tips for traveling with piggy’s!

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oscen

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I have 2 female guinea pigs, Geneva and Millie. They are both a little over a year old. I am moving states, and I’ve brought them with me. We drove about 3 hours yesterday and I’m stopping to stay at my mom’s house, and then tomorrow we are driving 8 hours. They did fine on the car ride yesterday. I put them in two separates carriers because they are usually kept in two separate cages, so I didn’t want to shock them by putting them in a small space together. I made sure to put some towels down in the carriers, with lots of hay and some veggies that I soaked in water the night before and I made sure every 20-30 minutes or so to offer some water from their bottle, but they wouldn’t drink and were very very quiet, which I don’t know is a good or bad thing because I expected a little bit of noise.

At my moms house I put them in a pen and separated them to wear they could still see each other but couldn’t get on each others nerves (Millie’s a bit of a problem starter) and they were scared, especially Geneva, and I had to put on some music and stay with them awhile for them to calm down and start drinking and eating. I also took away the separation and they cuddled up to each other which is a good thing because they’ve never done that! I’m scared on the car ride tomorrow they won’t drink or eat, and going 8 hours without drinking or eating isn’t good. So I’m here asking for some advice on how to get them to drink and eat on the ride, and what’s the best way to get them settled in when I get to our new home.
 
Make sure there is hay and other food in their carriers; but otherwise all you can do is continue to offer food whenever you stop and as often as you can.
I’ve added our travelling with piggies guide.

Travelling with guinea pigs

One thing to note that if they are not able to share a cage together due to a dysfunctional or broken bond then they must not be put together at all. Piggies either get on and can live in a cage together permanently; or they don’t get on and should never be put back together again.

Now you have allowed them together then that is a full bonding which now needs to be seen through properly. If they are now getting on ok then they will now go into two weeks of forming a hierarchy and they should not be separated again (which is going to pose an issue as you don’t want such newly bonded piggies on the same carrier but if you separate them again you will undo the start of their bonding) (if they fight, the separation needs to be done again and you should never reunite them).

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours
 
Piggies&buns said:
Make sure there is hay and other food in their carriers; but otherwise all you can do is continue to offer food whenever you stop and as often as you can.
I’ve added our travelling with piggies guide.

Travelling with guinea pigs

One thing to note that if they are not able to share a cage together due to a dysfunctional or broken bond then they must not be put together at all. Piggies either get on and can live in a cage together permanently; or they don’t get on and should never be put back together again.

Now you have allowed them together then that is a full bonding which now needs to be seen through properly. If they are now getting on ok then they will now go into two weeks of forming a hierarchy and they should not be separated again (which is going to pose an issue as you don’t want such newly bonded piggies on the same carrier but if you separate them again you will undo the start of their bonding) (if they fight, the separation needs to be done again and you should never reunite them).

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours
Click to expand...
Thank you so much! Do you think if I maybe get a bigger crate (maybe like a dog or cat crate) and put them inside together that would work? Because I don’t want to undo the start of their bond unless I have no other choice.
 
It’s a bit of a tricky situation because if they are in too big of a carrier then it can make travelling unsafe.

Your alternative is to leave them together tonight and see how they get on. Put them into separate carriers to travel (we don’t recommend piggies who have only been together for a matter of hours travel in the same carrier) and ensure they can see each other while travelling. then as soon as you get to your destination then put them into neutral territory and continue to bond them for several hours (as per the guide I linked in above). If all remains well then move both together to the cage they will share.

Although you haven’t given details of the reason they don’t live together, do keep in mind that the reason they are tolerating each other now is due to stress and fear - it does not mean they would be able to form a functioning hierarchy (depending on the reasons for them living apart anyway).
 
They live apart because I didn’t have a big enough cage for the both of them to share, and I didn’t want them to be cramped together by just putting them both in one. Now that I’m moving and have a bigger space I’ve ordered a bigger cage that they can share (if they get along).

I also was a bit afraid to put them together because Millie sometimes would bite and isn’t the best behaved when I had to move her when I cleaned her cage, so I maybe thought she’d kind of bully Geneva, so I never bonded them. Until now, I guess.

but, Thank you for your information! This helps a lot and I will put them in separate carriers on the drive and put them in neutral territory when I get to our new home. Hopefully they will be able to fully bond and get along then.
 
Ah, ok. (For information - the minimum cage size for a single piggy is actually the same as the minimum cage size for a pair of sows - both a single piggy and a pair of sows need a minimum of 8 square feet (120x60cm or 48x24 inches. The recommended size for a pair of sows is 150x60cm or 60x24 inches).

The way she behaves with you is not necessarily indicative of how she would form a bond with another piggy.

Biting when being picked up by a human is purely defence. Being picked up is akin to being eaten by a predator and she is simply defending herself.
 
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