Bonding a new female

[Inokillzombies]

Hi,

I have a group consisting of a neutered male and two females. I don't know the age of the male but I would say he is between 3 and 4 years old. He is a pretty relaxed piggy. I adopted my females (two sisters) back in july 2023 and they were around 2-3 months. So now they are around 2 years old. I could not say who is the more dominant one between my male Appa and one of my female Haru. Both establish some dominant traits. Yuki is definitely a submissive pig. They sometimes have small fights. But nothing alarming. When it happens it's mostly just snapping at the other to tell them to back off or give them space. I want to introduce a new female in their group. There are some at my local rescue. I am just not sure which one to choose. Does age matter in this situation? Should I go for a older pig or a younger one ? Online it seems to say that younger pig are easier to match. And some other say that age don't matter, it's more the personnality that does.

Thank you for answering me

 

[Piggies&buns]

Character is the most important factor, but age can make a difference.
You are better off to go for a piggy who is not going to challenge the existing hierarchy and that is most usually a younger piggy (ideally one younger than your youngest piggy or introduce a baby). With that said, you have to be prepared that what looks good on paper does not necessarily mean it would work - we do see bondings with babies fail as it means they are not character compatible.
If you try to introduce a pig who is older then she is more likely to try to overthrow your dominant sow which will mean the bonding would have a much higher chance of failure.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?