Guinea pigs are best kept in pairs or small groups. This means people usually end up having to introduce and integrate new guinea pigs into an existing herd. This video covers the basics of introducing guinea pigs, plus what behaviours are okay and which ones are not so okay! With examples, as I introduce Willow and Lyra to Twiglet.
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Before adopting one or more new guinea pigs to join a single piggie or herd:
Be 100% confident of the sex. Keep to same sex groups or guinea pigs which have been spayed/neutered.
Quarantine new guinea pigs to eliminate the risk of spreading parasites or illnesses (unless from a rescue or responsible trusted breeder). For example, guinea pigs bought from pet shops are highly likely to have mites, and treated multiple piggies can be expensive!
If increasing numbers, extend the cage size to provide enough room for the herd.
When introducing/bonding guinea pigs:
Set up a large pen on neutral territory with hay, open style beds/houses and veggies. Make sure there is no chance of a submissive piggie being trapped by a more dominant one (no hidey houses with just one small entrance/exit). Supervise them closely for the next few hours.
You can also bath the guinea pigs beforehand or try to rub their scent on each other.
Familiarise yourselves with dominance behaviours and which ones should concern you. In general, rumble strutting, quiet teeth chattering (not prolonged or too loud), head raising, sniffing, nipping (quick and not causing any injury) and ignoring each other are normal.
Watch carefully if you see any loud and prolonged teeth chattering, yawning, "huffing", wide open mouths (i.e getting ready to lunge), lunging, fighting. You may see these behaviours from the guinea pig that wants to be dominant, the other guinea pig/s should back down (run away). If they don't - fighting could be imminent! If they begin to fight throw a towel over them to break the fight up. Check for any injuries straight away.
Dominance behaviours, even if they don't lead to fighting, can be scary for us - but try and hold back intervening unless you are sure they are about to fight/hurt each other. It's very important to give them chance to set up the hierarchy. Unfortunately, not all introductions will be successful - make sure you have thought through the options if they cannot live together.
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