How can you keep lone Guinea pigs as happy as possible

Soecara said:

@pinky I wasn't referring to you when I mentioned not having tried them with enough guinea pigs before deeming them unbondable. My point was that pigs who are truly unbondable are rare, and that people should not deem a pig unbondable without giving it enough tries.

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I understand that.... I worry, though, that some people who are inexperienced with guinea pigs will not recognize a guinea pig that can pose a danger to others. It broke my heart when I read the thread about the guinea pig that lost its eye in an attack. It's weird, but I thought my Pikachu was aggressive but Lamb Chop is like nothing I've ever seen. It's as though the others could sense it. I was especially surprised at my neutered male's reaction. He is the most laid back and docile guinea pig I've ever had. He immediately bonded with an unaltered male I took in. I've had him living with at least 8 different guinea pigs with no problems. Nothing fazes him. I regrouped them from one large herd and he just went with the flow. When he was introduced to Lamb Chop, he was trembling and started backing up. It was like he could sense there was something wrong. She just ripped into him. He was really traumatized after that. Same thing happened with the dominant female. She actually cried. I couldn't believe it. I've introduced a lot of guinea pigs and this was really strange.

Note that I said most. I have no doubt that there are some who truly won't tolerate others. But my point was exactly what you said @pinky: sometimes you have to wait for the right pig. Not saying yours could live with others though.

pigmommy89 said:

Note that I said most. I have no doubt that there are some who truly won't tolerate others. But my point was exactly what you said @pinky: sometimes you have to wait for the right pig. Not saying yours could live with others though.

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My guess is, yours was probably just nervous and not ready to have a companion yet since she was also skittish with you at first. I think that's a big difference between yours and mine. The important thing is for an owner to make sure they aren't missing behavior that's telling them that the other one could be at risk. If you look on Petfinder, which is mostly shelters and rescues, you'll often see listings that say a particular guinea should not be paired with others. Who know... maybe some of them could still find a companion but someone there has obviously recognized behavior that's problematic. The introduction itself is stressful when it doesn't work out so that has to be taken into consideration, too. Even if the word "most" is used to describe guinea pigs that will bond to others, there ARE those that shouldn't be housed with others. I think a new owner might feel pressured to continue trying to house an aggressive one with another from people on here and ignore potential warning signs. When an introduction is iffy and they house them together, they have a responsibility to see that they are safe. The guinea pigs have no means of escape once they're placed in that cage together if a human isn't nearby to intervene. The guinea pigs aren't making the final choice. We are making that decision for them, whether or not they seem to be getting along.