Failed Bonding need help

[leith]

Hello,

This summer I adopted two female guinea pigs. About three weeks ago one died, so I decided to start looking for another companion for the remaining one. I ended up adopting another bonded pair of sows, one about 6 months old and the other about a year old. After a quarantine of two weeks, I followed all of the instructions on bonding and set up a large neutral area in my basement to try and bond the three. I cut open a box to make a hiding place with two entrances. I then scattered lots of hay and veggies around for them. I put them in, and they seemed to get along for the first hour or so, doing all of the normal guinea pig bonding behaviors. Then the dominant sow out of the bonded pair and the sow I already had started clicking their teeth at each other and lunging at each other. after they did this about three times, I took them out and put them back in their separate cages. One of them ended up with a small cut on its mouth. I realized that maybe I had made a mistake leaving the two tunnels i had carried them in in the neutral area. I had left them in because they seemed to like sniffing them but wondered if it had caused the fighting. After a day apart , I put their cages next to each other in hopes they would come to accept each other but they just go up to the bars and click their teeth at each other.

Sorry for the long post. please let me know if there is any chance I can still bond them.

please tell me if i am doing anything wrong! I am fairly new to guinea pigs.

Thanks!

 

[Wiebke]

Hello,

This summer I adopted two female guinea pigs. About three weeks ago one died, so I decided to start looking for another companion for the remaining one. I ended up adopting another bonded pair of sows, one about 6 months old and the other about a year old. After a quarantine of two weeks, I followed all of the instructions on bonding and set up a large neutral area in my basement to try and bond the three. I cut open a box to make a hiding place with two entrances. I then scattered lots of hay and veggies around for them. I put them in, and they seemed to get along for the first hour or so, doing all of the normal guinea pig bonding behaviors. Then the dominant sow out of the bonded pair and the sow I already had started clicking their teeth at each other and lunging at each other. after they did this about three times, I took them out and put them back in their separate cages. One of them ended up with a small cut on its mouth. I realized that maybe I had made a mistake leaving the two tunnels i had carried them in in the neutral area. I had left them in because they seemed to like sniffing them but wondered if it had caused the fighting. After a day apart , I put their cages next to each other in hopes they would come to accept each other but they just go up to the bars and click their teeth at each other.

Sorry for the long post. please let me know if there is any chance I can still bond them.

please tell me if i am doing anything wrong! I am fairly new to guinea pigs.

Thanks!

Hi and welcome

Unfortunately you are trying to bond piggies that do not want to be together and have made up their mind about that very quickly. Lunging is the strongest worded expression of 'stay out of my space' a piggy can say apart from a defence bite if that personal space is violated.
Please accept that not all piggies click with each other. Our bonding tips are not a failsafe way to success; they are there to help you understand the dynamics and to avoid the most common bonding mistakes in order to give you as much of a chance as you have; the ultimate outcome is always down to the piggies and the chemistry between them, which you cannot predict. There is no magic wand trick in the world that makes any piggies get on with each other, the same way that there is no method of turning every arranged human marriage into a love match.
The tunnels won't have helped, but the bonding would not have come off anyway if the negative signals were that strong straight away. You are dealing with two sows that are very much on the fear-aggressive side and that are not likely to change their minds now.

Please consider keeping them next to each other with interaction through the bars (if possible to see the bodies and touching noses) for round the clock stimulation, but each with their own territory. If you adopt or buy on spec without the option of your piggy choosing their future mate (rescue dating where possible), you need to always have a plan B in case the bonding doesn't come off, as I have learned myself very quickly. What looks good on paper doesn't necessarily work out face to face; some of my own most spectacular fails were seemingly ideal matches.

As you haven't added your country/state or UK county to your account details, I can't help you with more practical tips, but the end of this guide here deals with the 'after' of a failed bonding.

Since we have members and enquiries from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details so we can always tailor any advice to what is relevant and available where you are straight away. Click on your username on the top bar, then go to account details and then down to location. This makes it appear with every post you make and saves everybody time. Thank you!

 

[leith]

Hi and welcome

Unfortunately you are trying to bond piggies that do not want to be together and have made up their mind about that very quickly. Lunging is the strongest worded expression of 'stay out of my space' a piggy can say apart from a defence bite if that personal space is violated.
Please accept that not all piggies click with each other. Our bonding tips are not a failsafe way to success; they are there to help you understand the dynamics and to avoid the most common bonding mistakes in order to give you as much of a chance as you have; the ultimate outcome is always down to the piggies and the chemistry between them, which you cannot predict. There is no magic wand trick in the world that makes any piggies get on with each other, the same way that there is no method of turning every arranged human marriage into a love match.
The tunnels won't have helped, but the bonding would not have come off anyway if the negative signals were that strong straight away. You are dealing with two sows that are very much on the fear-aggressive side and that are not likely to change their minds now.

Please consider keeping them next to each other with interaction through the bars (if possible to see the bodies and touching noses) for round the clock stimulation, but each with their own territory. If you adopt or buy on spec without the option of your piggy choosing their future mate (rescue dating where possible), you need to always have a plan B in case the bonding doesn't come off, as I have learned myself very quickly. What looks good on paper doesn't necessarily work out face to face; some of my own most spectacular fails were seemingly ideal matches.

As you haven't added your country/state or UK county to your account details, I can't help you with more practical tips, but the end of this guide here deals with the 'after' of a failed bonding.

Since we have members and enquiries from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details so we can always tailor any advice to what is relevant and available where you are straight away. Click on your username on the top bar, then go to account details and then down to location. This makes it appear with every post you make and saves everybody time. Thank you!

Thank you for the reply. Too bad it seems like they will never bond, but will the sow that is alone be ok as long as it is next to the cage with the other two? They do go up to the bars together and touch noses and say hi, but after a few moments it just turns into the teeth clicking again.

Thank you so much for the help!