Watch these Videos of first meeting! Please advise

Status
Not open for further replies.
bpdfs

bpdfs

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 9, 2010
Messages
498
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hi everyone, Check these 2 Vids out, This is the first meeting on neutral ground for Lucy (black) and Chole (dark brown). What do you think about this? Normal? Not normal? Good or bad, they are both females and we are trying to get them used to each other.. Lucy is blind and as you can see very bossy, she is the one that kept going after chole, as chole would back down all the time or run away... As you can see, Buddy (light brown) doesnt give a crap about them Lol, I swear he would be fine alone. He lives with Lucy currently but I am getting a C&C cage and was hoping to have them all together as I do not want seperate cages.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj4iQy29LN8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj4iQy29LN8[/ame]
 
teeth chattering, opened mouth as well as raising head are signs of aggression
if a new pig is introduced, they need to slowly get used to each other and I'd say from my personal experience it is perfectly normal to see this sort of behaviour, just don't push them, they need to get used to each other and the new pig has to be show her place in the pack :) this might involve some rather harsh behaviour (from human point of view).
Some people here on forum say it helps to bathe them all in the same shampoo, so they all smell the same, then try introducing on neutral territory like you did again.
And, of course, if you put them into an enclosure, make sure they have one bowl, one bottle of water and one hidey house each.

p.s. it took us a couple of weeks to confidently leave a new girl with our 3 other ladies :)
 
2nd Vid

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnfB1MIzf9c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnfB1MIzf9c[/ame]
 
The 2nd video shows more of what really goes on...
 
Someone please give us some advice!! We are going to keep trying to put them together and see how they do and hope they eventually work out their diffrences! I don't want to have to get rid of any of my piggies! I love them all! 8...
 
Hi, I'm a new owner and haven't done any introductions so can't help with any personal experience. However, I'm planning on getting another girl so have been doing research and found this page to be helpful: http://cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm#Introductions

It should take you to the section on 'Introductions' and it has lots of helpful info there, including a couple of ways to introduce and a list of behaviours they might show that are safe and are normal dominance behaviours (though they may not seem like that to us).

All I would say is persevere and don't be disheartened just yet. From my research it seems like this process can take a while, so you've just gotta stick at it.

Sorry I can't give any other advice/personal experience, but wish you the best of luck!
 
when we do bonding we not allow them to touch each other and triied to show them that fighting is bad.
I even do rumbling sound to show them that I'm main pig here lol

when 1 sow attack other, we took them and hold together 5 minutes one to another.
we give them food to make them busy...

I think to bath them with same shampoo is good idea.
 
Give them several days next to each other, so they can get used to the new neighbours; that takes out a lot of the stress during the intro. Take it slowly before the full introductions, especially in a case like Lucy who is on the aggressive side because she feels put upon and wary. Give Lucy space and time to meet chole on her terms - with a mesh or some grids in between; even a traditional cage top inside or next to run is not a bad idea. Feed them side by side next to the bars; food is a good "bonding agent".

Only commit to the full introduction when the signs are right. The more I stage my own intros, the more I have come to value the "pre-intro" time to give all piggies time and space to settle and to get to know each other first.

Here are more tips from out reference section:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562

Signs of aggression: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

Please note that once you have fully committed to an introduction, you should leave the piggies together for ideally forever, unless there are bloody fights or mounting aggression in a group. Only separate after several hours together when you feel that things are still too iffy to leave two guinea pigs unsupervised, but be aware that you can't do that all the time, or you will get nowhere with the bonding process! Mild to medium dominance behaviour is perfectly normal during introductions and you will have to sit back and let the piggies get on with it in their own way.

Bondings are not a quick process; it takes days or even weeks to work through all of it. Guinea pigs follow a strict protocol. Each time you separate, they will have to start back in square one.
 
Wiebke said:
Give them several days next to each other, so they can get used to the new neighbours; that takes out a lot of the stress during the intro. Take it slowly before the full introductions, especially in a case like Lucy who is on the aggressive side because she feels put upon and wary. Give Lucy space and time to meet chole on her terms - with a mesh or some grids in between; even a traditional cage top inside or next to run is not a bad idea. Feed them side by side next to the bars; food is a good "bonding agent".

Only commit to the full introduction when the signs are right. The more I stage my own intros, the more I have come to value the "pre-intro" time to give all piggies time and space to settle and to get to know each other first.

Here are more tips from out reference section:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562

Signs of aggression: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

Please note that once you have fully committed to an introduction, you should leave the piggies together for ideally forever, unless there are bloody fights or mounting aggression in a group. Only separate after several hours together when you feel that things are still too iffy to leave two guinea pigs unsupervised, but be aware that you can't do that all the time, or you will get nowhere with the bonding process! Mild to medium dominance behaviour is perfectly normal during introductions and you will have to sit back and let the piggies get on with it in their own way.

Bondings are not a quick process; it takes days or even weeks to work through all of it. Guinea pigs follow a strict protocol. Each time you separate, they will have to start back in square one.
Click to expand...


Totally agree, put them in side by side cgaes and give them a chance to bond that way. Judging by your videos though i wouldnt out them together as chloe is very dominant and poor lucy was just being picked on for no fault of her own.
 
so basically it is not a good idea to keep taking them in and out i see? SO even if they do what you saw in the videos let them continue to do that and see if it gets worked out?

Attached is a pic of how it is now.. Lucy and buddy in big Pen, Chole in the green one.. Should we get a smaller floor cage for chole and get her lower is what you are saying?
SAM_0180.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Possible solution

This is very similar to what I witnessed with two of my pigs Poppy and Pretzel who ended up in different cages. There are quite a few agressive moves on both sides which is worrying but not necessary time to give up yet.

Try putting them at different sides of the run area and letting them find each other, rubbing some sawdust or hay from each others cages on the opposite pig to make them feel more comfortable with the other pigs scent. Take it really slow but be ready with a tea towel or something to chuck over them should they get into a furious debacle.

If this happens the towel will stop them while you remove one of the pigs. It's not the end of the world as with a c&C cage you can put a mesh grid divide in between them so they still have other piggy company, this has worked really well with my problem pig pretzel. Now she is older we have just adopted another younger pig to try and introduce as her friend.

Let us know how you get on x
 
I just ordered a C& C big cage and going to divide it up and put them in there and just let them smell eachother a bit, I will bathe them all before they go in their new home as well so they all smell the same.. we had them out today and it was much better then yesterday..

What is the deal with the Butt sniffing or charging at the butt?
 
Looks like Lucy is protecting what's hers ( Buddy!), she doesn't want Chloe stealing her position. If you're dead set on them being together as a trio then Lucy is going to have to get used to it so yo-yo-ing between being together and seperate probably isn't going to resolve anything. Have you thought about having two C & C cages and finding a neutered rescue boar to keep Chloe company?
 
AndreaJane said:
Looks like Lucy is protecting what's hers ( Buddy!), she doesn't want Chloe stealing her position. If you're dead set on them being together as a trio then Lucy is going to have to get used to it so yo-yo-ing between being together and seperate probably isn't going to resolve anything. Have you thought about having two C & C cages and finding a neutered rescue boar to keep Chloe company?
Click to expand...

they will all be in the cage together just seperated by another grid so they can smell eachother and get used to it...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top