tips on bonding

@the3piggies

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hi all! it’s been a long time since i last posted- and i can’t quite remember if i posted about it but in late april i got a third piggy, cinnamon! i was not having trouble bonding her and my older girls and now they are fully settled in with each other. yesterday, i got another sow. her name is nibbles and she is about 2 months old! i have been trying to slowly get her used to my girls and it hasn’t been going very well. whenever they are together nibbles is hiding in a corner (not in a hidey, just in a random corner) and the other girls are bullying her. does anyone have any tips on how to get them bonded better? i’d really like them to all get along well. thanks!
 

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Poor nibbles. I hope they accept her soon and all settle down. How are they bullying her? At two months old I’m sure they realise she is no threat to them. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will come along soon.
 
Poor nibbles. I hope they accept her soon and all settle down. How are they bullying her? At two months old I’m sure they realise she is no threat to them. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will come along soon.
they’re nipping her and running around chasing her while she’s squealing (a bad squeal) and then she just hides from them under the ramp or in the corner.
 
Could it be submissive squealing?Maybe she’s letting them know she isn’t a threat. You said you’ve slowly been getting her used to them. Bonding needs to be done in one go. Are you taking her away from them? I’m no expert with bonding. I’ve only done it once with boars. And it went well.
 
they’re nipping her and running around chasing her while she’s squealing (a bad squeal) and then she just hides from them under the ramp or in the corner.

Nipping, chasing and the squealing isnt bullying (bullying a sustained behaviour which sees the piggy become withdrawn and depressed, lose weight through not being allowed to eat enough), its normal dominance behaviours and the squealing is likely submission squealing - she is literally saying to the other piggies that she is no threat. It sounds dramatic to us, but submission squealing is an entirely normal thing for them to do.

Can you please confirm that you are carrying out the bonding in a neutral territory bonding pen?
It's just you mention her hiding under a ramp which sounds as if you may have put her into the original piggies cage. Adding a new piggy directly into the original piggies' cage will be seen as a territory invasion. I may have misinterpreted though.
The bonding needs to be done in neutral territory (somewhere where none of the other piggies see as their space - a bathroom or kitchen floor for example), with no hides and just a pile of hay. Bonding cant be done slowly - its all or nothing, one time event. They need to be put into a neutral bonding pen for several hours and seen through to conclusion (success or failure). If successful, they then all need to be moved back into their cage which has been thoroughly cleaned out before you put them all back into it, so the original piggies no longer recognise it as their space. It then takes a further two weeks for them to fully establish a relationship. You cant repeatedly introduce and then separate them as that interrupts their process and causes them stress.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
 
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Could it be submissive squealing?Maybe she’s letting them know she isn’t a threat. You said you’ve slowly been getting her used to them. Bonding needs to be done in one go. Are you taking her away from them? I’m no expert with bonding. I’ve only done it once with boars. And it went well.
ah okay. yes, i’ve been leaving them apart when i’m not home or not able to watch them (lots of people have told me not to leave them alone together) i’m thinking of putting them all in their playpen together and sitting with them.
 
Nipping, chasing and the squealing isnt bullying (bullying a sustained behaviour which sees the piggy become withdrawn and depressed, lose weight through not being allowed to eat enough), its normal dominance behaviours and the squealing is likely submission squealing - she is literally saying to the other piggies that she is no threat. It sounds dramatic to us, but submission squealing is an entirely normal thing for them to do.

Can you please confirm that you are carrying out the bonding in a neutral territory bonding pen?
It's just you mention her hiding under a ramp which sounds as if you may have put her into the original piggies cage. Adding a new piggy directly into the original piggies' cage will be seen as a territory invasion. I may have misinterpreted though.
The bonding needs to be done in neutral territory (somewhere where none of the other piggies see as their space - a bathroom or kitchen floor for example), with no hides and just a pile of hay. Bonding cant be done slowly - its all or nothing, one time event. They need to be put into a neutral bonding pen for several hours and seen through to conclusion (success or failure). If successful, they then all need to be moved back into their cage which has been thoroughly cleaned out before you put them all back into it, so the original piggies no longer recognise it as their space. It then takes a further two weeks for them to fully establish a relationship. You cant repeatedly introduce and then separate them as that interrupts their process and causes them stress.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
wow okay i didn’t realize that. i thought they were supposed to be doing it in intervals. thank you! do you think i can keep her by herself until this sunday? i clean their cage again then so i can do the bonding. thank you!
 
At her age she’s too young to be living alone. This is the time period in which they learn guinea pig socialisation and how to behave. So she really needs to be bonded with them as soon as possible. I would say Sunday is too far away.
 
At her age she’s too young to be living alone. This is the time period in which they learn guinea pig socialisation and how to behave. So she really needs to be bonded with them as soon as possible. I would say Sunday is too far away.
oh okay got it. thank you for letting me know! would thursday work?
 
ah okay. yes, i’ve been leaving them apart when i’m not home or not able to watch them (lots of people have told me not to leave them alone together) i’m thinking of putting them all in their playpen together and sitting with them.

Unfortunately that's not the correct way. If you separate them after the initial introduction, then it causes them stress and stops them being able to form a relationship as It constantly gets interrupted. They need to be put together and left together permanently. If they are compatible (which will you know after a few hours in the neutral bonding pen), then there is no problem with leaving them alone
You can only separate them if the bonding fails and in that case the youngster will need her own new friend.

oh okay got it. thank you for letting me know! would thursday work?

Bonding for piggies under four months of age needs to be done on the day you bring the baby home. If you dont have time to do it until Thursday then that will have to be, but it really needs to be done asap as she is too young to be alone.
 
Just wanted to update- Last Thursday I did the bonding for a few hours, washed their liners & all of their hideys, and left them together while keeping an eye on them for a few hours and it was a success! Cinnamon and Nibbles occasionally break out into a small bicker but Cocoa usually breaks it up. Other than that, they're all getting along quite well and Nibbles is settling in nicely! Thanks for everyone's help :))
 
It’s good to hear nibbles is settling in it will take a while for them to accept her carry on doing some bonding if the older girls are bulling her Just leave it because they will soon accept her but if the bulling is getting bad and they are not letting for eat and drink keep feeding her and giving her water 1 to 1 but that’s all I can say.
 
Just wanted to update- Last Thursday I did the bonding for a few hours, washed their liners & all of their hideys, and left them together while keeping an eye on them for a few hours and it was a success! Cinnamon and Nibbles occasionally break out into a small bicker but Cocoa usually breaks it up. Other than that, they're all getting along quite well and Nibbles is settling in nicely! Thanks for everyone's help :))

I'm glad things have worked out. It will take them around two weeks of permanently living together for them to fully form and sort out the details of their relationship and hierarchy - you will continue to see dominance during that time.
 
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