... but my long term single Beryn has finally given her paw in marriage to gentle widow Betsan (formerly Boots)!
I adopted Beryn (Welsh for 'Candytuft') in September 2017 from the RSPCA Bryn-y-Maen in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. She'd been found as a stray on the ground of the local cricket club, but was not re-claimed despite a mandatory appeal. Before she was dumped, she must have clearly been somebody's much beloved single piggy. The betrayal hit her hard. But this meant that she didn't have a handle on how to deal with other guinea pigs and she was very afraid of them. Over the intervening time, I have tried with her neutered boars, sows, gentle groups, baby girls (she was literally scared stiff by @Janey 's babies who I'd expressly rehomed as company for her. After a careful, slow intro with Dylan (who was the most gentle neutered rescue boar I could find in months of searching) failed last summer, I'd kind of resigned myself to keeping Beryn as a single live-alongside pig.
With Janey's Miaren - you can see the rather stiff body language in December 2017
Keeping her distance during a lap session with Dylan in August 2018
Then came Betsan, who is the last survivor of a long term group whose owner wants to stop keeping guinea pigs. Her owner had found her another elderly piggy for company, but sadly she passed away after only a few months. Betsan arrived literally only hours before the fatal empergency with Heini happened, closely followed by Heini's friend's Llawen's GI stasis and then Hafren's passing - all in the space of just a week.
Betsan sadly didn't gel with my new old ladies group but when she ended up with Beryn both in their own cosies on the sitting room chair while I was playing catch up with the cage clean, the two ended up snuggling up peacefully for half an hour in the same cave with me keeping a very close eye on them...
Beryn is looking very comfy snuggled up with Betsan!
Nevertheless, it has taken a month of living next to each other in a divided at the bottom of the living room and a number of bonding sessions for Beryn to gradually work through her fear and stress of sharing space with another piggy. Through it all, there has been this special vibe between the two that has encouraged me to be patient and try again another time whenever Beryn went on overload.
Earlier this week Beryn was experiencing a strong season during cage clean. With the urge of mounting another piggy taking over, her fear issues went by the wasyide. Betsan as a low ranking sow in her original group was both used to and willing (if with lots of wheeking) to allow Beryn to do what her hormones dictated. They have since been fully together and have settled down quite nicely now with only mild dominance.
There is the right companion out there for most single piggies, even if finding them can take a very long search and lots of attempts...
If you know that a piggy of yours has a strong hang-up, then you have to try your best to work around it. It is often not easy, but thankfully Betsan kept being willing to interact with Beryn through the bars in the days between bonding time.
This also means that for the first time in over 2 years I do not have a single piggy that is a headache to bond/re-bond (last month I still had to find solutions for four of them!), so it is a great relief for me and I am very happy, as I keep telling my long suffering OH all the time!
I adopted Beryn (Welsh for 'Candytuft') in September 2017 from the RSPCA Bryn-y-Maen in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. She'd been found as a stray on the ground of the local cricket club, but was not re-claimed despite a mandatory appeal. Before she was dumped, she must have clearly been somebody's much beloved single piggy. The betrayal hit her hard. But this meant that she didn't have a handle on how to deal with other guinea pigs and she was very afraid of them. Over the intervening time, I have tried with her neutered boars, sows, gentle groups, baby girls (she was literally scared stiff by @Janey 's babies who I'd expressly rehomed as company for her. After a careful, slow intro with Dylan (who was the most gentle neutered rescue boar I could find in months of searching) failed last summer, I'd kind of resigned myself to keeping Beryn as a single live-alongside pig.
With Janey's Miaren - you can see the rather stiff body language in December 2017
Keeping her distance during a lap session with Dylan in August 2018
Then came Betsan, who is the last survivor of a long term group whose owner wants to stop keeping guinea pigs. Her owner had found her another elderly piggy for company, but sadly she passed away after only a few months. Betsan arrived literally only hours before the fatal empergency with Heini happened, closely followed by Heini's friend's Llawen's GI stasis and then Hafren's passing - all in the space of just a week.
Betsan sadly didn't gel with my new old ladies group but when she ended up with Beryn both in their own cosies on the sitting room chair while I was playing catch up with the cage clean, the two ended up snuggling up peacefully for half an hour in the same cave with me keeping a very close eye on them...
Beryn is looking very comfy snuggled up with Betsan!
Nevertheless, it has taken a month of living next to each other in a divided at the bottom of the living room and a number of bonding sessions for Beryn to gradually work through her fear and stress of sharing space with another piggy. Through it all, there has been this special vibe between the two that has encouraged me to be patient and try again another time whenever Beryn went on overload.
Earlier this week Beryn was experiencing a strong season during cage clean. With the urge of mounting another piggy taking over, her fear issues went by the wasyide. Betsan as a low ranking sow in her original group was both used to and willing (if with lots of wheeking) to allow Beryn to do what her hormones dictated. They have since been fully together and have settled down quite nicely now with only mild dominance.
There is the right companion out there for most single piggies, even if finding them can take a very long search and lots of attempts...
If you know that a piggy of yours has a strong hang-up, then you have to try your best to work around it. It is often not easy, but thankfully Betsan kept being willing to interact with Beryn through the bars in the days between bonding time.
This also means that for the first time in over 2 years I do not have a single piggy that is a headache to bond/re-bond (last month I still had to find solutions for four of them!), so it is a great relief for me and I am very happy, as I keep telling my long suffering OH all the time!
