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Taz2008 · 11-08-2008, 07:57 AM

I have a 8-9 month old male, Taz. We decided to get a pal for him and adopted a 2-1/2 year old male. We got Fluffernutter (aka Fluffer) Tuesday and have had him in a separate cage and room until yesterday after his vet appointment. I gave both a bath and then cleaned Taz's cage and put a divider in it (it's a CC cage). They have had 2 "play dates" which are not going very well. Taz is relentless making lots of rumbling noises and trying to mount Fluffer. Fluffer just makes the "stay away from me" teeth chattering and shows his teeth. Taz will not leave him alone.

How long does this ususally go on before they sort it out?

moca138 · 11-08-2008, 10:10 AM

If you do a search on this site using the word "introduce", you should see a bunch of threads pop up with this same situation listed. Before you put them back together, read through the threads. You'll get a bunch of good ideas, like the "buddy bath", introducing on neutral grounds, putting them together and leaving it that way unless blood drawn, etc.

Once you read through it if you have any more questions, I'll do my best to help you out. Good luck!

Taz2008 · 11-08-2008, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moca138

If you do a search on this site using the word "introduce", you should see a bunch of threads pop up with this same situation listed. Before you put them back together, read through the threads. You'll get a bunch of good ideas, like the "buddy bath", introducing on neutral grounds, putting them together and leaving it that way unless blood drawn, etc.

Once you read through it if you have any more questions, I'll do my best to help you out. Good luck!

Yep! More questions. I already read through all that info before I posted. My question is how long will it take them to work out their hierarchie? A few play dates, a week? I will need to know when this may or may not work and if there are clues that it may never work out.

Thanks for you help!

moca138 · 11-08-2008, 11:29 AM

There should have been something in at least one of those threads about not putting them together and separating them over and over again. That is stressful on the pigs, because they have to decide who is going to be the dominant, over and over again. This would mean that you shouldn't do "play dates". Set up a floor time (or something outside of the cage), make sure everything in it is sterilized so there are no pig smells (to the pig's nose, which is more sensitive than yours) to make neither one gets territorial, then set them out and watch them. Have a towel nearby in case they start attacking each other. You never want to use your hands to pull them apart - sharp nails and teeth. Watch them for at least an hour to make sure the dust ups are minor. If any blood is drawn, separate them. If not, leave them together to work it out.

While they are on floor time, and you've seen for an hour that they are ok, clean and sterilize everything in the cage - pigloos, bedding, water and food dishes - everything. Then put everything back in a different place so your existing pig doesn't recognize it as his place. (Speaking of which, you do have an appropriate sized C&C, yes?)

There is no telling how long it will take to settle down. I don't have boy pigs, I have four girls. But they established who was boss in about a day, but every now and then it needs reinforcement. But, we've had no blood, biting or anything, just quick nose jabs.

Let us know how it goes, and keep the questions coming!

BABY'S MOM · 11-08-2008, 02:35 PM

Ditto Moca..

Taz2008 · 11-08-2008, 05:36 PM

I don't recall anything about not separating them anywhere. Well, that's already been done so we move forward from there. OK, so we'll try an hour tonight and see if they can figure it out - I hope without bloodshed! And yes, plenty of towels around - I did read about all of this, but no one mentioned how long it might take.
Everything been cleaned, they've been bathed before sharing a divided cage, etc., so the only other thing to do now is move them to a neutral area - upstairs! Neither has played up there so there will be no guinea pig scents to worry about.

Taz2008 · 11-08-2008, 06:41 PM

Oh yea! Looks like 3rd a charm - they are over their chatting teeth, mounting and are actually laying almost next to each other! I'm so relieved! Thank you all for your input. The new room really helped.

moca138 · 11-08-2008, 09:58 PM

Great! Glad to hear it! Good luck for continued success!

Foggycreek · 11-13-2008, 04:28 PM

Playdates are never a good idea, in my opinion. Moca gave you good advice--put them together and leave them together.

How big is your C&C?

Many pairs continue to have dominance issues for days, even weeks or more. It depends on many factors--the personalities involved, their ages, cage size, how your cage is set up, etc.