Bonding

Guinea pigs are very social animals and are a lot happier with a friend or two! They can e very territorial and temperamental to bond, this document will hopefully make things a lot easier for you :) 

What you will need:

• A large NEUTRAL area 
• Lots of toys 
• Lots of veggies
• Lots of hay

When bonding guinea pigs the bigger the space the better! You must make sure the area is a neutral space, bonding is unlikely to work if you put pigs straight into a cage that others have been in before. Due to dominant behavior, if you put a guinea pig straight into another ones cage they will mostly likely fight as the first guinea pig already 'owns' it. This is why a neutral area for bonding is so important as it lets the guinea pigs figure out who the 'leader' is and who is the most dominant. Once bonded guinea pigs can be put into a cleaned cage.  

Lots of toys, hay and veggies are needed to distract guinea pigs from each other, if they see that they are eating together they will also see each other as less of a threat. Make sure there are no hides or tunnels as guinea pigs can become dominant over these.

Behaviors such as rumbling, teeth chattering, nose lifting, head butting, nipping, lunging and humping are all normal dominance behaviors. Do not split guinea pigs up if you see any of these whilst bonding. If you see any tornado fighting or biting that draws blood then separate guinea pigs immediately