Bonding Reintroducing dad, baby and mom

[cierravn16]

We got two young guinea pigs that had been surrendered to a pet store. We were told they were both girls (sisters) and didn’t think anything of it. Turns out that is not the case and our one girl had two babies (only one survived) at around 3-4 months old. They are both long haired and we got them fairly small so we assumed they were just growing, we didn’t see a significant weight gain and had no idea she was pregnant. We took them all to the vet for a checkup and they confirmed that baby is a male. We took dad out as soon as we found the baby and they have been separate since his birth. Baby is now about a month old. Our mama pig (peanut) is being spayed and we were hoping to have all three of them live together as peanut and puff (dad) have been bonded since we got them. We have tried putting baby sweet pea and puff together a few times in a neutral pen and they showed no aggression, just the usual rumblestrutting and mounting behaviour to figure out the dominant male. But they are both purring and happy when together, we just aren’t sure if that’ll change once we introduce our female back into the mix. We have a large pen big enough for all three set up but I was hoping to hear if anyone has had success with a little family like this or if there are any tips for reintroducing our female once she has recovered from surgery. Thanks!

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

The dynamics WILL change as soon as baby boy reaches puberty, and possibly sooner. You can't have two males in with a lone female, as the boys will literally go to war over her regardless if they are father and son or not.

Your best bet at this point, would be to have a separate cage for mom and adopt another female friend for her, and keep the boys together.

 

[bpatters]

^^ What @Guinea Pig Papa said.

 

[cierravn16]

The dynamics WILL change as soon as baby boy reaches puberty, and possibly sooner. You can't have two males in with a lone female, as the boys will literally go to war over her regardless if they are father and son or not.

Your best bet at this point, would be to have a separate cage for mom and adopt another female friend for her, and keep the boys together.

What about putting the original bonded pair together and keeping the baby separate? If she's spayed would that be an ok option? I'd feel bad separating peanut and puff as they were bonded until baby was born.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

If mom and dad have been separated for a month, you'd first have to wait until after surgery and after shes healed. Following that, you would need to do a full reintroduction. Regardless of what you do whether you put them back together or get another piggie you'll need to do an introduction. Bear in mind that mom and dad may have been bonded beforehand but that's not a guarantee they will again.