RosieMaia
Teenage Guinea Pig
Hey all!
I haven't posted in a long, long while, but I am very much in need of experienced bonding advice.
As you may see on my profile, I live in Sofia, Bulgaria. There are no piggy rescues in the country and this is how a couple of 4-month old baby sisters came to live with me - I have been tasked with finding a forever home, since their family cannot take care of them. Here comes the difficulty - the two pigs don't get along very well, and I am unsure if this is a genuine dislike, or if it is their difficult previous home situation affecting their reactions.
The whole story
A family got two guinea pigs from a pet shop, one turned out to be pregnant. Fast forward and 4 pigs (two 7-month-old and two 4-month-old) are living in a tiny cage of 80 x 50 cm. Quite surprisingly, they didn't fight until the mum got pyometra and had to be neutered. She is the top pig and while she was overnight at the vets, the other three pigs started fighting. Or rather Auntie started biting and being very aggressive towards Alice and Thumbelina, and Alice also got very aggressive towards Thumbelina.
Thumbelina has a number of bite wounds on her body, rather deep, they have been checked by a vet, and she will be fine. Despite her experience, she is a remarkably docile, friendly piggy. She happily takes food from me and sits on my lap comfortably stretched and snoozing, and she is very eager to have piggy company. Alice on the other hand is more reserved and is not as open to human company, but she too wheeks at my own four guinea pigs and tries to get in their cage.
The two girls are now in a divided 6 x 2 C&C cage, each of them has half, and they see each other through the bars. They spend most of their day like that, touching through the bars and biting the bars trying to get together. Both Thumbelina and Alice seem to be together. After a couple of days being separated and observing their friendly behavior through the bars, I decided it's a good time for me to re-introduce them on neutral ground. To say it didn't go well is an understatement. Thumbelina went to Alice, started sniffing her in a friendly way, but Alice freaked out and lunged at her. She didn't manage to draw blood, but that was only because I intervened and separated them. They went in their separate corners of the cage, stayed like that for 15 minutes and then reconvened at the dividing bars, trying to get to each other.
Alice's reaction seems to be fear aggression. Her willingness to be with pigs battles with her fear of them
I wonder if I separated them too quickly. I did see Alice's hair all puffed up, her "yawning" to display her teeth and then she ran towards Thumbelina with what for me was clear intent to cause damage. That being said, I have been blessed with effortless bondings in the past, full of love, cuddles and piggy kisses and this is new territory for me.
I am not particularly worried for Thumbelina. Worse comes to worst, I will pair her with a baby pig I know is in need of a home and she will have a friend (two birds with one stone). I am confident that there will be a lot of families wanting them, being so cute and friendly. The one I'm worried about is Alice, as she might have to end up alone.
The average family here lives in a two-bedroom apartment, space rarely allows for a big cage and most people have either 1 pig or 2, if they read that they shouldn't be alone. I am completely certain no one would be willing to take on a piggy which potentially has behavior issues and may have to be separated from their cage mate, thus having to keep 2 cages.
Ideally, I would like the two sisters to bond. Having their history in mind, do you think it's possible? I think I will keep them separated and then try again on Saturday. I will make a video of them, so I can get your opinion on their behavior. I hope Alice will understand that now that there's enough space and food and no one is trying to harm her, her aggression will diminish.
Also, would it be useful if I introduced them for a few hours/days to my own herd of four? They're all very friendly, and in the four years since I have this particular group of pigs, there have been 0 instances of aggression. Would this help show Alice proper piggy herd behavior? Or would it perhaps be too stressful for her to meet other pigs and trigger her fear-aggression?
Thanks in advance for your input, I'm truly struggling and I really want to avoid Alice having to live her life as a sole piggy.
PS. Unfortunately, 4 is my limit and I cannot take Alice in my herd long-term.
I haven't posted in a long, long while, but I am very much in need of experienced bonding advice.
As you may see on my profile, I live in Sofia, Bulgaria. There are no piggy rescues in the country and this is how a couple of 4-month old baby sisters came to live with me - I have been tasked with finding a forever home, since their family cannot take care of them. Here comes the difficulty - the two pigs don't get along very well, and I am unsure if this is a genuine dislike, or if it is their difficult previous home situation affecting their reactions.
The whole story
A family got two guinea pigs from a pet shop, one turned out to be pregnant. Fast forward and 4 pigs (two 7-month-old and two 4-month-old) are living in a tiny cage of 80 x 50 cm. Quite surprisingly, they didn't fight until the mum got pyometra and had to be neutered. She is the top pig and while she was overnight at the vets, the other three pigs started fighting. Or rather Auntie started biting and being very aggressive towards Alice and Thumbelina, and Alice also got very aggressive towards Thumbelina.
Thumbelina has a number of bite wounds on her body, rather deep, they have been checked by a vet, and she will be fine. Despite her experience, she is a remarkably docile, friendly piggy. She happily takes food from me and sits on my lap comfortably stretched and snoozing, and she is very eager to have piggy company. Alice on the other hand is more reserved and is not as open to human company, but she too wheeks at my own four guinea pigs and tries to get in their cage.
The two girls are now in a divided 6 x 2 C&C cage, each of them has half, and they see each other through the bars. They spend most of their day like that, touching through the bars and biting the bars trying to get together. Both Thumbelina and Alice seem to be together. After a couple of days being separated and observing their friendly behavior through the bars, I decided it's a good time for me to re-introduce them on neutral ground. To say it didn't go well is an understatement. Thumbelina went to Alice, started sniffing her in a friendly way, but Alice freaked out and lunged at her. She didn't manage to draw blood, but that was only because I intervened and separated them. They went in their separate corners of the cage, stayed like that for 15 minutes and then reconvened at the dividing bars, trying to get to each other.
Alice's reaction seems to be fear aggression. Her willingness to be with pigs battles with her fear of them
I wonder if I separated them too quickly. I did see Alice's hair all puffed up, her "yawning" to display her teeth and then she ran towards Thumbelina with what for me was clear intent to cause damage. That being said, I have been blessed with effortless bondings in the past, full of love, cuddles and piggy kisses and this is new territory for me.
I am not particularly worried for Thumbelina. Worse comes to worst, I will pair her with a baby pig I know is in need of a home and she will have a friend (two birds with one stone). I am confident that there will be a lot of families wanting them, being so cute and friendly. The one I'm worried about is Alice, as she might have to end up alone.
The average family here lives in a two-bedroom apartment, space rarely allows for a big cage and most people have either 1 pig or 2, if they read that they shouldn't be alone. I am completely certain no one would be willing to take on a piggy which potentially has behavior issues and may have to be separated from their cage mate, thus having to keep 2 cages.
Ideally, I would like the two sisters to bond. Having their history in mind, do you think it's possible? I think I will keep them separated and then try again on Saturday. I will make a video of them, so I can get your opinion on their behavior. I hope Alice will understand that now that there's enough space and food and no one is trying to harm her, her aggression will diminish.
Also, would it be useful if I introduced them for a few hours/days to my own herd of four? They're all very friendly, and in the four years since I have this particular group of pigs, there have been 0 instances of aggression. Would this help show Alice proper piggy herd behavior? Or would it perhaps be too stressful for her to meet other pigs and trigger her fear-aggression?
Thanks in advance for your input, I'm truly struggling and I really want to avoid Alice having to live her life as a sole piggy.
PS. Unfortunately, 4 is my limit and I cannot take Alice in my herd long-term.
