New friend for our Roy! Advice required.

[PenPens]

So as it turned out Penny is actually a boy. (I'm not sure if I had posted that up before!) Penny went onto become a Roy and after quite some time on his own we have now found him a new friend!

His new friend is around 3 years old and we have decided to call him Persie. We got him dropped off to our house this morning. The lady who had him before had given him to us after Persie's previous friend died a year ago. Her kids weren't playing with him much and so now he's with us. He's quite timid and his nails are in desperate need of trimming. They're curling under and are all yellow on the ends. I'm rather tempted to give him a trim as it may be more comfortable for him to potter about but it can be stressful and as he's currently in on his own going through the quarantine. Does anyone recommend or has trimmed nails etc whilst in quarantine? The poor little guy is so shy as we expected! He's also no eating anything as far as we can see. We've put his hay and veggies close to his hiding area and let him be so we'll just have to be patient I guess. It's so odd as Roy is just the complete opposite and it's been so long since we got Roy that I can't even remember him being so shy to start.

I haven't take any photos of Persie yet but maybe in a few days when he's come out of hiding I'll snap a few! Neither us have ever introduced piggies to each other so I'll be glued to the forum for advice over the next few days to ensure that they end up being best of pals! Any advice welcome.

In the mean time here is Roy relaxing on my robe.

<a href="http://smg.beta.photobucket.com/user/misnomer_cause/media/Royinprint.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/misnomer_cause/Royinprint.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Royinprint.jpg"/></a>

 

[Guinea pig slave]

Aw, well done on taking Persie...give him a few days to settle in as new noises, smells etc. are a bit overwhelming so he will be a wee bit shy and timid. Make sure he has a hidey or two to take cover from anything that may frighten him, monitor his food/water intake. Most new piggies will eat when we're not around so as long as his food/veggies have gone, he's showing signs of settling
Talk to him at every opportunity - he'll soon get to know your voice.
Bonding is not as straight forward as we'd like so take things easy, these may be useful for you to read:

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?28949-Boars!-Simple-Dominance-Displays-or-Fighting

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?76162-Boars-A-guide-to-successful-companionship

I would trim his nails within a few days - if he's not been well looked after and you have little history on him (his nails kind of tell a tale) possibly consider taking him to the vets for a health check during his quarantine time, the nurses usually can do this.
After quarantine, if you can place him in a pen next to Roy so they can see, smell and hear each other, may assist with introductions as they will be familiar

 

[PenPens]

Hiya!

Thanks for the advice. I've just popped down to his hutch and given Persie some words of encouragement. I've keeping a close eye on all of his things like water and food. Looks like he's had a nibble on his carrot so there's a positive sign! The lady owner said that he was the timid of the 2 piggies she purchased so hopefully he and Roy will get along well in a few weeks as Roy is also rather chilled.

 

[sport_billy]

Congratulations on getting him. He's gorgeous x) Some very good advice from Tracey above. I would trim his nails soon also it'll make him more comfortable. He will soon come out of his shell as he adjusts.

 

[Lilly]

Roy looks very relaxed indeed! Looking forward to piccies of your new Persie. The links given by Guina pig slave are very good. I used them myself when I was bonding my 2 boys. After the quarantine period, I put the new boy Peanut Butter's cage next to Hazelnut's cage. I had them side by side for about a week. I could see they were interested in each other. So, then introduced them on the sofa. As that went well, both went into Hazelnut's cage, freshly scrubbed and outfitted with 2 of everything, also all washed or new. A 24 hour watch among 3 family members then ensued. They are still together 19 months later, although in a different bigger cage than Hazelnut's original one.

 

[PenPens]

I think I will try to trim his nails later this week once I've seen that he's eating normally and drinking. I haven't seen him eat anything but the other half has seen him eat some hay. Will try get a photo of him later tonight for everyone.