Elitah
Junior Guinea Pig
As I have explained elsewhere, by now we have lost almost an entire generation of guinea-pigs and Cotton, who will be 7 years old in April, is the only one left. In January, her last elderly friend Brillo died and so we found three young(er) guinea-pigs at an animal shelter and we brought them home about two weeks ago. Since the one boar, Flash, had been neutered in early December, we were advised to leave him on his own for another week if we wanted to be absolutely certain that he wouldn't produce babies anymore. So we first introduced the three ladies to each other: Cotton and the two little ones, Ginger and Oreo, who were born in July last year. We introduced them in a neutral area (bathroom on a fresh, clean blanket) and then put them in the freshly cleaned cage which has two levels. They stayed on the lower level - the tiny new ladies didn't know how to use the ramp and Cotton didn't seem to want to use it. On the first day there was a lot of bickering, but they settled down very well on the second day and on the third day, everything seemed peaceful. And then Cotton walked up the ramp to the upper level and stayed there for the rest of the week. The little ones run around a lot and are extremely chatty, maybe that was too much for her. Once she went down as far as the little balcony in the middle of the ramp, watched the two tiny ones and went back upstairs.
One week later, we introduced them all to Flash, again in the bathroom on a fresh blanket. We put them all on the upper level, but it dodn't take long for Cotton to walk down the ramp to the lower level where she stayed again for almost two days. meanwhile, we were trying to teach the others how to use the ramp by putting vegetable pieces on it and they did start looking at it and going down a few steps, but never all the way down.
After almost two nights, Cotton came back upstairs and Ginger and Oreo threatened her immeadiately, "like two tiny wolves", as my husband said (I had gone to bed) and he had to take Cotton and put her back down. She tried once more a day later, but because the situation had looked so dangerous, my husband had temporarily closed up the hole to the upper level.
Now he has almost finished building a generous extention to the cage. It was a bit on the small side, in our opinion, and if three piggies have to share one level and Cotton gets the other, it is dfeinitely too small. So the lower level will be extended (L-shaped under a shelf, my husband is amazing with building stuff) and our plan is to introduce them all to Cotton on neutral territory again today (carefully, one by one), clean the cage out very thoroughly and put them all on the large, lower level. Due to the extension, it should be new to all of them. I toold my husband we should block the upper level for the first few days so Cotton can't go up there on her own. my theory is that the younger piggies are a little too lively for her, so she withdraws, but for way too long at a time. Once she has been away for two days, the others, especially the two little girls, seem to think she doesn't belong anymore and then she can't join them, even if she wants to - and she has tried. So if we make sure they stay together for a few days, they might accept Cotton. Once we do allow her to withdraw upstairs, I would stiill watch how much time she spends up there and take her down if it seems like it is too long so she doesn't lose her position in the group. meanwhile, we want to teach the others to use the ramp. The ideal scenario would be all of them using both levels. They'd have loads of space and Cotton would still have opportunities to withdraw without really being away. Worst case-scenario is that Cotton gets too stressed and we might have to let her keep the upper level to herself. She'd still hear the others which seems to help, but couldn't really be part of the herd. Obviously, we're hoping this won't happen and our plan will work out. We have often introduced piggies to each other before and it was alwys quite easy, but they were never far apart from each other in age.
Any opinions? Additional suggestions? At thhis point I'm grateful for any input others may be able to provide.
One week later, we introduced them all to Flash, again in the bathroom on a fresh blanket. We put them all on the upper level, but it dodn't take long for Cotton to walk down the ramp to the lower level where she stayed again for almost two days. meanwhile, we were trying to teach the others how to use the ramp by putting vegetable pieces on it and they did start looking at it and going down a few steps, but never all the way down.
After almost two nights, Cotton came back upstairs and Ginger and Oreo threatened her immeadiately, "like two tiny wolves", as my husband said (I had gone to bed) and he had to take Cotton and put her back down. She tried once more a day later, but because the situation had looked so dangerous, my husband had temporarily closed up the hole to the upper level.
Now he has almost finished building a generous extention to the cage. It was a bit on the small side, in our opinion, and if three piggies have to share one level and Cotton gets the other, it is dfeinitely too small. So the lower level will be extended (L-shaped under a shelf, my husband is amazing with building stuff) and our plan is to introduce them all to Cotton on neutral territory again today (carefully, one by one), clean the cage out very thoroughly and put them all on the large, lower level. Due to the extension, it should be new to all of them. I toold my husband we should block the upper level for the first few days so Cotton can't go up there on her own. my theory is that the younger piggies are a little too lively for her, so she withdraws, but for way too long at a time. Once she has been away for two days, the others, especially the two little girls, seem to think she doesn't belong anymore and then she can't join them, even if she wants to - and she has tried. So if we make sure they stay together for a few days, they might accept Cotton. Once we do allow her to withdraw upstairs, I would stiill watch how much time she spends up there and take her down if it seems like it is too long so she doesn't lose her position in the group. meanwhile, we want to teach the others to use the ramp. The ideal scenario would be all of them using both levels. They'd have loads of space and Cotton would still have opportunities to withdraw without really being away. Worst case-scenario is that Cotton gets too stressed and we might have to let her keep the upper level to herself. She'd still hear the others which seems to help, but couldn't really be part of the herd. Obviously, we're hoping this won't happen and our plan will work out. We have often introduced piggies to each other before and it was alwys quite easy, but they were never far apart from each other in age.
Any opinions? Additional suggestions? At thhis point I'm grateful for any input others may be able to provide.
