Is adding a bonded pair to a single a bad idea?

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SayuriAndCo

Post   » Fri Feb 23, 2018 2:29 pm


I already own one really sweet girl, Sayuri, who we adopted two weeks ago. We were toying around with the idea of getting guinea pigs now that we are all settled in our new home and we fell in love with her immediately. She came with a cage that I consider to be too small so we built our own c&c cage that she was recently able to move into (it is 2x6 grids and she loves it!).
Now that she is familiar with us and in her upgraded cage, we are looking into adopting another friend for her so she wont be lonely. It has been surprisingly difficult to find a female up for rescue in our area. After a good amount of sleuthing, we found a shelter with three eligible females up for adoption a short road trip away, and we are going to make the trek out this weekend. One is a sweet, solo girl. The other two are a bonded pair. I think the solo girl is probably the way to go, but in the event that she becomes unavailable, is it crazy to try to introduce our sweet girl into a bonded pair? I don't want to make her life difficult, I am just anxious to get her a friend now that we have the resources to care for more than just her.
Thank you in advance!

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri Feb 23, 2018 3:04 pm


A trio of sows usually works, but just be prepared for the fact that it may not. It takes longer, in my experience, to introduce more than two, so do it when you've got PLENTY of time to leave them in the neutral area to get used to each other.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Feb 23, 2018 3:30 pm


Do read over all the links on this page - some links are to great advice for doing introductions.
www.guinealynx.info/companionship.html

WICharlie

Post   » Fri Feb 23, 2018 4:04 pm


Larger groupings of females are much more successful than that of males. There is a good chance that your female will do just fine with one OR two new friends. Make sure you follow proper quarantine procedures before you attempt an introduction however.

SayuriAndCo

Post   » Mon Mar 12, 2018 3:27 pm


Just as an update. We ended up adopting a bonded pair of 4-year-old girls from a shelter. They are very sweet. After waiting 3 weeks we introduced and everything has been going well. My single girl was so happy to meet them. She is (as far as I can tell) less than a year old and so she has a lot of energy. Introductions consisted of her popcorning around the two sisters while they looked indifferent and continued to munch on hay and veggies. We have a happy group of three now!

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Catie Cavy
Supporter 2011-2020

Post   » Mon Mar 12, 2018 8:44 pm


So glad everything went well. Yay, for easy introductions and happy piggies.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Mar 12, 2018 8:44 pm


That is great news! I hope they continue to get along!

lawngnome78

Post   » Tue Mar 13, 2018 7:27 am


How sweet! I love to hear about your piggy girls! Thanks for sharing and for being so considerate taking care of them!

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