Introducing new baby to my girls..help!

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I have just adopted a new baby girl piggy and am trying the introductions with my two 1yr old girls. Yesterday evening I put them all in the indoor run, first Puddin with baby and that seemed ok apart from the normal dominance thing, then after 10 mins I added my other girl Bambi....oooops! Lets just say she is NOT happy!


Bambi has always been a bit hot headed, she started off chasing, sniffing, rumbling all ok things but she was also getting a little aggressive with both baby and pudding, pudding looked like she was trying to protect baby by pushing bambi away, anyway after some time and a little grass they seemed ok ish so i put all 3 in the clean main cage to see what happened, this is when Bambi got really aggressive to the point of wide open mouth and lunged at baby, pudding actually nudged her out the way thankfully.


Also since the start of intros both adult girls are constantly rumbling and mounting each other and Bambi is heavily scenting the cage, teeth chattering and on edge, she is obviously not happy.


Overnight we put a grid and clear Perspex in the cage to separate them but what do i do now?


Questions....
My plan is to try them in the run again later, is this the thing right to do?

Do i put any hiddies etc in?

How long do i leave them in there? 10 mins at a time or do the intro all in one go?

Do I separate them again for overnight?

At what point do i allow them all free run of the main cage?

Hope someone can help:...
Thanks
 
I'd be interested in advice given in this thread too. I am trying to bond a 2 year old sow with my three (neutered boar and two girls) and when I put Treacle (the newbie) next to the others with just a divider all hell broke loose. There was loads of teeth chattering and then it seemed to really wind my three up and Mabel and Marley were squaring up to each other and all fur raised, bad teeth chattering etc. I had to takeTreacle away quick and move them away for each other for 5 mins until they all calmed down!
 
Try to put them together again for as long as possible so that all girls can work out the hierarchy. Separate only when one of the piggies goes on overload and the tension is spilling over to everypig. The more time they can have together the better, as interrrupting the bonding too much is counterproductive. Often you will find that things are somewhat quieter on the second day.

Don't have much stuff in there - a flat plate with grass or hay. Make sure that you do not add any hideys, especially not ones with only one exit; that can trigger an aggressive reaction from a cornered piggy. Only add stuff once things are settling down a bit more.

Here are more tips: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562
 
Thanks Wiebke

I am going to give it a go now, will post update later :)
 
Update

Well they spent 5 hrs in the run together with me watching, at times they were calm but mostly Bambi was trying to nip/bite baby, even Puddin and Bambi were raising up to each other!


I spent an hr stripping back the main cage, completely cleaned everything twice to get rid of as much scent as i could, put all clean bedding in and moved things around, I have read this helps. I then put all 3 back in the main cage with their veggie tea but nothing has changed! Bambi is being so nasty still and i don’t know what to do next?


Any other ideas would be so much appreciated.


I have put baby on the top tier for the night with her own food and water, and the other 2 downstairs. I have bonded piggies before but only on a one to one after a piggy has died and it’s always gone really well, just don’t know what to do? mallethead?/
 
It sounds like normal dominance behaviour, frankly - a new youngster will always be put in place quite strongly. I find that it takes about two weeks on average to settle a group after an introduction.
Here is more about sow behaviour: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38561

You may find that your little one may be left out even after the dominance has settled down. Trios are a bit prone to outsider problems unless you get the character combination just right; if you do, they are great.
 
Do you think it's best to seperate during the night as i said before? and then try bonding again in the run tomorrow, or the cage?
 
Good luck in the bonding XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I hope things settle down......... maybe today (wednesday) they'll work out who's boss (erm yeah whee already know who ;)) all paws crossed love XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 
Had an idea for today, I cleaned and washed everything in the run last night so I'm going to try miss bossy boots bambi on her own with baby for a while.....pow-pow will update later:)
 
You will find that the piggy just above in the hierarchy is often very bossy with a new piggy to retain its place. it sounds quite normal for me - dominance is not for the fainthearted! Make sure that all three piggies have their hideys; I also find that separate feeding bowls help with the typical pushing an underpiggy off stuff.

Here is more about sow behaviour, including dominance. I wouldn't not continue to separate. http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38561
 
Shhhh zzz.......all is quiet in piggie palace :<>:<>:<>

wow what a day it's been, so this is how it went.....

I put miss bossy boots Bambi in with the baby, hay and grass in middle and 3 fleece tubes, a few nips to start with but not as bad as yesterday, I then added puddin and again a little chasing and nipping but not too bad, then after a couple of hrs......all hell broke loose:{

.. if you can imagine a couple of rabbits or hares fighting like they are in a boxing match along teeth chattering with rumble strutting very loudly then thats about what Bambi and Puddin were doing! I quickly removed the baby and put a fleece mat between the girls to calm them down, they have lived together happily for the last year so baby has really upset the pecking order.

My guess is that Bambi is fighting for dominance over both Puddin and the baby.

Anyway, I left them to sort it out while watching closely and after a couple of hrs they seem to settle down. I put them all in the main cage for tea, a few squabbles followed but ok, then they started on each other again not so bad this time, I had to leave the room for a few mins and when i came back Bambi seemed to be more submisive so hopefully they have sorted it out.

They appear to be better with the baby now although I don't like it when they corner her incase she can't escape a double nipping.

Although all is quiet now, I am not sure about leaving them all together all night...but for now, we have peace :)
 
I just wanted to say thanks to all who helped me and the girls on this:<>

So 3 days on and first night together they are all in one piece this morning and seem reasonably happy with each other apart from a little dominance still going on.

I have realised I may have made a big error in my timing of intros, I think maybe the girls were in season which made things a lot more difficult than they might have been... a lesson learnt theremallethead

I hope this thread helps others tooxx>>>
 
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