate them. I briefly started reading the link on introduction, and it seemed to say to not interfere or prematurely separate them when they are first bonding in neutral territory. So I'm trying to get an idea of what is normal dominate behavior in initial introduction and what is so aggressive that, for safety sake, I must stop the initial bonding and separate them. I don't remember having any piggies fight when I had them as a child, I just had a rescue bunny and a rescue piggie together and then put another piggie in with them and it all seemed good. But that was years ago and I had no clue about half the things I read now about caring for piggies. They really are a lot more fragile than I, or most people realize, it seems.
 
You will know if they’re not getting on as there will be tension. If there’s lots of teeth chattering and lunging then you may wish to separate but slight teeth chattering is normal dominant behaviour. The guides will help you see what is normal dominant behaviour and what isn’t
 






The first vid shows my most recent bonding (with the kitchen sectioned off)

The 2nd vid shows a lively bonding.

These were successful bondings and might help you see the sounds and chasing that you can expect.

The last vid is a failed bonding and you can hear the difference in the sounds and then the flying furball.


There are also really helpful vids in the link posted by weibke.


As you can hear from the commentary in my vids though, i am not experienced like weibke!

So i thought it might be helpful for you to see bondings in my amateur hands.
 
Ps - only have a big pile of hay in your bonding pen - i did mine all wrong with tubes and tunnels and things!

You can hear how i fail to realise the failed bonding had failed - showing a complete lack of experience 🤣

Luckily i had this forum and also an on the phone mentor (@flintstones )

to tell me there was no point in pursuing that - it had failed.
 
(Mild) Teeth chattering, chasing, mounting, humping and squealing in submission is normal. There can only be one top pig, so one needs to accept their position as the underpig. Have a read of the link I put above for levels of dominance. And watch the videos on the bonding guide.

How old is the new piggy?
 
Welcome to the forum.
I hope the bonding goes well.
I highly recommend the forum bonding guides.
They saved my sanity when I bonded piggies.
Hope to hear good news soon.
 
The videos are extremely helpful. Thank you so much for posting them. I also watched the bonding videos from the guide, which really has so much useful information. By watching all the videos, from the guide as well as those from tabelmabel, I think I should be able to see if they are successfully bonding or not. I know the guide said that you can separate if it's not working , and try again another time, but if it gets to a very elevated level of aggression, than it's never going to happen. It is a bit hard to see some of the subtle clues, but when they get violent, that's pretty scary. I'm crossing fingers and hoping so much that it goes well Tuesday, because I really don't want him lonely, and I really don't want to end up with 2 piggies living alone, and certainly don't want to keep going through that process. It looks nerve racking and I'm so scared that one could get hurt badly by the other. I'm sooooo thankful I found this forum or I would have just stuck the new piggie in the cage with Nibler and had no idea that they might not get along.
I'll keep reading and prepare an area along with preparing a brand new fresh clean cage in hopes that the bonding is successful. I'll let you all know how it goes, and again I very much appreciate all the help, information and advice. Oh, and all the piggies in pictures and videos are so adorable and beautiful.
 
@Niblers momma - what you could do too is to film your bonding and post it on the bonding forum on this site as there are lots of members really experienced on here that can take a look and let you know how it's going.

You need to post to you tube first and then paste a link here. If you let folk on here know an hour or so before you start the bonding, you can see who's about on the forum and they will look out for you.


With that bonding that went wrong, i posted here and had the info to stop and seperate within a few mins of posting the vid - it's amazing to get support like that when you really need it.


Glad my vids were helpful 🙂
 
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