Introducing New Guinea Pigs To An Existing Guinea Pig?

[Gruffle]

hi, does anyone know if new guinea pigs are easy to introduce into to exsting guinea pigs in a cage?

We bought our daughter two guinea pigs a couple of weeks ago, and one of them is in a pretty bad way, we're gonna take it to the vet in the morning when it opens, but would like to know if, worse case scenario, we would be able to get another and add it to the cage with our remaining pet in it

i ask because we've had dwarf hamsters before and were told that they should be kept as they were sold, and if seperated will become very aggresive and will probably fight a lot if introduced back together, not sure how true it is but hope it isn't the case with guinea pigs as they seem a lot friendlier!

 

[fluttermoth]

Guinea pigs are normally quite easy to introduce; it maybe a little more difficult if they're both males; but they will normally just squeak and bump each other a lot; there's very rarely any damage done.

They are very sociable animals; I personally think it's very unfair to keep one on it's own if you can possibly avoid it.

To make things easier; get two people to hold a guinea pig each on their laps and let them sniff each other; then let them run around together in a 'neutral' territory before you put them in the hutch together; make sure you give the hutch a really good clean and move things round before you put the pigs in together, so it doesn't seem like the original pigs territory.

Best of luck; I do hope your original pig gets better

 

[chesterscot]

Hi please do not put two males together if they are adults they Will do damage to eaxch other more than likely
if they are female its alot easier to do

If they are young males your in with a shot take out the exisiting pig clean the hutch/cage and move ity somewhere else bath the piggys (your removing scent) then stick em in a darkbox not the cage for a few hours and see if they get along

any probs im happy to help

regards

oh my piggys are in my sig if you click it you can see what i keep

 

[Gruffle]

Hi, thanks for the replies, unfortunately it died overnight before we could get it to the vet...#40## bank holidays

They were both young males, the one that died wasn't very active at all, we rarely saw it out, never saw it eat or anything like that and was very lethargic if you picked it up, whereas the other is very active, never stops eating and is very noisy, makes me wonder if it was ill from the start

suppose we'll never know

gonna go pick another one up tonight, don't want lonely piggies

gave the cage a good clean last night so will rearrange it and try to introduce a new one later tonight

 

[chesterscot]

Hi sorry about the piggy

I know youv cleaned the cage already but ideally you wanted to do it with the original boy out and not put him back in till the other one is introduced. The idea is your removing the scent/wee of the guinea you have so they start on a level playing field

regards

 

[Gruffle]

Hi sorry about the piggy

I know youv cleaned the cage already but ideally you wanted to do it with the original boy out and not put him back in till the other one is introduced. The idea is your removing the scent/wee of the guinea you have so they start on a level playing field

regards

Thanks, i'm gonna pick up a new cage-mate on Saturday, so will give the cage a total clear out just before and move everything about. One thing I have noticed is that now its on its own, my remaining piggy is noticably shyer and very "skittish", if you disturb it eating it will scurry back into its house, whereas it never did that before...

 

[chesterscot]

Yeah thats normall they naturally live in social groups you see they feel safer in company dont worry to much he will be fine Id think till saturday btw if your boar is older than six months you could have him neutered and get him a girlfriend much easier to form a bond between them.

Honest any probs just contact me if its urgent log on to my piggy web site www.pellingtonpigs.co.uk and ill be along as quick as I can good luck

regards

 

[emma12321]

If hes still young then he should take to another guineapig just fine, just rub them in each others bedding so they smell the same and clean out the cage and move stuff around before putting them back in, stick a pile of veg in and by the time they've eaten it they should be fine. An adult male will usually take to a baby without problems but 2 adult males depends on the individuals, i only ever had one that was a loner and refused to make friends with any others.

I have 2 boys together at the minute and 12 girls together, the girls don't bat an eyelid when a new one is introduced now they just get along with anyone i got another just before christmas with the maddest hairdo ever, it was in with the boys but clearly a girl by the attention she was getting.

Years ago i used to breed them but not bred any since 2001, i have had 2 buy a pig get babies free since then tho but i keep them all lol.

 

[chesterscot]

I know what you mean I have 33 at the moment lol

regards