Red Lored Adventures

RedLoredAmazon

RedLoredAmazon

Adult Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone!

I will first say, I am planning on reading the bonding guides this evening after the children are in bed. I am fostering two single piggies, Glacier and Elsa. I am a bit worried about starting to bond them as Elsa had her spay (it is a routine thing with this rescue). Should I wait a bit longer or can I try to bond them this week?

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Elsa is a bit tricky to get a picture of her surgery spots. They both look the same with a nice scabs on them and they look like they are healing well. I just don't want to try anything too soon, but their cage situation is terrible. Waiting for Amazon to mail the C&C grids for them and they won't arrive till Tuesday. I wasn't planning on taking home any new pigs, but the rescue needed to make room for a bunch of hedgehogs (75 are being shared between 5 rescues!).

Here is a pigture of her potential husboar, Glacier. He is such a handsome boy!
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Hi

I would recommend to wait with bonding until 2 weeks post-op when the operation cuts have fully knitted.
 
Thank you! I just don't want to cause poor Elsa any issues. I remember it seemed like forever for me to heal after a c-section; I can't even imagine how long it could take for a spay recovery.
 
RedLoredAmazon said:
Thank you! I just don't want to cause poor Elsa any issues. I remember it seemed like forever for me to heal after a c-section; I can't even imagine how long it could take for a spay recovery.
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2 weeks - piggies heal much faster. The operation scars knit within 10-14 days. It is less the bothering of the scars but making sure that your girl is feeling well and fully back on board when you bond her. ;)

Cariad the day after her emergency spay in 2013 and 10 days later:
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This is a picture of one of her operation scars. It looks like the vet that did Elsa's surgery did a different approach for a spay. This is one of her sides; the other incision looks the same.

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So Elsa's wounds are looking better. I think the scabs will fall off this week and her hair is really coming in now. These are the behaviors I have been seeing with the two of them sharing cage bars:

Glacier (neutered male): rumble strutting, lying next to the bars, nose sniffing, sniffing her bum, he seems to enjoy when she is spraying pee on him through the bars (I think he is tasting it?!?!?), washing his own face next to her, grooming her through the cage bars, biting the cage bars

Elsa (spayed female): nose sniffing, grooming him through the cage bars, spraying him with pee, I have seen her yawn once at him

From reading the guide, it seems like the pee spraying and yawn are the two things that make me a bit worried about them wanting to get along. I know he REALLY wants to get in to see her, but she seems not as interested. They are both very friendly piggies and enjoy me stroking them on the face and ears and don't mind me picking them up. They run over when they hear me come in. I'm thinking of trying to bond them this week either on Monday or Thursday (those are piggy laundry days).

On a side note, pee/marking is soooo awful! I really find the smell terrible and makes my eyes itchy. That room is so stinky, I had to open a window a crack in order to air it out a bit.
 
My boys yawned when they were figuring out their role. They got past that point but I was nervous too.

You won’t know until you try to bond them on neutral territory. I’m sure you know to fully wipe down and clean the cage after you plop them back in there; that is if they get on with each other.
 
Stewybus said:
Was it a full spay or have just the ovaries been removed.
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Not sure, as I wasn't told how the vet did the surgery. The approach the vet used is from both sides rather than the tummy, I guess that could mean just the ovaries were removed? Does it make a difference for her?

dhill_cb7 said:
My boys yawned when they were figuring out their role. They got past that point but I was nervous too.

You won’t know until you try to bond them on neutral territory. I’m sure you know to fully wipe down and clean the cage after you plop them back in there; that is if they get on with each other.
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I bought new C&C grids and plan on building them something new so I don't have to worry about the smell.
 
I decided to try bonding today as the house was really quiet. I put them in a large children's playpen with hay in the middle and freshly washed fleece on the floor.

Well, that went bad and went full on furball after 10 minutes. I separated them so everyone can call down. He was very excited to see her and was rumble struting and wanted to hump her. She just kept running away and did a yawn. He kept pursing her and there were a few calm face offs, but then both were teeth chattering and she lunged and they went all furball. Nobody looks injured other than their pride, but I had been wondering if they would be compatible.

