Bonding Hi everyone, I am in desperate need of advice for bonding my new guinea pig

[piggies1234]

Hi everyone,
Today we picked up a new guinea pig from the pet store. We have an 8 sq. foot Midwest guinea cage and a pigloo as well as wooden Kaytee home. The guinea pig we had at home is a male shorthair around 6 months old. The new one is also a male short hair although he is 4 months old. We tried bonding them outside in a large and safe area of the yard. They seemed to get along fine, they sniffed each other for a while, so we moved them to the cage. We had just cleaned the cage and rearranged it the pigs went in and immediately holed up with the new one in the pigloo and old one in the wooden home. We were worried as they kept chattering and thought we might give them more space in the neutral area. We put them back out then they approached each other and started vibrating/chattering and then started fighting tooth and nail. We immediately pulled them apart then made a divider so they can see and smell eath other but do no physical damage. We weren't sure how bad it would get, they are currently teeth grinding, swinging hips, and purring/growling/vibrating through the divider screen. Our old one seems to be the provocative guinea pig in this situation. No blood has been drawn so should I take out the divider and let them work it out, or should I keep it? ANy other tips on bonding them would be great!!!
Thanks in advance!

 

[bpatters]

Here's the bible on introductions: https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html

You're introducing (not bonding, introducing) two pigs in the big middle of puberty, which is the hardest time. An 8 foot Midwest cage is barely large enough for one pig, and not large enough for two, especially two boars. The Kaytee Home doesn't help much because the space it adds isn't open and flat, which is what guinea pigs need. There's too much opportunity for them to get in each other's faces, and the Kaytee ramp and shelf are unsuitable for guinea pigs. You need a large flat open area for them, with something like fleece forests draped in strategic places to break up the line of sight.

Either get rid of the pigloo or cut a second door in it. Pigloos with only one door are invitations for one pig to trap another and get its face slashed for its efforts. They also have very poor air circulation, and the pig is sitting/sleeping in its own waste.

The hip-swinging, purring behavior is called rumblestrutting, and is perfectly normal. They're trying to establish who is the dominant pig, and that's part of it. You should intervene only if a fight starts.

 

[piggies1234]

Hi, thank you so much, we put the divider up last night as they kept attacking each other. Our main piggy kept sliding over the 1 1/2 foot barrier to the other side where he cornered the other pig and provoked fights. Our main guinea pig has some minimal scratches all over, and a torn ear. I am heart broken as we may have to take the new one back. They really aren't getting along. I don't have time to buy another cage as we are taking it back in a few hours. If anybody knows of a fast method that will help us that would be great!

 

[bpatters]

It takes time, sometimes a LOT of time, to get pigs to live together. But you might have a much better chance if you'd find a good guinea pig rescue that would let you bring your existing pig in for a "meet and greet" to let him pick out his own companion.

There's no fast way to get pigs to get along. They either do or they don't. There are a few tricks that sometimes make things go a bit easier, like a buddy bath, but with two adolescent guinea pigs, they're not apt to work very well.

 

[foggycreekcavy]

I agree with bpatters on all accounts.

What's a wooden Kaytee home?

If you'd like to keep the new boy, check out C&C Cages. If it were me, I'd make a 2x5 for this pair. Read the link bpatters gave regarding intros.

 

[lissie]

If you decide to keep the new pig. Make sure to check the gender of both pigs. Pet stores often make mistakes. You could end up with pregnant pig.

https://guinealynx.info/sexing.html

https://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm

 

[piggies1234]

Hi guys, thanks for the advice. We tried pairing then last night and it was somewhat successful, no fights broke out through the rumblestrutting smelling process. They were good for about 2 hours, then we moved them to the cage, they have been doing well, no fights but they still keep their distance, is this normal for them to keep distance after introduction? Will this change or will they never want to be near one another?