Guinea pigs ignoring each other. Is this normal?

[Sakano]

My guinea pig Sugar died recently and left Spice alone. Guinea pigs can’t be alone so I got another guinea pig to be with him, I would have preferred one his own age but the only one I could find in the area is pretty young.

They seem utterly uninterested in each other. I expected some squealing, excitement or at least sniffing the newcomer, but nothing. my older guinea pig completely ignored him. I put them in separate cages at first but have been putting them together on neutral ground to meet each other. The new one followed him around for a while but lost interest too. Now they're just sitting in the same area together ignoring each other in separate hideouts. I never expected their meeting to go like this.

Spice has been sitting in his pigloo a lot since Sugar died, so I was hoping this would draw him out and get him to be active but he just hid in his pigloo again.

 

[Siikibam]

Give them time. He may still be pining for his former cage mate but should hopefully come round soon. When you say putting them together, have you been leaving them together or separating at night?

 

[Sakano]

I've been separating them at night and when I can't supervise them.

 

[Siikibam]

You can’t do that I’m afraid. Guinea pigs don’t do play dates. Each time you separate and put together, they have to restart the dominance/hierarchy again. You need to do the bonding when you have several hours to spare. And once you’ve done that and see they’re ok, you put them together in a thoroughly cleaned out cage. Below is the link on bonding. Please have a read and don’t attempt again unless you have the time to see it through.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics