Rio and new Guinea pigs...

So I vowed that I wouldn't get anymore guinea pigs after i lost my 5yr and 6yr old girls last year....and then I saw these two cheeky chappy rescues online that needed a home and I sort of fell in love with them...



So Henrik and Lars will be joining our clan this weekend. Now Rio never acted aggressively to our last pigs, just his boisterous curious staffy self, so when i held them and let him sniff he would give them a good sniff and try nudging them with this nose, the nudging can scare the pigs, and stress can kill them, so he was always sent out when they were out, but he'd whine at the door.

I'm wondering if I can curb his curiosity enough to train him to get to his bed when they're out and if it's a risk? Or i could pop him on his lead whilst he's in his bed and they're out? Any suggestions/ experience with this?

It depends on Rio really. We've had various fosters here in the form of kittens, pups, rats, rabbits. Bug is quite prey driven if animals run but is generally just curious if they're pottering around/staying still. I managed to train her to go to her place when the bunnies were out in their play pen but she did find it quite stressful, they were only here for a few weeks as an emergency so if they had been here longer she may have gotten used to them. We allowed her to sit and watch while we were feeding the kittens (they were hand reared) which she seemed to enjoy being involved in! I would personally ensure you have a barrier between the Guineas and Rio even if he does learn stay in his bed, even if that's just a tall play pen as we used, for safety.

aww they are very cute ,may be keep him on the lead and see how he is when you introduce them to him,i know when Sash was younger she would of chased them as she use to chase any thing that moved

I guess you won't know until you try a very controlled meeting. Personally I would be very cautious for the first few months but hopefully Rio will see them as part of the family... They are kinda cute looking though .... Oh, and well done on the rescue

Rachel33 wrote:I would personally ensure you have a barrier between the Guineas and Rio even if he does learn stay in his bed, even if that's just a tall play pen as we used, for safety.

Him maybe I could get like a metal pen thing to be between us so he doesn't feel shut out...

And I have got the rescue bug! Who would have given them up in the first place as they're utterly adorable.

It's a hard one because if anything ever happened to the pigs, it would never be Rio's fault, it'd be mine, such a fine balance to try and make sure he's ok, they're ok and everyone's safe

id give it a few months with controlled introductions too

Having a couple of dogs who I know would kill them on sight, I can only say to err on the side of caution and go very slowly. I think I'd go for a run for the pigs, secure all round, so that you can see how Rio reacts when they are moving around. Many dogs won't do much to a 'prey' animal that is still - a cat in a carry crate at the vets will be ignored, for example - but once it's moving it's a different matter. So that he just sniffed them when you were holding them doesn't mean he wouldn't react if they were loose and bumbling about, especially given the noises they make too.

I personally would go for an enclosed run for them first, possibly with Rio on lead as well to minimise the stress if he does go for them, and leave it like that for a good couple of months at least before letting him off, again with them in a safe area.

I'd watch out for digging holes round the pen too. gizmo's a fiend for that.
when upstairs's hamster broke into our flat gizmo was interested, but not aggressive towards it. Like people said though, it wasn't moving around much or running so I can't say.

Also - Rio and The Guinea Pigs would make a fantastic name for a band.

Goblin wrote:Rio and The Guinea Pigs would make a fantastic name for a band.

Brilliant

Goblin wrote:Also - Rio and The Guinea Pigs would make a fantastic name for a band.

Brilliant name for a RNR Band, they would knock hubby's band down the list

Goblin wrote:Also - Rio and The Guinea Pigs would make a fantastic name for a band.

I've only just seen this!

Well bit of an update, the boys are utter lunatics and whizz around the cage, squeaking, chirping, jumping about and Rio hates them he's growled and launched at the cage (which is higher than him so he can't see them unless they stand up on their back legs)

Thing is, you can see he's trying really hard and knows he's not supposed to do it, he'll take himself out of the room if he gets too stressed and we've bought a pheramone thing for him which I'm really not sure if it's doing much. The first few nights he wasn't eating properly, at this point i was thinking "they've got to go" as I'm not sacrificing his mental and physical health for them, but we're giving it a bit more time and he is getting better.

He's so good and trying so hard, he didn't mind the last pigs as they weren't insane like these ones and were pretty chilled and he goes face to face with the OH's mum's ones at the hutch all the time, so it's clearly them being boisterous and loud that's stressing him :S

Oh dear, that doesn't sound very promising.

Could you not keep them in a part of the house that Rio doesn't go, or do you think even that would be too much for him?

That does sound a little concerning Echoing Liz, is there anywhere else that they could live in the house? We had our baby bunnies upstairs in a spare room, Bug would go and sit outside of the door for the first few days but she soon settled.

So only a few days on and he's come along so well, he's eating fine, he's sleeping on the sofa and cuddling next to us again. When they have a made 5 minutes his ears prick up and he has a little whine but he settles back down to sleep really quickly

And guinea pigs are such social animals that it wouldn't be fair to keep them away in a different room really :/ they just find Rio mildly interesting, they don't even care about his playful yodelling