Adoption and introduction help

[DaveAndPaul]

Hello there

So I've just adopted my first pig, having had 2 young boys for around 8 months. Dave and Paul have been together since they were born and we've never had any problems with them. Dave rolled over pretty quickly to allow Paul to be top pig and they've just enjoyed their first summer relaxing in their spacious 2 tiered hutch. However, having bought home my new pig, Travis, today, I'm worried I've upset the balance in the hutch.
We did plenty of research on introducing a new pig, and ensured that when we put them out on the garden this afternoon, there was no way of them getting to each other.
What has got me worried is that when they we're out on the grass, they spent quite a while sniffing each other out and watching what each other was up to. I'm not sure if it was down to excitement or something else, but Paul began to show a lot of dominant behaviour over Dave, which hasn't happened in around 6 months, and it looked much more rough than it had done previously. Is this normal behaviour? I could understand if it was the new piggie, but it was his brother. This continued when they got back into the hutch, though it didn't look serious enough to separate them. They've calmed down now, however I'm worried that when I put them all out on the garden tomorrow the same thing will happen again.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Rodentopia]

The problem is whenever you introduce a new piggy you change the hierarchy so Paul may see Travis as a threat and start showing dominant behaviour towards Dave. Also they are only 8 months old so there will be a lot of hormones buzzing around their systems at the moment and any new guinea pig could cause friction. Introducing male guinea pigs isn't easy and take a lot of patience and knowing what you are doing, you tend to fair better with mixed ages too, so an older piggy with younger is usually best (plus 2 years I have found works better). If your not careful you could end up with 3 separate piggies. Personally and I have all male piggies and I have some in small groups I would wait a while before introducing them as Dave and Paul are full of teenage hormones at the moment and introducing Travis could upset the apple cart as you have already seen Paul changing in his behaviour. Have you thought about getting Travis a friend? Take him boar dating?

Where did you get the piggy from? If its not a recommended rescue then quarantining is a good idea as piggies can carry diseases. Once 3 weeks is up then you can try introductions but

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Adding a third boar to a working boar couple can cause major problems; even more so when the boars are subadult. At worst, you can end up with three boars that won't get together. Boar trios are great if the character combination is just right, but the reality is that you are much, much more likely to be confronted with an outsider problem of some sort. Boars work by far the best in couples.

You will get dominance behaviour as soon as your boys come into contact/sight with another boar.

If you can, please find your newbie a suitable friend by dating him a at good rescue under expert supervision so the boars are character compatible for long term stability of the boar bond; but only after he has passed any quarantine if he hasn't done so at a good rescue. This way, you maximise your chances of a happy bond and minimise the risk of a potential fall out.
Here is the Piggy Bank map of recommended good standard rescues: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=209994852075231951564.0004b8fd9391b4257d8eb&msa=0

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?76162-Boars-A-guide-to-successful-companionship
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?28949-Boars!-Simple-Dominance-Displays-or-Fighting

 

[DaveAndPaul]

Thank you for your responses.
We moved Travis away from the other two when we could see them getting a little aggressive, he's now inside with us.

It may be best to start looking for a friend for him as I don't want to break up Dave and Paul, especially as they've been together since birth.

We found Travis at our local Pets at Home store, he was up for adoption as he suffered from Ringworm (which he's been treated for) and was unable to be reintroduced to his friends, and we didn't want to see him alone.

 

[Stewybus]

If you've got a local rescue, see if they do dating where you can take him in & introduce him to other piggies on neutral ground to see what they're like together. Much better than buying another one without knowing if they'll get on.

 

[Rodentopia]

Thank you for your responses.
We moved Travis away from the other two when we could see them getting a little aggressive, he's now inside with us.

It may be best to start looking for a friend for him as I don't want to break up Dave and Paul, especially as they've been together since birth.

We found Travis at our local Pets at Home store, he was up for adoption as he suffered from Ringworm (which he's been treated for) and was unable to be reintroduced to his friends, and we didn't want to see him alone.

I think that would be best from what you was saying. Side note it might be worth getting Travis checked over by a guinea pig savvy vet as pets at home are known to sell sick piggies so they might have treated him in store themselves. And if you want to introduce him to another piggy its best to make sure he is clean