Guinea Pig Introductions

I have 3 guinea pigs. Guinness is the tri-color, Corona is the fluffy Abyssinian, and Oreo is black and white. All of my guinea pigs are female, and all of them were rescued from bad home situations. I adopted Guinness and Corona at the same time (11/24/2006), but I just adopted Oreo 3 weeks ago (4/24/2007). Oreo spent three weeks in quarantine, and today (5/9/2007), I cleaned out their big cage (a 2x5 C/C where Guinness and Corona already live) and moved her in. Unfortunately, with the addition of the new pig, my sweet, docile Guinness has turned into a bit of a bully. This is normal behavior for guinea pigs; they are establishing rank and dominance, and Guinness clearly wants to be "boss hog".

**NO guinea pigs were harmed in this video. I have been involved in animal rescue for most of my life and would not have allowed one pig to harm another. This was normal dominance-establishing behavior, and the comments about "cruelty to animals" were very insulting. Once rank was established, everything calmed down and the girls lived happily ever after. Corona passed away on 3/31/2010 and Cookie passed on 7/26/2011. Guinness is ~6.5 years old and in excellent health for her age. She is currently a solo pig but I am trying to find another girl in need of help so she will have a friend.**

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• guinea
• pigs
• bonding
• introductions
• dominance
• rank
• behavior