Bonding supervision

[ElvisParsley]

Long story and possibly dumb question:

I have a bonded pair of females - a 5 year old and a 2 year old. Our local rescue just took in hundreds of guinea pigs (many pregnant) from a sad hoarding situation and they’re overwhelmed so I decided that in addition to a monetary donation, I would help by adopting one more pig since I have the space. The 5 year old was my concern going into this. She’s the boss. She’s also blind and has frequent health issues so I didn’t want her to be too stressed out by adding a third. Turns out, she couldn’t care less. It’s the 2 year old that has the issues! The new pig we got is estimated to be about 3 years old. She’s about the same size as my 2 year old, maybe a little smaller. They all got along fine at the rescue when introduced, so I took her home. They were doing ok for a few hours but then my 2 year old started showing some dominance… ear nibbling, chasing, some nose punches. I understand this is normal at first. It’s day 2 and she’s still showing these behaviors. The new pig isn’t fighting it, she’s submitting, but my 2 year old is still being a little jerk to her. Ironically the 5 year old is chill with everyone and doesn’t mind the new girl one bit. My question is this - I have to go to work tomorrow. They will have to be alone all day. Do you think I need to separate them when they’re unsupervised? There haven’t been any serious fights, just lots of chasing and nipping from the one pig showing the new girl who is boss. If I separated them, would it be even harder to reintroduce them? Would it undo any progress they may have made? All my others were an adult-baby combo so I’ve never witnessed this dynamic. They all just got along straight away! So I’m just a little concerned and want to do the right thing.

 

[Piggies&buns]

It’s so lovely of you to help the rescue out.

Did you put them all into neutral territory to continue the bonding for several more hours once you got home? (Before moving them to their cage together)

Adding a third piggy, and an adult at that, to a bonded pair is the combination most likely to cause problems. It is easier to add a baby piggy to a bonded pair as they would naturally be at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Your 2 year old is going to feel the need to assert dominance and try to get the new girl to fully know she is not going to be above her in the hierarchy. (It’s therefore great the new girl is submitting).

It takes two weeks for a new hierarchy to be established and you will see those behaviours continuing during that time while they fully sort things out.
If you separate them while you can’t supervise them then yes it will undo the bonding. It will cause stress to them to be separated and reintroduced. Essentially you should not separate them unless the bonding fails.

You have to decide whether it is working out (ie mild dominance is absolutely fine and something they have to go through) and therefore leave them together to get on with it; or decide whether the behaviours are actually hostile, beyond dominance and therefore that it isn’t going to be a successful bond. If that is the case then they would need to be separated and side by side permanently.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Bonds In Trouble