guinea pigs arnt getting along.

Question
QUESTION: Hi, i have 3 guinea pigs, the newest one was recently given to me and she is a female, and is older than my other guinea pigs and i named her ginger.  well i have another female(Baby Girl) and a male(calico).  and baby girl doesnt like ginger.  it looks like she keeps biting ginger.  wut should i do?  also im trying to breed Baby Girl and calico, we got calico a week before Baby Girl and since we brought her home and she keeps running away from him.
ANSWER: Hi Brittany,

It takes time when introducing two Guinea Pigs together who are to be cage mates. Especially with Baby Girl having pretty much her own cage and not another female in sight. Here are some helpful tips in introducing the two of them so
they'll get along better.

Have patience, take your time, always on neutral territory, and don't give up too soon. Brief words of wisdom for introducing guinea pigs. What you don't want to do is plop the new guinea pig into your existing guinea pig's cage. Never try to introduce guinea pigs in one of their cages. Be prepared. This may happen in one afternoon or it may take months!

The initial introduction is done to determine how fast or prolonged the process will be.

Get a large bath towel or two.

Put the towels on the couch (neutral, unfamiliar territory).
Spread them out over the middle of the couch.

Each person holding a pig, sits at opposite ends of the couch.

Make sure the towels are between you and there is a good amount of space (it helps to have a big couch!). Floor works, too. Keep kids quiet and out of reach. No other distractions.

Let the pigs find each other on their own time.
You may need to nudge them in the right direction. Have another towel handy to toss on the pigs if you need to separate them.

Let the games begin!

More often than not, pet owners want to break up guinea pigs exhibiting normal dominant behavior. Everyone looks worried and asks, "Is that normal?"
How long and what next?

Usually, the first 15 minutes is just getting acclimated to the new surroundings and the idea that there is another guinea pig there. It's the next 15 to 30 minutes that can get interesting. The nice thing about being on the couch is it makes it easy for them to run to you when they get uncomfortable. But, keep your interactions and interference to an absolute minimum.
Some guinea pigs will get along just great. Some will decide on peaceful co-existence right from the beginning. Some will act like long lost buddies or lovers! But, most will go through the standard dominance dance getting to know each other and trying to figure out who is going to be the boss of who. They must and will decide this. It may not be now, but it will get decided.

When to separate them? Serious blood is drawn or a wound is inflicted. Some nipping or minor biting can be quite normal. Even little tufts of hair in the mouth can be normal.


Safe, non-combative, dominance behavior
   
Rumblestrutting
Butt sniffing
Butt nudging
Chasing
Butt dragging (they are leaving their scent)
Mounting (any which way: rear mount, head mount, side mount, flying leap mount!)
Nose face-offs (higher in the air wins, one must lower their nose to be subservient to the other)
Teeth chattering: a little (signal of dominance)
Raised hackles (hair on the back of the neck and along the spine)

Posturing for possible attack, battle for dominance is escalating though not serious and no need to separate yet.
   
Teeth chattering: sustained (signal of anger, aggression, warning)
Nips, light bites, may result in little tufts of fur in their teeth
Wide yawn, but this is no yawn, they are showing their teeth
Snorting (like a strong puff or hiss)

These behaviors may sound serious and they should be monitored VERY CLOSELY, BUT do NOT separate the pigs exhibiting this behavior, yet. This is when the average pet owner loses it and pulls the pig out. Most of the time, this behavior will continue for a while until one backs down.

Fighting with intent to harm
   
Bite attacks are no longer warning nips, they are lunges with intent to harm.
Combination of raised hackles, loud and angry teeth chattering, rumblestrutting in place with the head staying in one position while facing the other guinea pig doing the same thing. Usually a signal of a biting attack. But they may back down before they engage.
Both pigs rear up on their haunches, face to face. This is a clear, brief signal of their intent to launch full attacks at each other. Separate if possible before the attack.
Full battle. The pigs are locked together in a vicious ball of fur. This is very serious. Separate immediately, but be careful. Throw a towel over them and use a dustpan or something other than your hand to separate them. Unintended bites from their very sharp incisors can cause serious damage.

The best indicator to watch for on when to separate guinea pigs is the posturing of the nipping and bite attacks. If that gets more serious, that's the time to separate them. If blood is drawn, it's definitely time to stop that session. Hopefully, you can separate your guinea pigs before any serious harm is done.

That should help in getting them to know each other better and able to get along with each other better.

As for Baby Girl running away from Calico, it is possible that Baby Girl is already pregnant. Once pregnant (or "in-pig" as it is referred to), the sow will try to fight off any further amorous attention from the male. At this point she should be moved to her own cage to go through the pregnancy and give birth. It is quite safe to put her in with other females and for the females to be around at the time of birth. Quite often the others will help the mother with the birth, cleaning up the babies and helping them into the world, acting as caring aunties during their first weeks. Other signs to watch out for on weather or not she is pregnant are,
Drinking lots of water,
Eating more,
Distinct apperance of teats,
Feeling heavier,
and finally as she get further along the round fat belly.

I hope this helps,
 Good Luck to you,
     Take care now,
         Jules

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: as a matter of fact, i gave them all a bath today so they all smelled the same( i heard that could help) and let them run and hide under pillows on the couch.  and Baby Girl has seemed to warm up to Ginger.  well Calico was 10 weeks old when we got him (its been 3 weeks since then) and i forgot to ask how old Baby Girl was (2 weeks since) when we got her, but she is about the same size.  we got them both from Petco.  She was in with another female.  When we brought her home we put her in Calico's cage and he immediatly noticed it was a girl guinea pig, and started purring and trying to "plant the seed" and she was running away from him then.  But i plan on keeping them together until June 1st and i guess we'll find out then.  Oh and is it possible to tell if Ginger has had babies? like how would i know if she has had babies before in the past?

Answer
Hi Brittany,

Baby girl and Calico are most likely the same age then if they are the same size. Most breeders keep the female and male together for about 5 weeks to 6 weeks as sows come into season approximately every 16 days for a period of about 12 hours. Also they may just need a little more time to get use to each other and that might have something to due with her running away.

A vet would be able tell you if Ginger has had a litter of pups (babies) before or not. A vet can check to see if the pelvic bones are fused together or not, if the bones are fused then she has never had babies, but if the bones aren't then she has had a litter before in the past.

I hope this helps,
  Good luck,
  Take Care,
    Jules