Bonding of new babies

fanniephina

fanniephina

Junior Guinea Pig
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Johnson City, NY
Back after about a month away with a big conundrum. We have our gp family; boars are Tybalt and Pumpkin. Both were supposed to be sows but surprised us early on to be boars. Tried to bond Tybalt and Pumpkin. Unable to do so-ended up in blood both times. There are two cavy cages in my daughter's room; each is 2x4 with a ramp. We first brought them in the same room, moved them closer and eventually are now connected with one wall of grids instead of two. Tybalt has calmed quite a bit; could be the age. We were told he was 8 months when we got him and would put him a bit over a year now. Pumpkin is around 6 months now and seems more aggressive. Am assuming it's for the age. They touch noses through the grid separator and no longer make any noise at all.

So we have the cavy cage in the family room. It is around 96 inches by 38 inches (244 c x 72 c) and holds the three girls plus babies. So Pippin had 4 babies. I know as of today that there are 3 boys; Patch, Tuvok and Spock and one little girl. We had always thought to bond Pumpkin with Patch but are not certain how to go about my little favorites (can I have those? bad mom) Spock and Tuvok. My choices are to try to bond Tybalt or to add another cavy cage to my daughter's room for my trekkie guys. This past month we have been going on trips upstate for interviews with our daughter to Jobcorp and she was accepted for a 4 year stay away with them. She's leaving on her 18th birthday this coming weekend. She'll be here some weekends and over Christmas when here in the US but is not planning to be back after. So, for now, her room was donated as another guinea pig room with a guest bed lol.

Help would be really appreciated as it has to happen in the next week. I'll try to add the pics I have-they are new baby ones from a couple weeks ago. Santa is whispering about bringing me a camera (as vs the blasted cell phone that I hate using). Can't wait to one day take good pics. Pumpkin is the pic with my daughter (papa) and Pippin is the last when she was pregnant still. I think it's so funny how much all of these little ones look like both of them. Spock is the spitting image of his papa while Piper is exactly like her mama.IMG_20180726_081926[1].webpIMG_20180726_081816[1].webpIMG_20180726_081911[1].webpIMG_20180726_081857[1].webpIMG_20180726_081603[1].webpIMG_20180726_081530[1].webpIMG_20180726_081530[1].webpIMG_20180726_081903[1].webpIMG_20180525_160605[1].webpIMG_20180714_113407[1].webp
 
I would try and see which baby and which single boar click; that doesn't always go to plan. At least you have got 6 chances of finding the right match. Our bonding guide contains some tips for bonding baby boars with older boys.
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics

Sorry, I am not quite clear about the whole arrangement. Are you moving all boys in three cages into your daughter's room?
 
Wiebke said:
I would try and see which baby and which single boar click; that doesn't always go to plan. At least you have got 6 chances of finding the right match. Our bonding guide contains some tips for bonding baby boars with older boys.
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics

Sorry, I am not quite clear about the whole arrangement. Are you moving all boys in three cages into your daughter's room?
Click to expand...

The large cage is still a plan to stay in the family room but space isn't the motivation. I was planning to keep the boars upstairs in M's room and the large one with the girls where it is now. However, if it's better for them to at least see each other through the cages, it can be moved up together with the boys in the same room. Right now we have the one cage in the family room with girls and two cages with one grid wall separating for the two boys. My dilemma, besides whom to bond, is if we should add another cavy cage in the boar room upstairs for the other two or find another combination as there is an odd number. Tybalt was the one whom we had previously the most problems in bonding, but, as you have written, there are more then one chance in combinations. Really not sure which combinations to try first or to go on with.

Thanks so much for the help @Wiebke.
 
Just going to go with it and try to bond best. Still some questions but will keep reading what I can for others on similar bonding. If anyone had similar bonding experience in these numbers, would be appreciated. Thank you.
 
I'm not quite certain how else to re-word this or what I've done wrong in the question but I have been researching the different forums and found so many different mixed responses that I am even more confused. I started with doing what I could from what was posted her so far.

Should I use different wording and start another thread?

As of now, I've added a nursery partition in the boar area upstairs. It's a small area with smaller grids attached to the grids next to Pumpkin. Tybalt has his attached cage still and has been sniffing closeby with no problems. The past two days, we have had all 3 boys and Pumpkin on a fresh towel in the bathtub. He has done the rumblestrut and they all sort of follow him around. Each time, it seemed all of them equally were next to him (they are about 2 and a half weeks now). At one point he ran and they all followed like a little guinea train. We have also had them in the 'nursery' at a different time in the day. each time is around 20 minutes to a half an hour.

I read in one thread that having Tybalt in an attached cage near them can cause more harm later so this one concern. Another question is, if I extend the upstairs cage appropriately, can all 4 (dad and 3 sons) live happily there or should I just keep watching all four of them in the daily bonding times to see if he gets to a preference. At this point, Tybalt seems very happy to just sniff noses in the nursery with absolutely no signs of aggression. As I'm watching though, I'm thinking that he can be ok in the same cage arrangement but would be not so great to try to bond to one of them and try to keep the other two boys together.

I can be wordy and sorry for that. Can try to be more concise but could really use some assistance if anyone has any thoughts.
 
Hi. I am no guinea pig expert but as far as I understand it, it is unlikely all the boys will get on especially when they get a bit older. I am sure one of the more experienced owners will be able to help. Their is also the guides that you can look at.
 
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