squigglies
Junior Guinea Pig
Help. Currently bonding my group of 2 sows and a boar to 2 bonded sister sows. Is blood drawn an absolute game over.
Bonding help needed ASAP
- Thread starter squigglies
- Start date
Yes, blood drawn means it’s over
I’m sorry to hear if that is what has happened
I’m sorry to hear if that is what has happened
squigglies
Junior Guinea Pig
Could I try again or no?
Always bonded a single pig to others but never 2 to a group.
If they have fought and blood has been drawn, then no sadly you shouldn’t try again. Fights only occur if they don’t get on and unfortunately that won’t change. They will have to remain as two separate pairs permanently.
While you haven’t mentioned their ages so I cant comment specifically on your case but the issues tend to be -
- if they are all adult, then when merging already bonded adult sow pairs, you already have two dominant sows - your original sow and the dominant sow in the new pair. When those two dominant piggies come together, one of them would have to be prepared to step down and lose her leadership position. They are almost always never prepared to do that and hence merging adult sow pairs is often quite high risk of failure.
- Adult sows can be quite unwilling to accept change.
- A closely bonded adult boar/sow pair can also be quite unwilling to allow any others join them.
It can work to add a pair of baby sows to an already bonded adult sow/boar pair (or even to a sow pair) because the babies are less likely to challenge the hierarchy but as any bond comes down to compatibility there is still no guarantee.
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?