She really seems much more interested in people than piggies (or maybe it is just him she's not interested in). Now I just need to email the rescue and say it won't work between the two. They really would have made a great pair too....
 
RedLoredAmazon said:
I decided to try bonding today as the house was really quiet. I put them in a large children's playpen with hay in the middle and freshly washed fleece on the floor.

Well, that went bad and went full on furball after 10 minutes. I separated them so everyone can call down. He was very excited to see her and was rumble struting and wanted to hump her. She just kept running away and did a yawn. He kept pursing her and there were a few calm face offs, but then both were teeth chattering and she lunged and they went all furball. Nobody looks injured other than their pride, but I had been wondering if they would be compatible.

She really seems much more interested in people than piggies (or maybe it is just him she's not interested in). Now I just need to email the rescue and say it won't work between the two. They really would have made a great pair too....
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So sorry! Could they live side by side in the c&c with a divider?
 
Bill & Ted said:
So sorry! Could they live side by side in the c&c with a divider?
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The rescue would like for them to bond with one of their single piggies. They have 11 singles right now and 3 pairs. The lady I had talked to when I picked them up said they would swap out one of them so I could try bonding them with another piggy. But they are living next door to each other and have been for the whole month.

They both are really lovely piggies and love to be stroked and held. Hopefully the next bonding will go well. I do feel ok that I didn't mess up anywhere unless it was not separating them earlier. I can't make any piggy like each other; all I can do is facilitate a good environment for their bonding.
 
RedLoredAmazon said:
The rescue would like for them to bond with one of their single piggies. They have 11 singles right now and 3 pairs. The lady I had talked to when I picked them up said they would swap out one of them so I could try bonding them with another piggy. But they are living next door to each other and have been for the whole month.

They both are really lovely piggies and love to be stroked and held. Hopefully the next bonding will go well. I do feel ok that I didn't mess up anywhere unless it was not separating them earlier. I can't make any piggy like each other; all I can do is facilitate a good environment for their bonding.
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Aw great, that’s lots of opportunities to find a friend. Bonding is extremely stressful and you can never tell if it’s going to work out or not can you. I’ve had bonding sessions at both ends, quick and easy and full on fighting, they are so unpredictable 🤔
 
RedLoredAmazon said:
I decided to try bonding today as the house was really quiet. I put them in a large children's playpen with hay in the middle and freshly washed fleece on the floor.

Well, that went bad and went full on furball after 10 minutes. I separated them so everyone can call down. He was very excited to see her and was rumble struting and wanted to hump her. She just kept running away and did a yawn. He kept pursing her and there were a few calm face offs, but then both were teeth chattering and she lunged and they went all furball. Nobody looks injured other than their pride, but I had been wondering if they would be compatible.

She really seems much more interested in people than piggies (or maybe it is just him she's not interested in). Now I just need to email the rescue and say it won't work between the two. They really would have made a great pair too....
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Very sorry - but you have tried your best and have giving your girl the chance to make her own wishes clear.
She is obviously very fear-aggressive (yawning and lunging are defensive behaviours, born out of fear/insecurity).
 
Wiebke said:
Very sorry - but you have tried your best and have giving your girl the chance to make her own wishes clear.
She is obviously very fear-aggressive (yawning and lunging are defensive behaviours, born out of fear/insecurity).
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Is there any way to help with the fear/insecurity? Or is this something that she just needs to work through? Hopefully the rescue can find her someone not as enthusiastic and calm for her.
 
I heard from the rescue and they said that is typical behavior they see during bonding! 😱 I did let them know that I will not be putting them back together again, I just feel it is a bad idea. She keeps teeth chattering at him, yawning, and now charging at him through the cage bars when he gets close. He doesn't seem fazed at all and continues ruble strutting at her. She dislikes just seeing him now. She is still upset with me and will teeth chatter at me when when I come in. I try to talk to her nicely and she will still tolerate a few strokes on the head, but nothing like it used to be before I tried bonding the two together. I hope she forgives me...

I may switch them out and get a whole new pair as they said there will be a bunch of new piggies coming into the rescue in January. I will just wait and see what the rescue wants to happen.

