Hi everyone, Cyndi here, I wanted to talk a little about my guinea pigs. I know George has mentioned them a time or two in videos so in case anyone was wondering, I have six girls! And yes, I am a grown-up…mostly.
So, around nine years ago, my daughter Emily gifted me two piggies, Blossom and Tulip. I cried, they were so adorable and unexpected. They can live anywhere between four to eight years (sometimes longer) and when Blossom passed at 4 yrs. old, Tulip was all alone. Not sure if you know this, but piggies are social animals and need companionship. Afraid she was lonely but not really wanting to get another young piggie, I took to craigslists (it was like 2019 at the time, and craigslists was still popular in my area). I found Marigold nearby and then I found Cinnamon and Pearl a few hours away that all needed rehoming quickly. So I rescued them.
Well, Tulip didn’t like any of them!
There is a process to bonding but generally, females are easier to bond than males.
How to Bond Piggies
- You always quarantine new piggies for a week or two to make sure they are healthy.
- You create a safe and large bonding location so territory smells won’t interfere.
- You make sure to have a hand towel with you in case you have to break up a fight. They can injure you by mistake and a hand towel is used as a buffer to capture a piggie.
- You have fresh piggy-safe veggies with you to help bond them.
It can take a while sometimes and sometimes only minutes to know if they will get along. Marigold bonded with Cinnamon and Pearl but I learned my sweet & gentle Tulip could open her mouth like a flip-top head to bear teeth. I think she was overwhelmed, even though she’d lived beside them for a few weeks by then. I tried several times with one pig at a time and sometimes all three but to no avail. The three new piggies were okay together but Tulip was too old and set in her ways I guess. At least she had them as neighbors. But they never got along. It can be hard to watch them bond too, females will sort of head-butt each other and they hump to show dominance but when teeth and fur start flying, you have to be prepared to separate them.
Tulip lived until she was seven when she passed from an inoperable tumor on her jaw.
Emily gifted me another baby, CocoPuff on Mother’s Day 2021. At that time, Emily worked at a pet store. CocoPuff was a rarity in that she is Trexel, giving her unique wirey hair. She was the baby until a friend’s grandchild was scared of their two baby girls, Snow & Pebbles, so I adopted them as well.
Snow and Pebbles came bonded of course but Snow doesn’t get along with all the other girls. Pebbles was okay with them but I can’t leave Snow alone, I have to keep them together but separate from the others. It’s crazy because you have to be prepared to deal with separating them and they need a lot of space which takes up a lot of room. I’ve had piggies for many years now and have learned a lot along the way. I love them very much. They each have very different mannerisms and I can’t wait to share more.
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