Herds Co-mingling?

Hope4gem

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Hi and thanks for taking the time to read my post. My family currently has a bonded pair of guinea pigs (7 month old female and 4 month old female). We just got a new guinea pig and will be getting her a (female) guinea pig friend as well. My question is, can these two guinea pig herds commingle? Or is it best to always keep them just to their own two separate herds? I'm new to this forum so I hope I'm following all the rules and posting this properly. Any advice on my question would be appreciated. Thanks so much!
 
:wel:I’m not sure what you mean by co-mingle. If you mean play dates then it’s a firm no. The only way to have them interacting is to bond them altogether. Bug DK bear in mind it could go either way. If in pairs they wouldn’t need interaction since they all have company.

In the meantime your new girl has to live vic alongside the pair until you get her a friend. If she’s less than four months then you can forgo quarantine and bond her with the pair. If she’s older than 4 months, she needs to be BBC quarantined for two weeks (if she isn’t from a rescue) in a different room. Did you get her from a rescue or elsewhere (private, pet shop, breeder) and how old is she roughly?

Are you able to take her bonding soon? I don’t know if there are any rescues nearby but the best way would be to take her somewhere they do dating. That way she can pick somepig she gets in with best. Have a read of the guides I’ve linked below

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Importance Of Quarantine

Guinea Lynx :: US Guinea Pig Rescue and Shelter Organizations
 
:wel:I’m not sure what you mean by co-mingle. If you mean play dates then it’s a firm no. The only way to have them interacting is to bond them altogether. Bug DK bear in mind it could go either way. If in pairs they wouldn’t need interaction since they all have company.

In the meantime your new girl has to live vic alongside the pair until you get her a friend. If she’s less than four months then you can forgo quarantine and bond her with the pair. If she’s older than 4 months, she needs to be BBC quarantined for two weeks (if she isn’t from a rescue) in a different room. Did you get her from a rescue or elsewhere (private, pet shop, breeder) and how old is she roughly?

Are you able to take her bonding soon? I don’t know if there are any rescues nearby but the best way would be to take her somewhere they do dating. That way she can pick somepig she gets in with best. Have a read of the guides I’ve linked below

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Importance Of Quarantine

Guinea Lynx :: US Guinea Pig Rescue and Shelter Organizations
Thank you so much for the advice. Our youngest piggie is probably about 2 months old, but we're not sure because we got her from a pet store and they didn't know her age. I don't want to bond her with the two piggies we already have because those two piggies are usually staying with another family member. I just wanted to see if they could ever interact. We've been keeping them separate from the baby so far and it sounds like from what you're saying we should do that moving forward. I'm guessing the risk is that they might fight? I want to get her a friend soon, but need to quarentine her first because she has an eye infection. She's almost done with the antibiotic eye drops that the vet gave us. So once she's all better we'll start to look for a friend for her.
 
If the three piggies you have aren’t going to be able to permanently live together, then I would not bond them.

However at two months old she is too young to be alone and needs to be kept alongside the pair so they can interact through the bars but she needs a live in friend ASAP. If you got her from a pet shop, then it’s a shame she was purchased as a single piggy.
you forego quarantine for piggies under four months old and bond then with a new friend straight away regardless of any medical conditions - you just have to run the risk that you will end up needing to treat them both. However, it depends on what the eye infection is and how it came about - an infection caused by a haypoke for example will not be likely to cause infection in another piggy so there would be no need to wait until her treatment is finished
 
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:agr: Please leave quarantining and get her a friend as soon as possible.
 
If the three piggies you have aren’t going to be able to permanently live together, then I would not bond them.

However at two months old she is too young to be alone and needs to be kept alongside the pair so they can interact through the bars but she needs a live in friend ASAP. If you got her from a pet shop, then it’s a shame she was purchased as a single piggy.
you forego quarantine for piggies under four months old and bond then with a new friend straight away regardless of any medical conditions - you just have to run the risk that you will end up needing to treat them both. However, it depends on what the eye infection is and how it came about - an infection caused by a haypoke for example will not be likely to cause infection in another piggy so there would be no need to wait until her treatment is finished

Thank you for the advice. I don't know what caused the eye infection. We noticed symptoms that something was wrong 3 days after we purchased her. We will get her a friend as soon as we can. Thanks again.
 
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