Oh! I did almost forget that I have cut back Glacier's veggies as he seems to have a sensitive tummy. I do feel bad not offering him anything while everyone else gets some so I have been guilted into giving him just a small bite of lettuce.
 
At least you tried with the bonding. That’s all you can do. The rest is up to them.
 
I know I keep updating this, but I really should find a way to change the name of this thread. Something like....Adventures in Fostering!

Anyway, I was supposed to take Elsa to the rescue today. There is a potential adopter and they wanted to bond their boar with a lovely lady pig. Elsa and another girl piggy were supposed to come in today for the bonding. We had to move it up due to the bad weather later today. Then I just got a text from the rescue saying she is sick! Needs to go get a covid test so that will not be happening today. Hopefully she will be feeling better.

I was looking forward to seeing the lady from the rescue as she was the foster mom to my two piggies, Cocoa and Oreo. Here's a picture of my pigs.

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Well, that bonding didn't go well. I feel bad for the potential adopter. Their gorgeous guy was very enthusiastic about meeting lady piggies. Both the other female and Elsa didn't like him very well. Thankfully it didn't go full furball. The rescue was going to try him with another male and see if that would go over better. Hopefully Elsa and Glacier can meet another pig that they like and get along with.
 
So my sister has started fostering for the rescue too. She started with parakeets, but when they were adopted she was given two guinea pigs to bond. She has decided that she is going to adopt the female of the two and then find a match for her. I am a bit concerned about her adopting as she said she wants THIS guinea pig and the other piggy will just be for the requirements for the rescue adoption policy. She has decided that she doesn't like the male that she is supposed to bond with Blanche (that's the piggy she loves). She has said he is food aggressive and teeth chatters at the female all the time. I'm wondering if she is reading him all wrong, but I will wait and see.

She has some ideas on what is proper care for piggies and I am worried about what she has said. She thinks that fleece only, no absorbent layer, is fine for guinea pigs and that a big plastic bin is plenty of room for them. Um, no. I'm going to show her the forum; but she will probably be mad at me since I have said some concerns that I have about her caring for guinea pigs when she sees my comments. I am secretly hoping that someone else will adopt the guinea pig that she has fallen in love with. She said she had filled out an adoption application and was turned down for adopting Blanche, hopefully it will stay that way.

The rescue has asked us to get our pairs together and see if one of the males will bond with the one of the females. So we will be having a date at my house and see who likes who. Hopefully there will be a successful bond made. I'm just worried as I haven't seen a successful bonding session and I have tried one by myself and watched two at the rescue. Fingers crossed!
 
The bonding went pretty well today! Both Blanche and Glacier were in love once they saw each other! Really cute watching them. She wasn't really in the mood for him humping her, but would jump around when he tried and he would then back off. She did allow some humping and has been stealing his food. Anytime they were a foot away from each other, they both would run back to each other and smell one another. Lots of grooming and laying down together. I'm glad that the bonding went well for them. Here's a couple of blurry pictures of the two of them.

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We then tried bonding my spitfire foster Elsa with the male my sister was caring for, Hazy. It was ok at first, but then she puffed up REALLY huge and lots of teeth chattering from her and facing off. We decided to call it as she was getting really upset and positioning herself for a fight. I may try it again later once they have calmed down, but it sounds like Hazy may have someone interested in adopting him. Hoping miss firecracker, Elsa will find a match soon. She really is lovely but hasn't found her soul-piggy.

On a different note, things went well for me and my sister and she was really receptive about more about housing the piggies. I'm really glad that went well and she is very interested in caring for them properly. 🥰
 
I dropped Hazy off for a date today; hopefully it went well. So now I have Elsa all alone and I really need to figure out how to solve that. The rescue said that it could be week or more till they have someone ready (spayed/neutered and recovered) to bond with her. I'm thinking two things: either I can put her cage and all into my guinea pig's cage or I can divide their cage with some C&C grids. My piggies live in a wood and plexiglass cage so I can't just push her Midwest cage next to their cage for contact. Both have their benefits and drawbacks. Any suggestions on which you think would be better?

