Please Help! Advice Needed - Fight Broke Out During Bonding Females

[Squashface]

We’ve had a 5 year old female guinea pig on her own for 6 weeks since her cage mate died. We used to have 3 girls, but one had already passed a year ago. Our vet advised not jumping to find a “replacement” companion too soon.

Two weeks ago we rescued a bonded pair of two year old female guinea pigs. We’ve kept them apart until a few days ago, when we put them in cages side by side. Our older guinea pig immediately started biting at the bars and squeaking at the New Guinea pigs. She maybe also seemed a bit stressed and paced the side of the adjoining cage. The two younger guinea pigs didn’t seem very interested, but sniffed her through the bars a few times. To prevent further stress and bar biting we put a towel between the two cages.

Last night during floor time we separated the indoor runs and let them have a few hours next to each other. My husband left the room for a few minutes and some how our older single guinea pig broke into the run. There was some teeth chattering, raised fur and a bit of chasing, but it was generally surprisingly relaxed. Although I would say we could see the dominate one of the bonded pair didn’t seem to want to bow down immediately to our older guinea pig. The other guinea pig of the bonded pair stayed out of things.

This is where I think we went wrong… They were together for about 15 mins, and it was quite late at this point and we needed to go to bed. So we put them back in their cages. I now realise we shouldn’t have cut things off here.

This evening we decided to introduce them again on neutral ground. Unfortunately things were more tense than yesterday. After 5 mins or so, there was loud teeth chattering and then the dominate younger guinea pig (of the pair) cornered our older guinea pig at the edge of the run. Suddenly our older pig lunged and they were scuffling. There wasn’t any biting, but they were both on back legs scrabbling at each other with there front paws. We separated them, and the dominate one of the bonded pair continued loudly teeth chattering for several minutes. We moved them to separate rooms to reduce further stress.

So is this game over? Has bonding failed? Or would it be safe to try again? If we do try again, any tips to help it be more successful?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this and I’m sorry for your loss.

Sadly this very much sounds like a failed bond.

The dominant in the pair is not going to want to lose her position, she is highly unlikely to ever back down to your older piggy. Some bonded pairs are very unwilling to ever have another piggy join them.
Bonding an already bonded pair with a single piggy can be very tricky, particularly with an older sow.
When bonding an already bonded pair with a single piggy, the single piggy really needs to be a baby so that she will fit into the bottom of the existing hierarchy of the pair and will submit to the dominant.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

 

[Piggies&buns]

The ideally do need to be in the same room but they may not be able to have their cages completely side by side ie you could need to leave a few inches between the cages to see if it helps ease the barrier patrolling and territorial behaviours.

 

[Squashface]

Thanks for this. We were prepared when we adopted the new pair that this might be the case given the age of our older piggy. It’s just a real shame. Would it be best to not try bonding again? Or could we try one final time? We can move them back to the same room for now. They’ve all calmed down at least.

On the upside, our older guinea pig has seemed much happier having other guinea pigs in the house. She’s not hiding away as much, and she’s much more vocal. I just feel sad for her because she really enjoyed running round the kitchen with her old cage mate. She won’t leave her pigloo during floor time when she’s on her own.

 

[Piggies&buns]

If they were fighting or getting aggressive then I don’t think I would try again.

 

[Squashface]

Thanks for your advice. At least she’ll have the company of them being near by!