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Sweep, Elderberry And Gogiberry Bonding

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jenniferanneharris

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Well they bonded for about 30 mins at the rescue, all was calm and Sweep showed no intrest in the girls. Gigi came and sat behind him and Elderberry explored the run.
In the carry box Gogi was grooming Sweeps eyes and Elderberry was eating hay.
Now they are home and in the cage, they keep doing dominance displays..
Sweep was trying to be dominat at first, and Gogi stood up to him. Since then Gogi keeps coming up to sweep, chattering, cornering him and then nip/ chase him round the cage, until she gives up and goes and lies down. Elderberry stays out of it and seems wary of them both at times. Gogi just seems to keep chasing Sweep anytime he leaves his "corner". All is calm again now and all 3 are resting in 3 separate spots. All are lying down and sleeping now and all have eaten hay and veggies.
I know it will take time and its all normal....but i hate watching Gogi start on Sweep and chase him round the cage like a mad woman. Poor Sweep being long haired keeps getting his hair pulled.
As i speak the 3 of them are asleep....in 3 separate corners.
I just feel so on tenta-hooks and wonder when she will calm down and leave Sweep alone. I know it will probs be days.

Also when is it safe to put tunnels in? Sweep likes sleeping in a bed - just wondering how soon he can have one- I'm guessing that's a few days time?

If you look in the pic thread you will see how calm they are sleeping, just every hours or so a fight breaks out for 10 mins and then calm again...
 
I would add the beds as they are not going to get in the way. Bonding usually takes a few days. Half an hour is quite quick to do a bonding, isnt it? I guess they know best though. It is horrible seeing a little one being dominated but it is perfectly normal with piggies as they cannot discuss things like us. Please try not to worry too much.

Ps I copied and pasted this from you:
Gigi came and sat behind him and Elderberry explored the run.

I never knew I sat behind sweep. Lol.
 
I would add the beds as they are not going to get in the way. Bonding usually takes a few days. Half an hour is quite quick to do a bonding, isnt it? I guess they know best though. It is horrible seeing a little one being dominated but it is perfectly normal with piggies as they cannot discuss things like us. Please try not to worry too much.

Ps I copied and pasted this from you:
Gigi came and sat behind him and Elderberry explored the run.

I never knew I sat behind sweep. Lol.

haha me and my typing...lol i meant Gogi... :P I just had this funny image of you sat in the run hiding behind sweep lol...:P

Things are mostly calm, just the odd chatter. Later i will add a few beds and see what happens...They are calmer now and all 3 asleep again :P
 
haha me and my typing...lol i meant Gogi... :P I just had this funny image of you sat in the run hiding behind sweep lol...:P

Things are mostly calm, just the odd chatter. Later i will add a few beds and see what happens...They are calmer now and all 3 asleep again :P
lol That made me laugh but I would be lucky to be with beautiful Lionheart. I am glad they are calmer now.
 
lol That made me laugh but I would be lucky to be with beautiful Lionheart. I am glad they are calmer now.
haha indeed :) I'm sure Sweep would have enjoyed that anyway :D hehe...I'm sure they will start up again when one of them moves, but am less stressed. Just dislike seeing all this dominance stuff :P I'm such a wuss... lol. Am catching up with some of my tv distracting myself. :)
 
Try not to worry as it is all perfectly normal behaviour.

But I know how hard it is seeing piggies being bossed around by new comers too. It was so upsetting when my Eliza was pushed to the bottom of the hierarchy after I reunited her with Emma, Erika and Enoch after her eye removal.

She was once top sow to her original group for 5 years before they all went to the bridge.

When baby Ena joined us a few years back, she had long fur and it was sad finding clumps of her fur around the cage.

But just keep thinking to yourself that in a few weeks time, you will have a happy bonded trio and all this will be forgotten xx
 
Sweep has been under a cozy for the last hour or so...he finally came out and then more chattering and gogi keeps chasing him...they had a big chase n rustle over the cage (bangin into poor elderberry) and now its calm again and sweep back in his corner. Is there anything I can do to calm gogi down? I don't get why she is being like this....At the rescue and in the carrier they were the two sat together and now she seems to be insistent on chasing/ dominating him.
I know its normal I guess...i just feel bad for Sweep and Elderberry who keeps getting knocked when Gogi chases Sweep.
When is it safe for me to handle sweep...i wanna give him a cuddle but am worried this may upset things. Not handled either girl yet either as I am guessing that's best.

I know I am being over sensitive...i was the same with Sweep and Honor...i just wonder when Gogi will calm down and let Sweep come near her or Elderberry.
 
More chattering n the odd few scraps again. How can can I calm Gogi down....its always her at Sweep. It soon dissipates after a few mins of chattering n a scuffle...
Been woken up after about 2 hours quiet...
What can I give them to distract Gogi....tried veg...hay...pellets...beds...

