Bonding Over Several Days.

[Swissgreys]

Today we started trying to bond Lucy (2 years old, been alone since she fell out wither her cage mate after illness around 2 weeks ago) with Eddi (the world's most uncomplicated and laid back boar) and Oreo (a bit complex and slightly dominant).
Eddi and Oreo have been living together for over a year, and are a very close pair - no issues.

Bonding did not start well.
Eddi was thrilled to be back with Lucy, and very gentle and kind with her.
Oreo was bossy and pushy - not mean, just bossy.
But she spooked Lucy, and Lucy became very wound up and fearful.
There was teeth chattering, puffed up pigiges and then Lucy felt backed into a corner, and flew at Oreo (fear aggression).
We split them at this point - Lucy was clearly too fearful to be able to continue.

A few hours later we tried again, and this time it went better.
With constant supervision, and a lot of distractions (huge piles of hay, fresh grass, and fresh food) they hung out together for around 5 hours.
Some chasing, but no teeth chattering or puffing up.
But the level of supervision was constant, and although things did improve, they still need a lot of help to prevent things getting out of hand.
So we split them again overnight.
When split Lucy was biting at the cage bars to get to Eddi, which I take as a good sign.
We will start again tomorrow morning.

I think it may eventually work out - Oreo is chasing less, and Lucy is running away in a less hysterical fashion.
But I am looking for reassurance that a bonding taking place over several days can work out.

The real problem is that this simply has to work, hence the reason I am pushing it so hard.

We have 4 guinea pigs and in total at 10 x 2 C&C - this is the space I have to work with, so if Lucy stays alone, and Ruby stays alone (which will definitely be the case for now) this means I end up with the cage split into 3 separate cages, and everyone has a small space.

Has anyone else had a bonding take a few days?
I am at a loss on how to move forward if I can't get this to work.

 

[Wiebke]

Today we started trying to bond Lucy (2 years old, been alone since she fell out wither her cage mate after illness around 2 weeks ago) with Eddi (the world's most uncomplicated and laid back boar) and Oreo (a bit complex and slightly dominant).
Eddi and Oreo have been living together for over a year, and are a very close pair - no issues.

Bonding did not start well.
Eddi was thrilled to be back with Lucy, and very gentle and kind with her.
Oreo was bossy and pushy - not mean, just bossy.
But she spooked Lucy, and Lucy became very wound up and fearful.
There was teeth chattering, puffed up pigiges and then Lucy felt backed into a corner, and flew at Oreo (fear aggression).
We split them at this point - Lucy was clearly too fearful to be able to continue.

A few hours later we tried again, and this time it went better.
With constant supervision, and a lot of distractions (huge piles of hay, fresh grass, and fresh food) they hung out together for around 5 hours.
Some chasing, but no teeth chattering or puffing up.
But the level of supervision was constant, and although things did improve, they still need a lot of help to prevent things getting out of hand.
So we split them again overnight.
When split Lucy was biting at the cage bars to get to Eddi, which I take as a good sign.
We will start again tomorrow morning.

I think it may eventually work out - Oreo is chasing less, and Lucy is running away in a less hysterical fashion.
But I am looking for reassurance that a bonding taking place over several days can work out.

The real problem is that this simply has to work, hence the reason I am pushing it so hard.

We have 4 guinea pigs and in total at 10 x 2 C&C - this is the space I have to work with, so if Lucy stays alone, and Ruby stays alone (which will definitely be the case for now) this means I end up with the cage split into 3 separate cages, and everyone has a small space.

Has anyone else had a bonding take a few days?
I am at a loss on how to move forward if I can't get this to work.

Bonding can take several days if fear aggression is the problem. Make sure that you have no corners and only open hideys that Lucy cannot get trapped into.

I generally abort when there is no lessening of tensions after three days.

 

[Merab]

I have no advice - just support.
Hope it all goes well

 

[Kiko+Peanut]

My piggies took a while to bond, it's normal, don't worry. My piggies are still bonding actually, Peanut will still nip at Kiko and Kiko will then 'hiss' at Peanut. But I trust them enough to be alone, nothing major happens.
Just be patient.

 

[Swissgreys]

Thanks for the advice and support everyone.
It failed, and I am gutted.
I sort of knew early on this morning, but stuck with it for a few more hours until it became clear that Oreo was never going to accept Lucy.
Just don't know what to do now to be honest.
I am already exhausted from dealing with Ruby's illness, and feel like I do nothing except rearrange cages and try to bond guinea pigs, and I still have two single piggies and not enough space to give everyone a decent cage.

 

[Merab]

You poor thing.
Sounds as if you need to just sit and have a break before tackling anything else.

I don’t really have any advice I can give but I wanted you to know you are being supported - even from a distance.

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks for the advice and support everyone.
It failed, and I am gutted.
I sort of knew early on this morning, but stuck with it for a few more hours until it became clear that Oreo was never going to accept Lucy.
Just don't know what to do now to be honest.
I am already exhausted from dealing with Ruby's illness, and feel like I do nothing except rearrange cages and try to bond guinea pigs, and I still have two single piggies and not enough space to give everyone a decent cage.

BIG HUGS

I've got a cupboard full of bonding failure t-shirts. You have tried your utmost; but if acceptance doesn't happen, then there is nothing you can do.

At one point last year I had four grumpy single sows that would not gow with any pig else, and it drove me to distraction! I know that a lot of people fret over their boars, but they have never met cranky old ladies...

Would it be an option to keep the two singles as next door neighbours on a different level above the other cage? I've found Ikea linnmon tables very useful for this purpose.

 

[VickiA]

Oh you poor thing @Swissgreys. I’ll be honest, I find sow dynamics and bondings more stressful than boar bondings. These ladies can be very particular about who they will share their home with. And they can behave totally irrationally. Boars are more straight forward in their response - it’s yes or no almost immediately.
You’ve done everything right. It’s just not fair, but that’s sometimes how it goes. Hugs xx