On a side note, when I went to the rescue this morning I was greeted with tons of chinchilla poo and hay all over the floor. The rescue volunteers had just shown up so the place was quite a mess and the animals were all ready for their daily cleaning. I volunteered to vacuum the floor because...well the poo was everywhere! The chinchillas were very proud of their hard work too! :)) The vacuum was really struggling cleaning up the poos and the hay but we managed it together till the naughty thing zapped me and shout out a huge spark! Something had either chewed through cord or the vacuum had run over its own cord, but it was in bad shape. I offered to toss the bad vacuum, but they hoped they could just replace the cord. Scared me when it zapped me and sent out that huge spark; I was afraid the place was going to catch on fire! I'm ok, but the vacuum is not feeling so well. Please send it get well wishes!
 
Sorry you got shocked. That is scary! Hope you're ok. How did the date go for Hazy? I don't have any advice for Elsa, but hopefully someone with more experience in that area will be along soon and have some advice for you.
 
I'm not sure how it went. I know if it didn't go well, he was going to go home with one of the board members. I know that Elsa is a fearful piggy, but I am hoping that a calm pig will be the one that she can settle down with. I'm just worried that leaving her without any contact will be hard for her. She did seem a bit sad today when we got home and she realized nobody was there to chat with. But that could just be me seeing her by herself. I'm sure my Cocoa and Oreo would enjoy chatting with her.
 
RedLoredAmazon said:
I'm not sure how it went. I know if it didn't go well, he was going to go home with one of the board members. I know that Elsa is a fearful piggy, but I am hoping that a calm pig will be the one that she can settle down with. I'm just worried that leaving her without any contact will be hard for her. She did seem a bit sad today when we got home and she realized nobody was there to chat with. But that could just be me seeing her by herself. I'm sure my Cocoa and Oreo would enjoy chatting with her.
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It's great that you want to have a companion for her. I'm sure you'll get it sorted soon.
 
I've noticed that Elsa has become quieter so since today was big cage clean out day, I figured this would be a good time to split my cage and pop Elsa in on one side and Cocoa and Oreo on the other. Oreo really couldn't be bothered by a visitor, but not so much Cocoa. Cocoa was really agitated; he puffed up, teeth chattered, and started to take it out on poor Oreo. So I had to cancel that idea. But I did see Elsa was really happy about seeing another piggy and was popcorning around on her side. I have NEVER seen this pig popcorn. She just doesn't do that. She was very interested in Cocoa and never chattered her teeth at him or no puffing up at him either. Figures. Of all the pigs to like, it's the one that isn't interested in her in the slightest.
 
Oh dear that’s typical, she is obviously wanting some company. keep looking I’m sure you find a match for Elsa 🤞
 
I talked with one of the board members from the rescue last week (I completely forgot to post about it!). Since they had run out of guinea pigs, they picked some up from their sister rescue in southern Indiana. Those piggies are in quarantine right now. Once they are done with their quarantine, Elsa will get first pick of new piggies! I'm really excited!

My 6 year old and I were just visiting with the piggies and chatting about them. I said that Elsa looked like a princess holding her little paw daintily up in the air. "No, she's not a princess. Elsa is a QUEEN!" :)) 👑
 
I was cracking up earlier listening to my daughter yelling from the bathroom that "THERE'S NO TREATS FOR PIGGIES RIGHT NOW!" and "No, Elsa!" :)) Elsa is a very determined piggy.

Here's a pigture of the lovely little lady. :love: We are also still waiting to hear from the rescue. I've left a few messages and haven't heard back yet. Part of me is half tempted to put in an application for her and see if she bonds with my boar and sow, but then I would feel terrible if it didn't work out.

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Today is rather bittersweet. Elsa was finally able to make a friend today! :yahoo: She met a lovely older lady pig who was pretty calm and chill. Elsa did get a bit worried about the meeting at first yawning at the other piggy. When she realized that the other pig had no plans on chasing her or humping her, they both sniffed bums. Elsa started grooming the other piggy around the face and we all realized that it looks pretty good for the two of them. Her new family has had several pigs so they are pretty comfortable with caring for them.

I am going to miss her. I am glad that my family got to enjoy her for a few months. I told the rescue that I cannot take any piggies right now as we will be going on vacation soon. We will let them know when we get back that we are ready to foster some more piggies. I have found fostering really enjoyable and highly recommend it to anyone else!
 
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