Pairing your piggie

Pairing your piggie

If your guinea pig needs a buddy, we offer pairing attempts to try to find the best match for your guinea. We offer the following guidelines for success when pairing guinea pigs. Please read this all the way through before putting the new pair together at your home!

Before pairing

  • Verify the sex of your guinea pig! This seems obvious but guineas have been incorrectly sexed before. If you don’t know how to sex your guinea, pls ask our volunteer when you go for pairing.
  • Thoroughly clean the habitat: wash sides and flooring with 50% vinegar and 50% water, put down clean fleece or bedding.
  • Provide at least TWO of everything: hidies/sleeping places, water bottles, food bowls, hay piles/racks. If you have room, a third hiding space helps.
  • Replace huts, pigloo, hidies with hiding spaces that have two entrances/exits OR use fleece forests and canopies.

During the pairing attempt

A pairing attempt should take about an hour. Here's how it goes:

  • We usually put your guinea(s) with ours for a period of time to see how they interact. 
  • We set up a neutral space where we can introduce your guinea pig(s) to the first one of ours. WE explain their behaviors and let you know what to watch out for, for when you do time together at home.
  • If they seem okay with each other, we can stop there. If not, we give the guineas a break. We change the liner and then move on to the next pig. We’ll repeat the process until either we find a good match or we run out of guinea pigs.
  • We try a maximum of three potential matches because, by that time, the guineas would have had enough for the day and they won’t be open to meeting anyone else. 
  • If we find a match for your guinea(s), we’ll process adoption papers and collect the adoption fee (all done online at the time). If, for whatever reason, the pairing process at home is not successful, you can return the adopted guinea pig and we’ll try again or refund your adoption fee. 

The pairing is just the start of the process, though; you will continue pairing them at home over a period of two weeks or more (I’ll give you detailed instructions and we're available if you have questions/concerns).

On the way home

Transport the guinea pigs separately (one carrier per guinea pig) because you will not be able to monitor them as you are driving, and they will be extra stressed by the travel and the pairing process. Guinea pigs need to be secured in a small animal carrier for safety. Let us know if you need to purchase one from us, we have several on hand!

Cage introduction at home

  • The new guinea pigs should reside in at least a 4x4 size C&C cage with a divider/shared wall - new guinea(s) on one side, your guinea(s) on the other - that they cannot stick their head through for 3-4 days. It’s really important that you have a cage at home that is big enough for multiple guinea pigs (the more space they have, the fewer issues you’ll encounter).
  • Swap the sides they're in after 2 days so they get each others’ scent all over them.
  • Provide daily SUPERVISED floor time together during this “getting to know each other” period. That way, you can observe them interacting and gauge when it’s okay to remove the wall/barrier in the cage.
  • Take it slow - a bad interaction is difficult/impossible to walk back, so to use "time out" as needed.
  • If there is no aggression, biting, etc. through the shared wall after 4 days, you can remove the divider and monitor them closely.
  • Mounting and chasing without serious biting is normal behavior for guinea pigs in a new habitat. Leave them be but observe closely for the first day (see “Behaviors to watch for” below).
  • Do not handle either of the pair for the first week so they can bond.

      Feeding tips

      • Veggies and greens should be cut up and scattered in the cage so both guinea pigs can get enough. You can also scatter feed pellets. 
      • Our piggies are used to about 1/2 cup greens per piggy per day so if you want to increase this amount, do so gradually.

      Behavior tips

      We do our best to match dominance level and compatible personalities here at the rescue. Some conflict is normal the first couple days as they settle down - sometimes the resident guinea will show dominance when going back to a familiar environment. If it subsides over the first few days, the pairing is successful.

      • Behaviors to watch for:
        • Face-to-face confrontation or trying to bite each other’s nose/mouth areas
        • Chattering
        • Biting while chasing
        • Fighting that results in fur being pulled out or injury
      • If one guinea pig draws blood from the other, separate them. 
      • If one seems to always be nipping the back or rump of the other, check for bite wounds by brushing against the fur, towards their head and looking closely at the skin. You will be able to feel any scabs.
      • DO NOT put your hand in the cage to stop a fight or you risk getting bitten. Use a solid object like a dustpan or pigloo to separate them, if necessary. It's also useful to have a towel handy that's big enough to throw over them, if separating them with an igloo/dustpan seems hard.

      If you have any questions about behavior or what to do, please contact us right away and we will be happy to help! 

      Resolving conflict

      • Guinea pigs will sometimes “bully” each other. Any small change in the environment or stress can spark it. Keeping a calm environment around them and establishing a routine will help.
      • If they are bickering but not harming each other, give them more space. Get/create as big a cage as you can, even if you can only add another cube’s worth of space.
      • Employ the “bathing trick.” Before bathing them, put them in carriers and then clean everything in the cage completely with 50/50 vinegar and water. Discarding any toys like wicker balls that can't be cleaned. The goal is to remove all traces of their scents before the bath. Give them a very shallow bath together, dry them thoroughly, and put them back in the scrubbed cage.
      • When one needs to go to the vet or anywhere else, bring them both. Guinea pigs are very social and having their buddy with them brings comfort. They will also both have the same scents of the experience and this may prevent fighting when they are returned to their cage.
      • Here is a good link for social info: https://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm
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