I know it will take time....just sleep deprived n a little disheartened... :-\
 
I am sorry that things are lively. Poor Sweep. How are they today?

I am sure that Sweep would appreciate a cuddle from you. You could always cuddle the three of them together.

If things do not calm down soon, how about a bonding bath? Bathing usually helps to bring them together as they will relay on each other for comfort. I also highly suspect that Sweep smells different to the girls so it may help a little if they were all to smell the same.

I assume that you already have two of everything? May be you could try three of everything so Sweep has his own food bowl in his corner and Elderberry too.

I'm not sure there is much you can do to calm Gogiberry down as it is obvious she wants to be top sow and is throwing her weight around in doing do.

I had the same problem after Eliza had had her eye removed and I had to keep her separated for 6 weeks. I had to rebound them and they were awful to her, especially Enoch. He would chase and nip her and it was so upsetting to watch.

Keep going with it though. You're doing a good job xx
 
Ahhhh new piggies!
Though sorry to hear the berry girls aren't settling quite a smoothly as you'd hoped! Sounds like Gogi has a bit of Wyatt-itis!

I was thinking you could perhaps do a joint cuddle with Sweep and Gogi, just have a towel or something on hand in case you need to separate them. We did this a lot with chirp and Ludo and it helped get them a bit more used to each other. I found loads of hay also helped.

I wonder if putting a divider down the middle of the cage at night might help calm things down and at least let you sleep!
 
I am sorry that things are lively. Poor Sweep. How are they today?

I am sure that Sweep would appreciate a cuddle from you. You could always cuddle the three of them together.

If things do not calm down soon, how about a bonding bath? Bathing usually helps to bring them together as they will relay on each other for comfort. I also highly suspect that Sweep smells different to the girls so it may help a little if they were all to smell the same.

I assume that you already have two of everything? May be you could try three of everything so Sweep has his own food bowl in his corner and Elderberry too.

I'm not sure there is much you can do to calm Gogiberry down as it is obvious she wants to be top sow and is throwing her weight around in doing do.

I had the same problem after Eliza had had her eye removed and I had to keep her separated for 6 weeks. I had to rebound them and they were awful to her, especially Enoch. He would chase and nip her and it was so upsetting to watch.

Keep going with it though. You're doing a good job xx
Thanks hun. The chatter and chases are less intense this morning...although as I type Gogi just chased sweep round the cage...but all is calmer again...just given them.more fresh hay.
I may try a bonding bath later this eve if things are still iffy. All are eating hay at the moment.
Yes I have 3 of everything in the cage. Hopefully soon Gogi will realise Sweep is letting her be boss and that will be that...until then I suspect much the same....lol.
Given sweep some nose rubs this morning when the other 2 were asleep and later I may get them out for cuddles...will see. :-)
Thanks for all the support :-)
 
Ahhhh new piggies!
Though sorry to hear the berry girls aren't settling quite a smoothly as you'd hoped! Sounds like Gogi has a bit of Wyatt-itis!

I was thinking you could perhaps do a joint cuddle with Sweep and Gogi, just have a towel or something on hand in case you need to separate them. We did this a lot with chirp and Ludo and it helped get them a bit more used to each other. I found loads of hay also helped.

I wonder if putting a divider down the middle of the cage at night might help calm things down and at least let you sleep!
I may do if a bonding bath dosnt work tonight. May stick a divider in...just feel for poor Elderberry as she is hiding from it all under a cuddle cup tuned upside down lol...she looks like a snail lol.
All quite happy eating lots of hay at the moment x
 
Aww poor girl, I bet she's very embarrassed by Gogi's unruly behaviour!

Just seen the photos too - they're lovely girls! Gogi is grey/white though - definitely has to be a
long lost grumpy relative of Wyatts or something haha
 
Yes still an asbo! S l o w l y calming down though I think, he'll be 1 at the end of the month so I'm really hoping we're in the final phases! Ludo has started sticking up for himself which has actually helped a lot surprisingly!
 
You can spread cross gender bonding over several days. Restart on neutral ground without any hideys (rather peg a sheet over the top). Please do NOT buddy bath, spraying is very much an integral part of cross gender bonding. A Buddy bath is only necessary for rebonding nearly fallen-out Boars after a short temporary cooling down Separation.
Your piggies are in the dominance Phase and they have to work it out between them. As Long as they go up to the wire but are careful not to step over the line, you have to sit it out. Transfer to the Cage only once things have settled down enough, even if it means several rounds in the bonding pen.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/introducing-and-re-introducing-guinea-pigs.38562/
 
Thanks. They are much calmer this afternoon. I may seperate over night pending how stressy it gets but the scuffles are much less now and only last a min....then calm for an hour or two.
Thanks all x
 
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