RipleytheGP
New Born Pup
Morning!
I hope you are well.
We currently have 1 female gp called Ripley, between 5-6 years old. She lost her mate last year, and since then we've been on the look out for similar aged gp as a potential match. Our vet (he's an exotic vet specialist) advised us to hold off on looking for a mate as we noticed some hair loss, and after xrays/scans determined no cysts, but she was given hormone injections every 3 months, which are now every 6 months. She seemed heaps better, and we thought it might be time to see if there was a friend out there for her.
We were contacted a few weeks ago by someone not far from us, and so last week Gwinny, as similar aged gp arrived! Gwinnys background is she was a pair, but her mate died a while ago, and her owners were keeping her alone in a stupid pink stacking box, forgetting to feed her and it just sounded like she was neglected for 3 years. So the lady who heard about took her in after hearing this, she was apprently very overweight and after lots of vet visits and care is in pretty good shape. Bit chunkier than Ripley! She's really cute and incredibly sweet natured. Loves company and enjoys being held.
We followed lots of the bonding advise on this forum and online, and then earlier this week after about 5 hours in the neutral area of our hallway, they seemed to be getting along. Still teeth chattering but eating hay and veg not far from each other. They were aware of each other but defo less of the more aggressive dominance behaviour. We cleaned out the cage (2x4 C&C, but extended to 4x4 as it's still early days), washed all hides/bedding and popped them both back in. We made sure there were 3 hides with exits either side, double food and water bowls.
So for a couple of days it seemed like they were still working on the dominance as above. Lots of yawning to show teeth, but no action. Teeth chattering and a few face offs but no lunging or fights. They were both going into and sleeping in each other hides and not bothered that the other one had been in there. Gwinny would go have a look at Ripley in whatever hide she may have been in, but if she yawned would then walk off. Eating hay near each other, food from each others bowls and sharing the water bottles. I'm assuming it stayed like this at night as well.
And last night... all change! We thought to open up the cage to see if they wanted to a a run around, Ripley came out straight away and did her normal running across the room and some laps in the hallway and back again. Gwinny stayed around the cage area, understandable as it's a new place. They shared a portion of veg from the same plate cautiously, still a litttle chattering, in the extended cage area. Then at some point, it was as if a switch had gone off and Gwinny started to lunge and chase Ripley around. Chasing her out of any hide areas, away from hay/food if she tried to eat, got a mouthful of her fur at one point! I'm not sure if by letting Ripley out, Gwinny managed to scent mark and 'claim' a new home?
As it was nearly midnight, and cos my partner is a softy, he put a divider in the middle with some c&c grids so they can see but not touch to give R a bit of a break. This morning, once I removed the grids, the same is happening. Now Ripley is hiding in the back corner, behind one of the hides. Same thing, if she moves to eat/drink, moves to another hide Gwinny chases her and has twice got a mouthful of fur. I've added an extra hide and made the hay pile much bigger so it's a mini mountain to hide/eat (she's just buried herself but then ran out spooked when G got near her and is back in the corner). She seems pretty scared.
I'm not sure if this is still normal dominance behaviour or turning into bullying, and how long should we leave this to go on for? I'm aware it's just been a week and this can take much longer! Would Ripley hormone situation make things worse? I'd love it so much if they got along so they are not alone for the rest of their squeaky lives.
Let me know if you need any more info. Any advise would be very appreciated. I've attached a pic of the set up and you can see Ripley hiding back right.
Thanks.
Bijal
I hope you are well.
We currently have 1 female gp called Ripley, between 5-6 years old. She lost her mate last year, and since then we've been on the look out for similar aged gp as a potential match. Our vet (he's an exotic vet specialist) advised us to hold off on looking for a mate as we noticed some hair loss, and after xrays/scans determined no cysts, but she was given hormone injections every 3 months, which are now every 6 months. She seemed heaps better, and we thought it might be time to see if there was a friend out there for her.
We were contacted a few weeks ago by someone not far from us, and so last week Gwinny, as similar aged gp arrived! Gwinnys background is she was a pair, but her mate died a while ago, and her owners were keeping her alone in a stupid pink stacking box, forgetting to feed her and it just sounded like she was neglected for 3 years. So the lady who heard about took her in after hearing this, she was apprently very overweight and after lots of vet visits and care is in pretty good shape. Bit chunkier than Ripley! She's really cute and incredibly sweet natured. Loves company and enjoys being held.
We followed lots of the bonding advise on this forum and online, and then earlier this week after about 5 hours in the neutral area of our hallway, they seemed to be getting along. Still teeth chattering but eating hay and veg not far from each other. They were aware of each other but defo less of the more aggressive dominance behaviour. We cleaned out the cage (2x4 C&C, but extended to 4x4 as it's still early days), washed all hides/bedding and popped them both back in. We made sure there were 3 hides with exits either side, double food and water bowls.
So for a couple of days it seemed like they were still working on the dominance as above. Lots of yawning to show teeth, but no action. Teeth chattering and a few face offs but no lunging or fights. They were both going into and sleeping in each other hides and not bothered that the other one had been in there. Gwinny would go have a look at Ripley in whatever hide she may have been in, but if she yawned would then walk off. Eating hay near each other, food from each others bowls and sharing the water bottles. I'm assuming it stayed like this at night as well.
And last night... all change! We thought to open up the cage to see if they wanted to a a run around, Ripley came out straight away and did her normal running across the room and some laps in the hallway and back again. Gwinny stayed around the cage area, understandable as it's a new place. They shared a portion of veg from the same plate cautiously, still a litttle chattering, in the extended cage area. Then at some point, it was as if a switch had gone off and Gwinny started to lunge and chase Ripley around. Chasing her out of any hide areas, away from hay/food if she tried to eat, got a mouthful of her fur at one point! I'm not sure if by letting Ripley out, Gwinny managed to scent mark and 'claim' a new home?
As it was nearly midnight, and cos my partner is a softy, he put a divider in the middle with some c&c grids so they can see but not touch to give R a bit of a break. This morning, once I removed the grids, the same is happening. Now Ripley is hiding in the back corner, behind one of the hides. Same thing, if she moves to eat/drink, moves to another hide Gwinny chases her and has twice got a mouthful of fur. I've added an extra hide and made the hay pile much bigger so it's a mini mountain to hide/eat (she's just buried herself but then ran out spooked when G got near her and is back in the corner). She seems pretty scared.
I'm not sure if this is still normal dominance behaviour or turning into bullying, and how long should we leave this to go on for? I'm aware it's just been a week and this can take much longer! Would Ripley hormone situation make things worse? I'd love it so much if they got along so they are not alone for the rest of their squeaky lives.
Let me know if you need any more info. Any advise would be very appreciated. I've attached a pic of the set up and you can see Ripley hiding back right.
Thanks.
Bijal
I'll make sure to put the seperator up asap and speak to the other guinea pig owner as well.
