Introductions Introduction was a disaster!

Kelly9 · Jan 2, 2015

I tried to introduce Birdie to the three girls and it did not go well. Maybe because the neutral place was the bathroom and the three may remember it from their recent bath.

Much vocalization from everyone but Flicker lunged at Birdie and cut her by the nose. Then Birdie and Flower lunged at each other, but no blood drawn. They are separated and the three are still in the box I use to carry them upstairs.They are non-stop vocalizing/chittering and not in the good way.

I separated them and tried to get them to calm down, then introduced them in the freshly cleaned, empty cage bottom level. Now Flower was attacking anything that moved. I put her on the couch (my son watched over her and she rested under fleece), kept Flicker and Mouse on the bottom level, and put Birdie on the new top level. Even when I put Flower back into her house she was upset.

Birdie seems to like her new digs, but it is only 1 grid wide, so keeping her up there forever is not an option. Advice needed!!! I am wiped out!

oh crud. As I was writing I hear a commotion. Flower lunged and attacked Flicker! Flicker tried to run away instead of engage. How on earth am I supposed to go to bed if Flower is in the cage? She is all crazy now. :'(

Kelly9 · Jan 2, 2015

can i put Flower with her sisters?

Kelly9 · Jan 2, 2015

I put Flower back in and she is chasing her two sisters. I don;t know if she will attack and bite or just chase them and give a nip, but so far, it is only chasing and the two are running from her. It is quiet in there now because they wore themselves out, lol.

Kelly9 · Jan 3, 2015

Anyone with help? Probably too early yet. I am going to try to introduce my least aggressive piggy to birdie. That would be Mouse. then, if things go well, they can both go into the top level and bond more.

CavyMama · Jan 3, 2015

Is there a reason you separated them even though there was no bloodshed? Intros need to be one & done. It's often difficult to watch pigs go through their paces but you need to let them work it out. It's natural for us to want to "protect" newer or smaller pigs from being "bullied" but this is how they work out their pecking order. If you keep introducing them then separating when they scuffle, it makes it much more stressful on them and they have to start over each time.

Kelly9 · Jan 3, 2015

CavyMama said:
Is there a reason you separated them even though there was no bloodshed? Intros need to be one & done. It's often difficult to watch pigs go through their paces but you need to let them work it out. It's natural for us to want to "protect" newer or smaller pigs from being "bullied" but this is how they work out their pecking order. If you keep introducing them then separating when they scuffle, it makes it much more stressful on them and they have to start over each time.

There was bloodshed between Flicker and Birdie. Birdie got bit on the side of her nose where it bled. Since all 4 pigs were together I separated Birdie from all of them.

Today I had Mouse and her together and that is going well. They are both in the upper level right now. I am not sure what to do now though. How do I go about introducing the leaders to the new girl?

Kelly9 · Jan 3, 2015

Here is a photo and please tell me if this means they are actually bonded or not. I am afraid once I get them in the cage it will be a free-for-all.

I put all four girls together in the kitchen and Flower attacked Birdie from behind. Birdie turns and rips out Flower's hair and then it is a ball of fighting pigs. I quickly separate with the potholder on my hand and take Flower back to the cage to cool off. Then things seemed to go okay with the rest.

It was getting late and I needed to get the whole herd bonded before bed, so I put the girls on the couch (on pads) then when they were calm, added Flower. I put the overhead blanket on because they all act weird when they are out in the open. After giving them banana, which only Birdie ate, I then gave apple. After the apple it seemed everyone was tired of the drama.

Flower and Mouse went under the blanket to sleep and the other two sniffed each other. I also need to know if by Birdie staying frozen while Flower sniffed her means that Birdie was letting Flower be the dominant.

bpatters · Jan 3, 2015

What is "bonded?" Some people have pigs who snuggle together and sleep together. They obviously enjoy each other. I have two who are over five years old, they're litter mates, and the only time they snuggle is if they're in the carrier going to the vet. They don't squabble unless one or the other is in heat, and neither has ever harmed the other. Neither wheeks for the other when they're out of the cage.

Are they bonded? I have no idea. They live happily together, each doing their own thing in their big cage, and that's enough for me.

foggycreekcavy · Jan 3, 2015

I don't know the size of your cage that you intend them all to live in.

Sounds like Flower is the dominant guinea pig. She became very upset and stressed, and so took it out on her sisters. This often happens--when a new pig is added to the group, the original pigs feel a need to go through the dominance dance again.

It might work better to try to introduce Birdie to just one of the group. It can be quite stressful for a single pig to suddenly meet three others. If they were horses (which have a similar dominance structure), you would pair her with the least dominant horse, and when that went well (and could take a couple of weeks) add the next dominant horse.

Bpatters introduced me to this page-- https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html on introducing pigs. Have you read it?

AmberCalzone · Jan 3, 2015

No new advice from me, but here is a Kelly's cage. It seems plenty big enough for 4 females. If I'm counting correctly, it's a 2x7 bottom level with a 1x7 upper level (but the upper level has a 2x1 kitchen area attached).
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/104938-Expanded-cage-fore-the-new-year!-5-pics

They seem like they're doing alright under the blanket. All four of them were there? If they act out in the cage again (more blood or another ball of fur) I would try separating them into 2 groups of 2, instead of a herd of four. You'd have to split your cage, but with a bit of reconfiguring (which I know must sound horrid, after you just updated it!) you could split your cage into two separate ones.

Kelly9 · Jan 3, 2015

(broken link removed) I did read that page, along with guinealynx and a bunch of posts on here. The posts were very helpful. I had to introduce flower and Mouse to Flicker, but they were babies so things went super smooth compared to this time!
Since Mouse and Flower were getting along I followed your advice and added a pig at a time. We went very slowly until every pig was okay before adding Flower in.

(broken link removed) I have been sitting with them for about 4 hours now and while there are still some dust-ups they are not serious. They are all back in the cage and we opened the ramp so they could go up and down. So I think we can keep them all together. And yes, my husband will divorce me if we have to change this cage again, lol.

(broken link removed) Getting along is what I am after. I don;t have bonded pigs, but ones that get along. No one snuggles. It seemed like Mouse and Birdie would snuggle because they did that during introductions, but now they aren't. Let's hope they do because Mouse really would like to snuggle someone who doesn't object. If this picture shows they can live in the same cage, I won't worry so much during night.

Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Introductions Introduction was a disaster!

Kelly9

Well-known Member

Kelly9

Well-known Member

Kelly9

Well-known Member

Kelly9

Well-known Member

CavyMama

Well-known Member

Kelly9

Well-known Member

Kelly9

Well-known Member

bpatters

Moderator

foggycreekcavy

Moderator

AmberCalzone

Well-known Member

Kelly9

Well-known Member

Similar threads

Share this Page

Newest members

Online statistics

Key Resources

Members online