How do I build my new piggies trust?

[Georgia's_Guineas]

I recently bought a new guinea as my female Pippin was lonely due to her sister passing. Pippin does not get on with Peanut (the new pig) AT ALL . So now they are in separate cages that are placed next to eachother.

Any tips on how I can gain Peanut's trust? She is very jumpy and zooms everywhere lol. I try to be quiet and still with her but she's not quite confident enough for petting just yet. She is so lovely bless her

 

[Jesse's pigs]

Hello and congrats on your new addition.

Can I just ask, by not getting on at all what exactly do you mean? bonding can be stressful for us to watch and it can look quite rough sometimes despite going OK.

Now bonding with your new arrival! This does require patience and each piggy is individual and can take ages or no time at all to trust you. My first two boys:Mo and Steve as well as my first female piggy: Vinny were reasonably quick to trust me and I was able to interact quite early on. My newest piggy Bellamy however is the opposite. I bought him home this February and while better, he is still quite timid. I do think this is partly because he was older when I got him (6 months) whereas my boys were only a few weeks.

I always advise bringing food with you when you go to interact. Let the new piggy associate you with the food and thus good things. They'll soon realise that your approach is not a scary thing and actually a time for food and attention. I used to play music or watch videos near my piggies cage as well as talking whenever near them so they got used to my voice. Leaving your hand in the cage and allowing her to come up and sniff it also works wonders I find.

 

[Piggies&buns]

What was the behaviour you were seeing between the two to prompt you to separate them and say the bonding had failed? you read all the bonding guides in the bonding section of this site to be sure what you are seeing a failed bond and not just normal dominance behaviour which every new pair will have to go through to establish a relationship.

In terms of gaining trust, that takes time. I have had my boys a year and one of them still won’t come near me but a bit each day things improve. Guinea pigs are prey animals so will always be jumpy.