Putting guinea pigs together

Question
I have 5 guinea pigs so I guess you could call me an expert, but when it comes to this I don't know very much. All of my guinea pigs are seperated except Jasmine that just had a litter. I kept her with her baby girl and I want to put those two with another female I have who is from the litter before this one her name is Lacey.But there is one problem. Jasmine and Lacey fight. Lacey puts her head up and bites Jasmine, and Jasmine runs away and purrs!I dont get it I thought they purred when they were happy.Jasmines fur stands straight up and both of them chatter there teeth. I'm scared to let them even get close to each other, but I really want to put them together. The baby (Cleo) gets pushed around by Lacey to, I guess shes just a bully. I can understand why because she use to stay with a guinea that was a bully so I know where she picked it up. Will I ever be able to put all three of them together! PLEASE HELP!

Answer
Hi Becca,

What your girls are doing is normal. It may seem a bit nasty but it is the way piggies establish dominance within a herd. Make sure the cage is big enough - small cages almost always lead to a lot of unnecessary tension within the group. With boars, too small a cage usually equals a broken friendship after a few months, or even years. With sows, they don't need quite as much space but they do need space. The cage must be at least 4ft by 2ft - bigger would be much better.


Now for how to introduce them:
Neutral is the key word when doing introductions. Try taking all the pigs out onto the lawn in an enclosure - this is neutral territory and the grass will provide a distraction. Alternatively you could line an empty bathtub with clean blankets and pop in some hay and fresh vegetables - again, neutral and a distraction.

Nipping, chasing, butt-sniffing, mounting, rumblestrutting and nose-offs (throwing the nose up in the air and jumping backwards) are normal dominance behaviours. The gender mix is irrelevant in terms of behavioural activities - boar-on-boar, boar-on-sow (ensure that one sex is neutered before putting together), sow-on-boar, and sow-on-sow. It does not mean that your pigs are "gay" if they mount each other and are of the same sex.
These behaviours will always be around as a daily part of your pigs' lives, but they will usually be most intense when they first meet each other.

What could indicate an imminent fight is snorting, lunging and yawning (showing teeth). Always have a small towel to hand when monitoring introductions in case you need to separate the pigs from a ball-of-fur fight - pig bites can be very nasty if you don't protect yourself.


Remember only separate if there is bloodshed, severe distress, or if one cavy is stopping the other from eating.
The dominance process may seem brutal but it is the cavy's natural way of establishing ranks within the herd.

If the pigs do get into a ball-of-fur fight, then separate them for a few minutes and re-introduce them on another clean blanket, in a totally new area if possible.


If none of your attempts work and they continually get into ball-of-fur fights then a "Buddy Bath" may be performed, where you bathe each pigs' rear end, temporarily covering their individual scents. Once they have dried off then they will smell the same, thus any tensions between them will usually be put aside. When their scents are uncovere they are often at the stage where they tolerate each others company and will not put up such a fight.

If you feel confident enough to bathe all the pigs together then do so - after all, that is the point of a "Buddy Bath". The piggies should be so concerned at what's going on that they forget about fighting the stranger and will bond with each other through fear.
This is a last resort though, as bathing does dry out the skin, so try to avoid it if you can.

Once the pigs have all bonded you must clean the cage thoroughly. Wash all water bottles, food dishes and accessories with hot soapy water. Clean the actual cage well before putting fresh bedding and the clean accessories back in. This gives the pigs the best chance at still getting along once in the cage.

Hope I could help.

Best Wishes,

- Laura