Those of you who have been on this Forum for a while may recall our sweet (?) agouti guinea pig Ruby and her bonding woes.
In the almost 5 years we have had her, Ruby has fallen out with (or just failed to bond with) between 8 - 10 guinea pigs.
It would appear that Ruby does not like babies, adults, males or females.
In fact Ruby likes one person - her devoted human slave - and no one else.
Ruby most definitely does not like me.
So I had pretty much given up the search for a companion for Ruby, until last week.
Last week just by chance I spotted Coconut.
Now sadly Coconut is not a rescue and does come from a large chain store, however she seemed to have all the qualities that a friend for Ruby would need.
She was calm, non aggressive, non confrontational and very laid back.
Not to mention that they look fairly similar. I don’t know if that makes a difference, but I wondered if Ruby would be more accepting of another piggy that looks like her?
Based on Ruby’s track record I still wasn’t sure, but we bought Coconut home anyway, and set up the bonding pen to see what would happen.
As always the bonding took place in a neutral area and the initial signs were surprisingly good.
Ruby showed very little interest in Coconut, and when she did try to bite her Coconut did not react at all.
Ruby quickly got bored and wandered off to eat hay.
After a long session in the bonding pen, we were happy that Ruby had finally accepted a new friend.
Please allow me to introduce the newly and successfully bonded Ruby and Coconut.
Scroll down for the photo.
In the almost 5 years we have had her, Ruby has fallen out with (or just failed to bond with) between 8 - 10 guinea pigs.
It would appear that Ruby does not like babies, adults, males or females.
In fact Ruby likes one person - her devoted human slave - and no one else.
Ruby most definitely does not like me.
So I had pretty much given up the search for a companion for Ruby, until last week.
Last week just by chance I spotted Coconut.
Now sadly Coconut is not a rescue and does come from a large chain store, however she seemed to have all the qualities that a friend for Ruby would need.
She was calm, non aggressive, non confrontational and very laid back.
Not to mention that they look fairly similar. I don’t know if that makes a difference, but I wondered if Ruby would be more accepting of another piggy that looks like her?
Based on Ruby’s track record I still wasn’t sure, but we bought Coconut home anyway, and set up the bonding pen to see what would happen.
As always the bonding took place in a neutral area and the initial signs were surprisingly good.
Ruby showed very little interest in Coconut, and when she did try to bite her Coconut did not react at all.
Ruby quickly got bored and wandered off to eat hay.
After a long session in the bonding pen, we were happy that Ruby had finally accepted a new friend.
Please allow me to introduce the newly and successfully bonded Ruby and Coconut.
Scroll down for the photo.
xx
