Bonding Young, small female and 1 year old female to introduce or not?

[oilooilooiloo]

I recently lost both of my 6+ year old guinea pigs within a year of each other. I now have a 1+ year old female, Velma. When the adoption agency near my home didn't have any guinea pigs for a few months, I finally went to a pet store. The female I bought, Snoopy, is extremely small. I've never seen such young guinea pigs at a pet store. My other two were a year old from an adoption agency. I am new to caring for a guinea pig this young. I read everything I could come across on here, but I want to make sure I've got everything covered.

First, Velma seems huge compared to Snoop and I'm worried about putting them in a cage together. I have them separated at the moment. We have had floor time together once, but I have already read I should not introduce them this way and then separate them again. I'm worried for Snoop, being so small and so young that Velma may hurt her. Is it ok to put them together? During floor time, what I noticed is that Snoop just trailed Velma the entire time and seemed to be sniffing at Velma's bottom. They were both squeaking. I never heard any rumbling and there wasn't any mounting, but I was being extremely cautious with them...

Second, I am not aware of the age of Snoop. Oxbow doesn't suggest the adult cavy pellets until after 6 months. Can she have the adult cavy pellets as long as she is getting alfalfa in her hay?

I have lots of questions, but I probably need to roam the forums a bit more. It's strange to have had guinea pigs for 6 years, and yet still feel like a young mother Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[My_3_LittlePigs]

Piggies should be introduced on neutral territory, a place where ur other piggy is not used to going. I've heard of ppl introducing on a couch with a towel down or in an empty bathtub. Since ur piggy is older and the other is a baby there is a possibility the older one will take on a motherly role towards the baby.

 

[Princess_Piggie]

It's generally better to pair a baby and an older pig, as the hierarchy is basically sorted in advance. The younger pig will naturally be the submissive pig, and be able to learn a lot from the older pig.

I think you should introduce them neutrally, in a play pen with a clean sheet down or something so as the older pig hasn't scent marked it at all. Make sure there's tonnes of veg in there for them too Don't worry, little pig won't get injured, and if you see any aggression you can separate immediately. When I say aggression, I mean proper aggression, not mounting, not nipping, not chasing, not rumblestrutting, those are all fine. Aggression would be biting, backing the other pig in to a corner, or bullying the other pig out of their food.

If you post a scale image of your smaller pig, next to a soda can for example, we can take a rough guess at how old she is for you. It won't be exact by any means, but size and weight is the best we have to go off, so pop her on a scale, then take a photo next to something everyone would know the size of

 

[bpatters]

The first thing to do before you put them together is to put them side by side and turn them over to make sure they're the same gender. Pet stores are notoriously bad about sexing pigs, and it's entirely possible that Snoop is a male.

If they're both female, it's unlikely that Velma will hurt her.

You can feed them both timothy pellets and pull Snoop out for a little alfalfa hay or some parsley.

 

[oilooilooiloo]

UPDATE: I introduced the pigs again and the only dominance dance I noticed was the nose in the air. The pigs spent the night together in a 5x3 cage. Velma has never been a squeaker, even when she smells food coming, like my previous two pigs did. Last night, however, Velma talked to Snoop all night. I am so happy I found her a friend. Now I guess the concern is that the pet store could have been wrong about the sex of Snoop. Thanks for the advice friends.

 

[bpatters]

If you have any concern about Snoop's gender, it would have been MUCH better to have figured it out BEFORE you put them in the same cage.

 

[My_3_LittlePigs]

UPDATE: I introduced the pigs again and the only dominance dance I noticed was the nose in the air. The pigs spent the night together in a 5x3 cage. Velma has never been a squeaker, even when she smells food coming, like my previous two pigs did. Last night, however, Velma talked to Snoop all night. I am so happy I found her a friend. Now I guess the concern is that the pet store could have been wrong about the sex of Snoop. Thanks for the advice friends.

If you have any question about Snoops gender then it's best to separate them until you figure it out as @bpatters suggested. For one thing your older piggy is too old to start having pups and there's a good chance of complications. There are tutorials on how to tell the sex of piggies. I'll try to find one or maybe someone else could post one for you. But that is good news that they got along.