chewy110214
Junior Guinea Pig
Hello fellow GP enthusiasts. I'm looking for advice from people who may be more experienced than I. My husband and I adopted our first guinea pig almost two years ago, a single male living on his own. After a few months, we adopted a smaller, younger male (also living on his own) and tried to introduce them. We tried to do this in the best way possible--put cages side-by-side for a week, introduce them on neutral territory, etc. Neither liked it and after three days, a fight broke out resulting in blood being drawn and we gave up trying to have them cohabitate and figured they'd be brothers a few feet apart in separate cages. We know it can be difficult to introduce two adult males. They were both fine with this arrangement.
A few months later, we adopted our third single male living on his own. Since we had bad luck trying for introductions before, we kept everybody the way they were--three single males in three separate cages. Everyone was happy. When it was veggie time, they fed off each other with the wheeking. Even our first first pig--who was very quiet for a very long time--wheeks along with the other two. They are all far enough apart that there is no teeth chattering or anything. Everyone comes out for lap time every night and no one really has any problem with it (if one pees on the couch with us, the next pig will sniff around that area but then give it up after a minute or two).
So now we are known as guinea pig people, and two weeks ago we were approached by a friend who had a friend trying to get rid of two males that were being kind of neglected in her basement. It's hard to say no when you know how loving and intelligent guinea pigs are, and you know that there's some out there not getting the best treatment and you could potentially help. I know all you here will understand, they each have such personalities, not the way many people view them as JUST a guinea pig. So since we had a large exercise playpen that we put our piggies in occasionally that could be used, we took the two boys. Piggy number one (our very first pig we got) was NOT happy. This was our first time experiencing two pigs that live together, and they make MUCH more noise than our single guys. They communicate with each other a LOT. Every little noise these pigs make sends piggy #1 into a fit. Loud wheeking, climbing his cage, biting cage bars, teeth chattering, rumbling, crying.... We thought he'd calm down and get used to it. We put the two new boys in our bedroom to quarantine them for a week and give them a quieter place to adapt to their new home (everyone else is in the living room and very used to us walking back and forth and making noise). Piggy #1 did calm down a considerable amount, and now only throws this fit if the new boys are very loud from the bedroom.
I knew when it was time to bring them into the living room with everyone else, piggy #1 would go crazy again. But I was willing to try since he calmed down a lot during the week knowing they were in the bedroom. We rearranged the whole living room, bought them a new, large cage, and tried to put them there yesterday afternoon. Piggy #1 is upset ALL the time. I feel so bad and my heart breaks to see him so stressed out and hear him cry at every movement or noise the new boys make. He stands at the edge of his cage closest to them and just yells. It was so bad that this morning we moved them back into the bedroom to calm piggy #1 back down. I couldn't leave for work with him freaking out like that, I was afraid he'd hurt himself. He was still pretty upset even after they'd moved back to the bedroom so my husband even stayed home from work to keep an eye on him (he does calm right down if you go over to his cage and comfort him when he's freaking out).
What perplexes me is that piggies #2 and #3 (our other two single boys) do not give a CRAP. The new boys are loud and chasing each other around, and the other two pigs just sleep right through it. Why does piggy #1 have such a problem with them? Will he ever get used to it? We're considering just keeping them in the bedroom permanently (not the most ideal situation, but seems like it has to be done) or even surrendering them (we also don't want to do that). Piggy #1 has a special place in my heart, he is a sweet cuddler, and it's killing me to see him so upset. How can I fix this? Is this normal behavior? He was fine with the other two single males, they'd make noise occasionally and it wouldn't send him into a fit, so why is this happening? The other two pigs are fine with it?
A few months later, we adopted our third single male living on his own. Since we had bad luck trying for introductions before, we kept everybody the way they were--three single males in three separate cages. Everyone was happy. When it was veggie time, they fed off each other with the wheeking. Even our first first pig--who was very quiet for a very long time--wheeks along with the other two. They are all far enough apart that there is no teeth chattering or anything. Everyone comes out for lap time every night and no one really has any problem with it (if one pees on the couch with us, the next pig will sniff around that area but then give it up after a minute or two).
So now we are known as guinea pig people, and two weeks ago we were approached by a friend who had a friend trying to get rid of two males that were being kind of neglected in her basement. It's hard to say no when you know how loving and intelligent guinea pigs are, and you know that there's some out there not getting the best treatment and you could potentially help. I know all you here will understand, they each have such personalities, not the way many people view them as JUST a guinea pig. So since we had a large exercise playpen that we put our piggies in occasionally that could be used, we took the two boys. Piggy number one (our very first pig we got) was NOT happy. This was our first time experiencing two pigs that live together, and they make MUCH more noise than our single guys. They communicate with each other a LOT. Every little noise these pigs make sends piggy #1 into a fit. Loud wheeking, climbing his cage, biting cage bars, teeth chattering, rumbling, crying.... We thought he'd calm down and get used to it. We put the two new boys in our bedroom to quarantine them for a week and give them a quieter place to adapt to their new home (everyone else is in the living room and very used to us walking back and forth and making noise). Piggy #1 did calm down a considerable amount, and now only throws this fit if the new boys are very loud from the bedroom.
I knew when it was time to bring them into the living room with everyone else, piggy #1 would go crazy again. But I was willing to try since he calmed down a lot during the week knowing they were in the bedroom. We rearranged the whole living room, bought them a new, large cage, and tried to put them there yesterday afternoon. Piggy #1 is upset ALL the time. I feel so bad and my heart breaks to see him so stressed out and hear him cry at every movement or noise the new boys make. He stands at the edge of his cage closest to them and just yells. It was so bad that this morning we moved them back into the bedroom to calm piggy #1 back down. I couldn't leave for work with him freaking out like that, I was afraid he'd hurt himself. He was still pretty upset even after they'd moved back to the bedroom so my husband even stayed home from work to keep an eye on him (he does calm right down if you go over to his cage and comfort him when he's freaking out).
What perplexes me is that piggies #2 and #3 (our other two single boys) do not give a CRAP. The new boys are loud and chasing each other around, and the other two pigs just sleep right through it. Why does piggy #1 have such a problem with them? Will he ever get used to it? We're considering just keeping them in the bedroom permanently (not the most ideal situation, but seems like it has to be done) or even surrendering them (we also don't want to do that). Piggy #1 has a special place in my heart, he is a sweet cuddler, and it's killing me to see him so upset. How can I fix this? Is this normal behavior? He was fine with the other two single males, they'd make noise occasionally and it wouldn't send him into a fit, so why is this happening? The other two pigs are fine with it?
