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Bonding New Piggie Help

Faiths13

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 21, 2016
Posts
6
Joined
Aug 21, 2016
Messages
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I have 2 girls, 4 years old and I am trying to introduce a new piggie. She is very young, I think about a month. The two adults were the dominant ones in a group of five girls, but we lost three of them this year. One of the adults is lunging her head and possibly nipping or butting the little one. I tried doing bonding time in a neutral space and it seemed to go well. They even took a nap together (all three of them). So I put them in the cage and that's when I saw the lunging/nipping. The little girl is usually just sleeping or eating when the dominant one does this. I'm not sure what is normal or not. The little girl squeals and hides a lot and I feel bad because she is so small. I can tell she wants to just fit in. The second adult doesn't seem to have any problems and doesn't chase her etc, except a couple times.
 

Smileandnod

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
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Jun 12, 2018
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Joined
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My condolences on the loss of your three other guinea pigs.

I am assuming the cage is the same one the older girls have lived in for a while. Did you thoroughly clean the cage & everything in it before putting them together in it?

I am also assuming you have a large enough cage if you had 5 together previously.

I would just make sure they have enough room to have their own space, include some fleece forests to create blind spots throughout the cage for the little one to hide, and make sure their are no areas in the cage where the little one could get trapped (single exit hideys, small second floors with single ramp, ect). Add extra hay piles, water bottles & food bowls in different areas of cage.

They are probably just working out the hierarchy and letting the little one know who is in charge.
 

Faiths13

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 21, 2016
Posts
6
Joined
Aug 21, 2016
Messages
6
My condolences on the loss of your three other guinea pigs.

I am assuming the cage is the same one the older girls have lived in for a while. Did you thoroughly clean the cage & everything in it before putting them together in it?

I am also assuming you have a large enough cage if you had 5 together previously.

I would just make sure they have enough room to have their own space, include some fleece forests to create blind spots throughout the cage for the little one to hide, and make sure their are no areas in the cage where the little one could get trapped (single exit hideys, small second floors with single ramp, ect). Add extra hay piles, water bottles & food bowls in different areas of cage.

They are probably just working out the hierarchy and letting the little one know who is in charge.

Yes we have a very large, two level cage. I put in clean fleece, but I didn't wash the coroplast. I didn't think about that. I took out all the hides because they are one entrance hides. I do just have one large area for hay. I can make another. I do have two pellet bowls and water bottles though. It seems like the dominant pig never bonded with the other pigs, but it's hard to tell.

Thank you for your condolences. I really miss my piggers a lot and this little baby helps.
 
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