Kay701
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi everyone, I'm really happy to say that Honey has a new friend! We sadly lost Waffle a few weeks ago and Honey has been miserable ever since, she developed uti-like symptoms, possibly sludge, which after several weeks of painkillers and antibiotics which didn't help much and two ultrasounds, the vet concluded was mainly psychological. We'd been holding off on bonding (at vets recommendation) while figuring out what was wrong with Honey but on Friday the vet told us she just needs a friend 
her prescription was literally another piggy!
We bonded here at home today with a 10 month old male piggy (don't worry, Honey's spayed) from a couple who live nearby, he'd fallen out with his male friend and they could only keep one pair of piggies so had to give up one little boy.
Watching their bonding was one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen. Levi was in the bonding pen first, and then I put Honey in shortly after. She ran straight up to him and nuzzled him in the face! It was sooo cute
of course he then got super excited because he's never lived with a sow and sniffed her bum and tried to hump her and it was all very loud, dramatic and chaotic. Lots of attempted humping, rumbling, complaining and chasing. At first we were worried he would be too much for Honey, but she slowly gained confidence and started telling him off when he tried to hump her. Every time he would back down quicker and with less nipping. She started sniffing his bum and following him around making happy noises, and they both groomed themselves in front of each other and started eating hay together.
After all the dramatics, a more subtle phase started where they would approach each other and have a chin off. This was interspersed with munching together and a few naps! It became clear over time that Honey was winning the chin offs, and Levi calmed down a lot. I then put some double ended hideys and water in with them, which caused some more rumbling and chasing, but ended up with them snoozing together in a box! They both ate some veggies and seemed very chill together, so I did a full clean of Honeys area and removed the single-entrance hideys, before taking both piggies over! There's been more rumbling, but they did some exploring together and snuggled in a hidey. Levi is understandabley nervy around me because I'm new to him.
It was nerve wracking but so cool to witness, and went better than I thought was realistic! I haven't seen Honey this happy since before Waffle got ill, over a month ago. It's bittersweet, because I just want Waffle back and it's going to be hard getting to know a new piggy, but I'm so relieved that Honey isn't alone anymore and is already acting more like her old self.
Levi is a speedy, chaotic little chunk, and given that he's a third heavier than Honey it's quite impressive that she's established her dominance, although she is significantly older than him. Honey seemed to know exactly how to manage him and enforce her boundaries slowly and gently while making it clear she wanted to be friends.
I've attached pictures of the bonding before/after hideys, and one of them back in their new area together (they can get out of their cage through the wooden tunnel and have a much much larger area than you can see outside it)! I didn't get any pictures of the chaotic bits of bonding because I was too busy watching to make sure they weren't going to fight!
Levi is the black piggy, he has little orange speckles and one of his legs and some of his toes are orange too!
her prescription was literally another piggy!We bonded here at home today with a 10 month old male piggy (don't worry, Honey's spayed) from a couple who live nearby, he'd fallen out with his male friend and they could only keep one pair of piggies so had to give up one little boy.
Watching their bonding was one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen. Levi was in the bonding pen first, and then I put Honey in shortly after. She ran straight up to him and nuzzled him in the face! It was sooo cute
of course he then got super excited because he's never lived with a sow and sniffed her bum and tried to hump her and it was all very loud, dramatic and chaotic. Lots of attempted humping, rumbling, complaining and chasing. At first we were worried he would be too much for Honey, but she slowly gained confidence and started telling him off when he tried to hump her. Every time he would back down quicker and with less nipping. She started sniffing his bum and following him around making happy noises, and they both groomed themselves in front of each other and started eating hay together.After all the dramatics, a more subtle phase started where they would approach each other and have a chin off. This was interspersed with munching together and a few naps! It became clear over time that Honey was winning the chin offs, and Levi calmed down a lot. I then put some double ended hideys and water in with them, which caused some more rumbling and chasing, but ended up with them snoozing together in a box! They both ate some veggies and seemed very chill together, so I did a full clean of Honeys area and removed the single-entrance hideys, before taking both piggies over! There's been more rumbling, but they did some exploring together and snuggled in a hidey. Levi is understandabley nervy around me because I'm new to him.
It was nerve wracking but so cool to witness, and went better than I thought was realistic! I haven't seen Honey this happy since before Waffle got ill, over a month ago. It's bittersweet, because I just want Waffle back and it's going to be hard getting to know a new piggy, but I'm so relieved that Honey isn't alone anymore and is already acting more like her old self.
Levi is a speedy, chaotic little chunk, and given that he's a third heavier than Honey it's quite impressive that she's established her dominance, although she is significantly older than him. Honey seemed to know exactly how to manage him and enforce her boundaries slowly and gently while making it clear she wanted to be friends.
I've attached pictures of the bonding before/after hideys, and one of them back in their new area together (they can get out of their cage through the wooden tunnel and have a much much larger area than you can see outside it)! I didn't get any pictures of the chaotic bits of bonding because I was too busy watching to make sure they weren't going to fight!
Levi is the black piggy, he has little orange speckles and one of his legs and some of his toes are orange too!
Congratulations on a successful bonding.
