Thank you guys. Do you think it would be good to give everyone a bonding bath. Then only introduce the two dominate females together. Then once the dust has settled, add in the other pigs?
Hi! Bonding baths are unfortunately still touted wildly as the ultimate magic wand measure when it comes to bonding. It has not borne out in our members' experience, apart from adding an extra stress factor and delaying the bonding the process a little. But it doesn't contribute in any way to a positive outcome.
When the chips are down, piggies get on or not; this is entirely down to their personalities and not something you can influence or change. Having a show-down between the two leaders won't make them become friends irrespective of whether they are alone or with their groups; they only do that if they want to.
You won't become best friends with a workmate you can't stand just because your boss sticks you together in a sauna first thing and then expects you to happily share a tent during a team building trip. Why should piggies if we don't?
If over 50 bondings - and believe me, I've tried all the usual tricks myself at some point or other - have taught me one thing, then it is to not underestimate guinea pig social instincts and personalities. We humans may have our dreams, but piggies have very much their own ideas. Group leadership is as high as they can climb in their career ladder. Why should two equally sized and aged ladies happily stand back for the other just because you, like so many love the idea of a big group?
If you want a larger group, then it is much better to build it carefully around one dominant piggy (whether that is a sow or a neutered boar) and only gradually add submissive and younger sows, ideally with a group background, that cannot challenge the existing hierarchy. Getting two dominant piggies to cohabit only ever works if
they decide that they want to be best friends; and in the longer term if the weaker of the two concedes and doesn't bide her time to strike back at the first hint of weakness or becomes a victim of bullying.
I have stuck it out on some occasions but have made the experience that latent issues have a tendency to rear their head again and again and cause tensions in a group. it takes experience and very careful reading of body language to jugdge whether a bonding is only going right up to the line, but not across it or if it is likely to blow up and end in a full-on fight or a leng term grudge match.
