Intro/bonding questions for new lonely guinea pig

[Poohbear26]

Hi there! I have adopted an approximately 1.5 year old intact female guinea pig from a family member who was seeking to rehome her. She has been alone since her initial adoption. I am working on getting her a companion and have some questions. I am having a harder time than I thought I would finding a female guinea pig to rescue so my options are limited at the moment. My local animal shelter has young (listed as 7 weeks) female guinea pigs currently being fostered by an animal hospital. The hospital reports that they are planning to spay them in about a week and they want to keep them there for 7-10 days to recover. Here are my questions:

Is there a higher chance that my current guinea pig will not get along with such a young one? (I am ultimately looking to see if there is a way I can increase my odds of not having to return the new one if the introduction fails although I am aware that it may take a while and multiple tries to find a suitable companion for our girl). I am very interested in the thoughts of you all who have much more experience with this than I do.

My current guinea pig is in a temporary cage at the moment and I have just finished setting up her new larger cage. Is it best for her to enter now or should I wait until after a successful bonding before putting her and her new friend into the new cage?

 

[Ramia]

I hear babies are easier to bond because they just want a leader, so it might go well.

The bonding will need to be done on neutral territory so if you move your current girl into the bigger cage, it can't be done there.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

Often a younger piggy is well accepted because a piggy of 7 weeks of age is not going to challenge for dominance. However any bond still comes down to compatibility between the two piggies. Ultimately you will not know whether a bonding will work until you try.

When you bond you must do so on neutral territory.
This means that if you put her in the new cage now, then you will need to carry out the bonding in another space (one where she hasn’t been) before moving them back to the cage (once it has been cleaned again) once bonding has happened.

You could leave her in her temporary cage until the day you bond her with a new friend and then you can use the new cage as bonding space and then not have to move them again. This depends whether her temporary cage is big enough for her to stay in now though

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours

 

[Poohbear26]

Welcome to the forum

Often a younger piggy is well accepted because a piggy of 7 weeks of age is not going to challenge for dominance. However any bond still comes down to compatibility between the two piggies. Ultimately you will not know whether a bonding will work until you try.

When you bond you must do so on neutral territory.
This means that if you put her in the new cage now, then you will need to carry out the bonding in another space (one where she hasn’t been) before moving them back to the cage (once it has been cleaned again) once bonding has happened.

You could leave her in her temporary cage until the day you bond her with a new friend and then you can use the new cage as bonding space and then not have to move them again. This depends whether her temporary cage is big enough for her to stay in now though

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours

Thank you so much for your reply. I should have specified that I planned to introduce them in a separate larger neutral area BEFORE moving them into the new cage. Her temporary cage is pretty small but I plan to expand it since it will be a little while before the new baby is available to come home. Thanks again!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you so much for your reply. I should have specified that I planned to introduce them in a separate larger neutral area BEFORE moving them into the new cage. Her temporary cage is pretty small but I plan to expand it since it will be a little while before the new baby is available to come home. Thanks again!

A cage she is in by herself must be 120x60cm as a minimum.
As a pair the cage needs to be 150x60cm.

If she hasn’t been in the new cage at all then it can be used as your neutral bonding space. It makes things easier as you obviously don’t need to then move them from neutral into the cage (which is then another new territory and will just cause another set of dominance)
It’s only if she goes into the new cage by herself then you cannot use it as neutral space.

Let us know how it all goes

 

[Poohbear26]

A cage she is in by herself must be 120x60cm as a minimum.
As a pair the cage needs to be 150x60cm.

If she hasn’t been in the new cage at all then it can be used as your neutral bonding space. It makes things easier as you obviously don’t need to then move them from neutral into the cage (which is then another new territory and will just cause another set of dominance)
It’s only if she goes into the new cage by herself then you cannot use it as neutral space.

Let us know how it all goes

Update on the lonely guinea pig…
I found out that the baby we were adopting was closely bonded with her mother who was only a few months older than her. I couldn’t bring myself to separate them so I moved some things around to make a huge cage for them. The new girls were very scared at first so we did not have them interact with our original piggie just yet. I put them in the new big cage with a divider and they were fine coexisting next to each other. Once they settled down 24 hours later, we removed the barrier. For the first 5 minutes there was lots of rumblestrutting from the new “older” girl. The baby just minded her business and ate hay. The original piggie was bum sniffing and following the new piggies around. After the first 5 minutes, the new older girl would not tolerate being followed anymore and things escalated quickly into jumping up and kicking each other. I panicked and separated them. They proceeded to chatter their teeth loudly for the next 15 minutes and would not calm down so the barrier went back up. The new older girl continued to rumblestrut even when the baby is near her for another 30 minutes. I am prepared to have the new girls live side by side to my original girl but was wondering if you all think I should bother trying again after allowing the new girls to settle in for a bit longer. I’m slightly bummed that our original girl was grooming the baby’s ears and they seemed to enjoy each other’s company for the short time they were together. But the baby is bonded to the mother so she is in the mother’s section.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear that.

How old is the mother?

Unfortunately, The introduction was not carried out properly - that in itself can cause issues.

Allowing them to live side by side for at least week allows the new girls to really settle in, 24 hours just isn’t enough. Carrying out a bonding while new piggies are on edge is likely to produce a defensive reaction.

When you introduce them you cannot just remove a divider and allow them to wander into each others half. That can be seen as a territory invasion. You always need to carry out an introduction in a neutral space, somewhere none of the piggies have been (such as a different playpen or even a secure, small space something like a bathroom floor).

With that said, if there is a character clash with the mother and your original piggy both wanting to be dominant, then a bonding will not work.
Introducing a single piggy (your original girl) to a bonded pair is a bonding which is most likely to fail.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours

 

[Poohbear26]

I’m sorry to hear that.

How old is the mother?

Unfortunately, The introduction was not carried out properly - that in itself can cause issues.

Allowing them to live side by side for at least week allows the new girls to really settle in, 24 hours just isn’t enough. Carrying out a bonding while new piggies are on edge is likely to produce a defensive reaction.

When you introduce them you cannot just remove a divider and allow them to wander into each others half. That can be seen as a territory invasion. You always need to carry out an introduction in a neutral space, somewhere none of the piggies have been (such as a different playpen or even a secure, small space something like a bathroom floor).

With that said, if there is a character clash with the mother and your original piggy both wanting to be dominant, then a bonding will not work.
Introducing a single piggy (your original girl) to a bonded pair is a bonding which is most likely to fail.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours

Thank you for the reply. There is so much information available and I must have gotten confused after reading so much about Guinea pig behavior. Thank you again for your help. We will just try to give them all the best life we can.

Editing to add that I was told that the mother is between 6 months and 1 year old to answer your question.