bonding two females

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storm_warrior2

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Hello,

we adopted a guinea pig a few months ago at the shelter and we brought her home, at the time she was the only pig there so we were unable to get two. We got the cage and everything went well, she is friendly a bit scittish but still a good piggy. We kept checking the shelter after we got a second cage to make sure we could do the two weeks apart. In the next few weeks we had no luck until we found a pet store that had surrendered pigs. We went and got a second female and did the 2 weeks in seperate cages for the two weeks to be safe. We named the second one Buttons.

Personality wise Cali is the more strong personality when in her own cage, easily spooked etc does still nibble or bite when she is not in the mood.
Buttons? the oppisite, she was giving kisses on the way home, easy going always giving kisses. In the two weeks she has been mellow, I'm assuming she had a human who kept her comfortable at this point.

so today after researching we tried to bond them and put them in a piggy playpen I got off amazon, Cali we thought would be the one to watch more carefully for agression, we put lettuce and fruit etc in with them and watched. Cali pretty much stayed there and ate the lettuce, buttons however surprised us and on several occassions went after Cali, stealing the lettuce mid chew from her mouth etc. It was about 15 minutes in Buttons started nipping at Cali, who did not respond, they sniffed etc but a few moments later Buttons went after her two or three times with agressive strikes while Cali who is the bigger pig stood there.

We seperated them when Buttons became to forceful and we worried for Cali's health and have put them back in there seperate cages.

any tips on what we can try next?.
 
It's great that you got your piggy a friend. Was their blood drawn between the piggies? Nips can be normal as long as they don't break skin. Chasing, stealing food, humping, and lunging are all also normal. If there was blood drawn then separate them and they can't go back together. If there was no blood drawn then you can try again. It's best to keep them together on neutral terf and observe. Step in if theres blood drawn. Otherwise, let them sort it out. Try not to separate and put back together over and over again because it just draws out the process unnecessary.
 
Buttons did not draw blood, but she was getting vicious to the point where she was striking at Cali, it might be normal to try and assert

it was getting bad and despite no blood drawn the fact that Cali did not try and show dominance in this, in fact she just sat there. I worry that Buttons would have seriously injured her as the strikes etc kept getting worse and worse.
 
Can you decribe what you mean by strikes? My girls have open-mouthed lunged at each other during their dominance behavior. It's normal for them to do this as they need to establish a hierarchy. These guides may help you.
Bonding and Interaction
Dominance Behaviors
 
:wel:

How old are they both?

Stealing food and chasing is normal behaviour. Nipping is a show of dominance. Aggression is not what you want to see at all though but sows generally dont fight like incompatible boars can. We only have your description and cannot know how aggressive it really was - whether it just looked aggressive to a person etc.

You do need to be aware though that buying a new piggy on spec (as is Buttons’s situation), then there is no guarantee of success in a bonding. Two piggies must be compatible and have mutual liking and if they don’t then the bond is never going to work and they will need to live separately as neighbours.

Our bonding guides are below

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
 
Cali the sheltor said was 2
Buttons the store who took her as a sarrunder was not sure

it started as light but she kept getting worse and worse with it until we used a towel and pulled her out to be safe
 
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