Introducing my guinea pigs!

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MaxRuby123

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Hi, I have just recently got 3 sows -2 of them mother and daughter and 1 from a different home. They have been in the 2 levelled hutch for 3 days with a ladder joining the two levels. The single sow has stayed at the top and not been near the ladder and the bottom 2 have sniffed around the ladder. I tried to introduce them today by placing the Guinea pig that was upstairs to the other two by putting her in their section. This resulted in the mother on the lower section mounting the newbie and then chasing her around the hutch biting her. I then separated the two and placed her back in her normal place at the top. After I had separated the two, the both chattered their teeth. I really want to introduce the two however I’m am not sure if I should leave them to introduce themselves through the ladder. All advice wanted, thank you!😊
 
Wiebke has posted some great guides on this, but I think you are supposed to introduce everyone on neutral ground (playpen, outdoor run, your bathtub) and see if they get on first- definitely not by putting someone in someone else's hutch space!
Not sure how you'd remedy that after the fact though, this is definitely a question for an expert... if I knew how to tag someone in I would but check out all the behaviour guides on introductions!
 
Do you have a space where you can introduced them without a ladder? I have the same 2-floor hutch but I wouldn't recommend introducing the guinea pigs in there. They might fall from running away from each other or there are possibilities that one would be stuck in one corner and no place to run. Let them bond on a flat floor first. When they are all bonded then I'd start letting them in the hutch.
 
Thanks for the replies! How large would you recommend the neutral space to be?
 
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