[Gpdd] CARE - Re: introducing guinea pigs to others

[a.mills at portset.net]

Hello

There were a couple of posts today concerning the introduction of guinea pigs.  I will give my views/experiences with regard to this.

Firstly, concerning the little abbie who has been introduced to an older guinea pig.  I think the advice you were given was o.k.  Providing they are not fighting, they should be o.k.  What you are seeing is them trying to establish dominance and, providing no injuries are occurring, they should eventually get it sorted out and be fine.  As the little boy being introduced was much younger than the existing guinea pig, this should work.

Secondly, regarding obtaining a friend for Pepper.  I think it would be very nice if you could get him a friend.  I would get as young a guinea pig as possible, preferably between 4-6 weeks.  I have been keeping guinea pigs for many years now and have introduced lots of younger males to older males and have had no problems doing this.  However, I have not (and would not) try introducing two full grown males to each other.  When putting a baby in with an older male, it appears that the older boy does not see the baby as any kind of threat and therefore does not attack.  They will display dominance behaviour.  This is quite natural and will eventually sort itself out.  Some people recommend that both guinea pigs are given a bath before they are introduced to each other to make them smell the same.  However, I have not found this necessary.  I have kept many pairs of males together, most of which have worked very well.  I can only say I have had one total failure.  These were t!
wo boys who were bought on the same day.  They were from different litters but were both babies and were about the same size.  They lived together fine for the first few months but then started fighting and had to be separated.  I don't know why this happened but this is the only time this has occurred during my time keeping guinea pigs.  As I said, introducing a baby to an older boy usually works fine.