I have been gradually introducing 2 new sows to my other sows, roughly the same age. The 2 dominant I would expect will teeth chatter, but it's not really turned to fights. A bit of sparring but they don't really touch each other. I have plenty of food for all and the 2 non dominant are quite happy and don't really care. How long will the teeth chattering go on? Really not sure if bonding is happening or not...i had them all in the bath last night for a few hours, got them in a large space with hiding places. Got bars separating so they're right beside each other when I'm not there to supevise just incase. Should I just wait it out and hope for the best?
How long to try bond?
- Thread starter Lomo
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Siikibam
Forum Donator 2022/23
If you’ve decided to bond them then you need to leave them all together rather separated by a bar etc. If you put them together then separate them, they have to start all over again with the dominance/hierarchy malarkey. It’s scary but you have to leave them to it, unless blood is drawn or any of them seem distressed and are not being allowed to eat. When you put them back in the cage, you have to have cleaned it so it doesn’t harbour smells of any of them - neutral territory. Have a read through the link below, it should tell you more.
Bonding
Bonding
Thanks, that totally makes sense. I'm just scared to! I'll do a total clear out of cage and try again. Also designing the worst case scenario cage and they need to be separated , hope they can bond
Mother Hubbard
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Oh good luck, I know it's nail biting stuff.
Hi! Guinea pigs don't do gradual introductions. For them it is totally frustrating to have the bonding process interrupted all the time at the first sign of dominance, as the biggest part of bonding is testing whether the piggies involved can work out a hierarchy and therefore a functional group or not.
Once you have committed, you have to sit it out and allow them to work through acceptance into the leadership sort-out, which can take two days, but which cannot be interrupted before the leadership has been establish or an establishment has failed - and that is generally a chunk of several hours in one go each time.
Only if the two top sows can come to an agreement which of them is standing down will the bonding be successful. There is nothing you can do about that - like humans crammed into an office, not all will click and be happy for the other to be boss. Until the leadership has been established or not, the under-sows will sit on the fence and await the outcome. If the leadership question has been solved, then the hierarchy will be established rank by rank from the top down over the next ca. 2 weeks.
In your case, it doesn't promising to me to be honest. It rather looks like the two have made up their mind that they don't want to be with each other. Not every bonding that is not successful has to end in a fight, you know; those are just the most extreme cases. But in my experience once piggies have made up their mind that the other party is 'Not One of Us', you have had it. I have had plenty of bondings that have failed over this issue.
If you force it through, it is bound to resurface again and again down the line as old grudges won't be forgotten.
Please take the time to read our very detailed bonding guide. You should find it helpful.
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
I took your advice sat for hours with them last night, there was less teeth chattering but the younger sow was freaking out too much so I'm just keeping them semi separate. Got a c and c cage coming so will need to come up with a novel design to keep them separated but beside each other in the available space I have. Thanks again
Can you order some extra grids to use as separation?
Siikibam
Forum Donator 2022/23
Check on here somewhere to see the guide on cage size. It has to be on one level, additional floors don’t count towards the space. How many piggies do you have altogether? I’m a tiny bit tempted to neuter my boys and get them a girlfriend each. It’s mt husbands fault 
I've got 4, 2 and 2 girls. The cage will be 2 separate of about 150cm x 75cm in length so be plenty big enough. That's what 2 have now and it's more than enough. They're also not fully grown yet so got a wee while yet. Got my class designing with knex today for me for ideas lol