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Help With Introducing A New Guinea Pig

ELS

ELS

Junior Guinea Pig
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I have had a female guinea pig for about 6 months now. She is extremely lovable and very mild mannered. I spent a lot of time with her and hold her a lot which she loves. I have read you should never have jusy one. So I did adopt another female which is smaller than the one I have now. When trying to introduce them, Callie (my guinea pig) attacked the baby gp. She was extremely aggressive and after i separated them by putting them in separate cages, Callie was a lunatic trying to squeeze her head through the bars to get to the baby. I just don't know what to do, I am extremely worried she will hurt the baby. Help !
 
This is probably when you female feels like there is an intruder. I would put their cages relatively close together so that she can hear the other guinea. Start slowly dont push them ever... Give you female a treat when she meets the baby. Just go suuuper slow and let her get used to the baby. It will work ou dont worry!
 
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Welcome to the Forum.
It is wonderful that you got your girl a friend as it is extremely important for guinea pigs to have companionship of their own kind.

However meeting and bonding guinea pigs can be a complicated process which often looks quite brutal to us - I felt physically ill watching my lot go through the bonding process!
I think it is even harder when there is a baby piggy involved. but it is quite rare that an older female would seriously hurt a baby during bonding, even if it looks like she is being rough.

The best preparation for bonding is to read through the guides that @Reenie lined to above.

Set up your neutral bonding area on a day when you have several hours to spare, and follow the guides.
I am fairly certain that after a couple of hours with 2 girls they will be in a position to reintroduce them to a newly cleaned and neutral cage, and go on to have many long years of companionship together.
 
Reenie said:
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
This link will help. Did you just put the baby in the cage, or did you bond them on neutral territory?
Click to expand...
Made the mistake of letting them meet in callies cage. At first it was going well, Callie was making all kinds of happy noises than the baby tried getting in her hammock and that's when I went bad. Callie seems to even get spastic when she smells the new baby. Is this normal ?
 
ELS said:
Made the mistake of letting them meet in callies cage. At first it was going well, Callie was making all kinds of happy noises than the baby tried getting in her hammock and that's when I went bad. Callie seems to even get spastic when she smells the new baby. Is this normal ?
Click to expand...
Please can you explain what you mean by "spastic"? Do you mean she jumps up and down?
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
Please can you explain what you mean by "spastic"? Do you mean she jumps up and down?
Click to expand...
I meant she was moving around the cage very fast and trying to stick her head through her cage to try and get to the baby guinea pig, that was in a separate cage next to her cage
 
Was it anything like the running and jumping of the pigs in the videos in this thread Popcorning Piggies
They are doing 'zoomies' and 'popcorning' which mean they are happy. If it's like that, it means your original sow is pleased to have the company - which would be great, obviously!
 
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ELS said:
I meant she was moving around the cage very fast and trying to stick her head through her cage to try and get to the baby guinea pig, that was in a separate cage next to her cage
Click to expand...
She may just be excited and curious about the new piggy.

You really need to keep them separate until you can bond them properly on fully neutral territory.
Throwing one piggy directly into another piggies cage will not work.
When they seem happy in the bonding area, you can move them together into a fully cleaned and rearranged cage - it really should seem like a new environment to both of them.
For the first few days make sure all hideys have at least 2 doors - stick tunnels and old cardboard boxes are brilliant at this stage.
 
Thanks for all of the advice. Taking it nice and slow ! Here is a picture! Callie is the bigger girl and my new baby is the black and white girl

IMG_1026.webp
 
Thank you !
I have slowly started to put the near one another. I am just unsure how long I should wait before separating once my older girl starts her teeth chattering? She does ok at first bit after about 10 minutes she will start getting dominate. The smaller girl will end up doing a loud high pitched sound. So I am worried she is scared.
I just don't know if I'm supposed to let it play out or stop it when I see things are getting tense ? Thank you !
Reenie said:
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
This link will help. Did you just put the baby in the cage, or did you bond them on neutral territory?
Click to expand...
 
ELS said:
Thank you !
I have slowly started to put the near one another. I am just unsure how long I should wait before separating once my older girl starts her teeth chattering? She does ok at first bit after about 10 minutes she will start getting dominate. The smaller girl will end up doing a loud high pitched sound. So I am worried she is scared.
I just don't know if I'm supposed to let it play out or stop it when I see things are getting tense ? Thank you !
Click to expand...

Teeth chattering is ok. You only need to separate them if it escalates to where they look like they are going to fight, or if someone is in danger of injury. It is also perfectly natural for the under piggy to squeak. This is her acknowledging that the other pig is the boss. I still see mine do this sometimes, and they are well bonded. You do need to keep an eye on them though. The guidance will give you an indication as to when to give up. I know bonding girls is different from boys, but I've only ever done it with boys, so I'm afraid I'm quoting other people's advice rather than talking from experience.
 
ELS said:
Thank you !
I have slowly started to put the near one another. I am just unsure how long I should wait before separating once my older girl starts her teeth chattering? She does ok at first bit after about 10 minutes she will start getting dominate. The smaller girl will end up doing a loud high pitched sound. So I am worried she is scared.
I just don't know if I'm supposed to let it play out or stop it when I see things are getting tense ? Thank you !
Click to expand...

Have you read the bonding guides we linked to in an earlier post?
They have full descriptions and videos of what normal behavior during bonding is.
What you are describing is perfectly normal, and does not require them to be separated.

Constantly putting them together and then separating them again is not fair to your guinea pigs.
You need to follow the advice in the guides, and give them a proper chance to sort out their hierarchy.
 
Reenie said:
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
This link will help. Did you just put the baby in the cage, or did you bond them on neutral territory?
Click to expand...
Swissgreys said:
Have you read the bonding guides we linked to in an earlier post?
They have full descriptions and videos of what normal behavior during bonding is.
What you are describing is perfectly normal, and does not require them to be separated.

Constantly putting them together and then separating them again is not fair to your guinea pigs.
You need to follow the advice in the guides, and give them a proper chance to sort out their hierarchy.
Click to expand...

IMG_1058.webp
 
ELS said:
4 hours later we have two very happy girls.
We did about 3 hours of bonding and the last hour they have been happily playing and exploring around the rearranged cage.
Thank you again for all of your advice and helpful tips !
Click to expand...
Fantastic result!
 
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