New girl Wendy

karenben

karenben

Junior Guinea Pig
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On Saturday we picked up Wendy from her RSPCA foster carers, she had come from a large rescue and was pregnant; she had one male pup in foster care. I currently have a neutered male and female who live together quite happily and I am a little worried that harmony may be disrupted. Wendy is in a separate c&c side by side at the moment but unfortunately on Saturday evening she managed to get into the other cage. We went to bed saturday night and when we got up Sunday she was in with Harvey and Izzy, no idea how long she had been in there. Not the ideal of introductions, she is back in her more secured pen now but Izzy seems a bit more subdued. Both Harvey and Izzy have been doing some loud teeth chattering at Wendy through the cage bars and Harvey seems to be pestering Izzy more. I am worried that this initial un-intentional meet has ruined chances of a happy outcome. Thoughts please.x
 
karenben said:
On Saturday we picked up Wendy from her RSPCA foster carers, she had come from a large rescue and was pregnant; she had one male pup in foster care. I currently have a neutered male and female who live together quite happily and I am a little worried that harmony may be disrupted. Wendy is in a separate c&c side by side at the moment but unfortunately on Saturday evening she managed to get into the other cage. We went to bed saturday night and when we got up Sunday she was in with Harvey and Izzy, no idea how long she had been in there. Not the ideal of introductions, she is back in her more secured pen now but Izzy seems a bit more subdued. Both Harvey and Izzy have been doing some loud teeth chattering at Wendy through the cage bars and Harvey seems to be pestering Izzy more. I am worried that this initial un-intentional meet has ruined chances of a happy outcome. Thoughts please.x
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Hi!

Unfortunately if things haven't gone well when Wendy invaded, the normal bonding would have failed at some point during either acceptance, hierarchy/leadership or dominance phase, too.

But by now they have indeed made their minds up that they do not suit and nothing is you can do is going to change that in the years to come. They have long memories in that respect! :(

It can take a few days until your piggies settle down again after an experience like that; there have obviously been some confrontations. it is not at all uncommon if the challenged leader under stress is turning on their submissive companions. Please give them time to calm down and to settle their own relationship again and rather look for a friend of Wendy's of her own; ideally from a place you can date her so she can choose who she wants to be with. At least you haven't ended up with a full-on fight with deep bites, which is something.

Adding piggies to an established and well settled cross gender pair is one of the trickier bondings that fails more often than in my own experience, especially when the newbie is fear-aggressive or dominant enough to challenge the existing pair hierarchy.
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

Here is a list of rescues which offer piggy dating (sadly more RSPCA branches don't): Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

Unfortunately if things haven't gone well when Wendy invaded, the normal bonding would have failed at some point during either acceptance, hierarchy/leadership or dominance phase, too.

But by now they have indeed made their minds up that they do not suit and nothing is you can do is going to change that in the years to come. They have long memories in that respect! :(

It can take a few days until your piggies settle down again after an experience like that; there have obviously been some confrontations. it is not at all uncommon if the challenged leader under stress is turning on their submissive companions. Please give them time to calm down and to settle their own relationship again and rather look for a friend of Wendy's of her own; ideally from a place you can date her so she can choose who she wants to be with. At least you haven't ended up with a full-on fight with deep bites, which is something.

Adding piggies to an established and well settled cross gender pair is one of the trickier bondings that fails more often than in my own experience, especially when the newbie is fear-aggressive or dominant enough to challenge the existing pair hierarchy.
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

Here is a list of rescues which offer piggy dating (sadly more RSPCA branches don't): Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues
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Thank you Wiebke, they are in separate pens side by side at the moment until we decide what to do. We habe learned by our mistakes and Wendy will NOT get out of jer reinforced pen. X
 
Wendy is a little escape artist eh! Do you have a photo of her?

Congratualtions!
 
Bless her, she certainly was an unwelcome visitor. Unfortunately I had similar when I took in Phoebe and tried to introduce her to my lot. I had two sows and a boar at that stage and it was Donald that took against her. So much so that even when trying to introduce through cage bars all of them would teeth chatter. Needless to say it didn't work out and I took her back to the rescue (I only had her two weeks but it was the hardest thing I ever had to do and for me there wasn't an option of having any piggies separate to my group).
 
I am feeling like a really bad piggie mummy, Izzy is definitely not herself and has been chirping! I've had cuddles with her and she doesn't have any injuries. I don't know what to do for the best, should I move Wendy to another room? I can't really have another permanent cage, I really wanted a trio living together. I am quite worried about Izzy.
 
I have attached a picture of Wendy, she is still in her own pen by Harvey and Izzy who have both settled back down. No teeth chattering now but a bit of rumble strutting. @Wiebke , do you think there is a chance of bonding?
 
If everyone has settled down you have nothing to lose by a properly arranged meeting on completely neutral territory. But before planning it I would start doing some bed swaps between the pens to reintroduce the scents. The intro will either work, or it won’t. If it doesn’t, will the rescue take her back?
 
VickiA said:
If everyone has settled down you have nothing to lose by a properly arranged meeting on completely neutral territory. But before planning it I would start doing some bed swaps between the pens to reintroduce the scents. The intro will either work, or it won’t. If it doesn’t, will the rescue take her back?
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It's the RSPCA so I would hope so.
 
Just tried the three of them together, started fine but then Izzy and Wendy had a teeth chattering, Harvey came over chattering at Wendy but she reared up, very loud chattering, Izzy keeping out of it. I thought Wendy was going to lunge so intervened. I am going to contact the RSPCA as I can't keep them separate.
 
karenben said:
Just tried the three of them together, started fine but then Izzy and Wendy had a teeth chattering, Harvey came over chattering at Wendy but she reared up, very loud chattering, Izzy keeping out of it. I thought Wendy was going to lunge so intervened. I am going to contact the RSPCA as I can't keep them separate.
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Sounds like Wendy is a very dominant sow. I think you are right to call it quits and ask the RSPCA to take her back. It’s such a shame they don’t do bondings before rehoming as this would save poor piggies like Wendy going backwards and forwards.
 
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