Introductions HELP Introducing Guinea Pigs

[Gina Johnson]

Hi all, first time posting here, and the main reason I sought out this forum was for help with my current issue. I currently have three guinea pigs, two are a bonded pair (Teddy and Georgia) and then I also have Coco who is a female we just rescued from the shelter last week. Up until last night we kept her separate from the other two, and lets just say the meeting went rather badly.

First off, I probably didn't introduce them on a neutral enough ground, used the play pen that Teddy and Georgia have been in before, but new bedding and everything was washed. I gave them plenty of vegetables to keep them busy and they all pretty much ignored eachother until the food was gone. Long story short, it seemed like georgia and teddy teamed up on coco, and they ended up getting in a huge fight about 3 hours into the meeting session (just before I was about to let them stay together for the night, so I'm glad it happened when I was still watching).

So, I was wondering if you guys had any tips on how to get them to get along. I'm bound and determined to have them get along simply because I do not wish for them to be separate, also having to get another guinea pig for coco would be aggravating, and figuring out living conditions, etc. Therefore if you guys have any tips I would LOVE to hear them.

Currently I'm planning on doing "scent swapping" for the next week, but don't know how to properly introduce them.

 

[bpatters]

Start over with the introductions, but read up on how to do it first: https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html

You don't need to do the scent swapping. It will probably neither hurt nor help. But if you're introducing a bonded to a pair to a third pig, you need to do it when you've got LOTS of time, a LARGE completely neutral area that smells nothing like any pig, and be prepared to sit and watch if you need to intervene. The last time I introduced a trio, it was 11 hours before I felt comfortable leaving them alone.

 

[Gina Johnson]

That's so awesome. Thank you for the link! The information is WAY better on there than the ones I have been able to find with just google searching (damn google sometimes!). I will be trying that again this week, probably later this week, but I will definitely keep you updated if it works!!