Introducing a new Guinea Pig to your old Guinea Pig

A lot of Guinea Pig owners end up buying another guinea pig once they see how lovable guinea pigs are. However before you introduce your new guinea pig to your old guinea pig, there are a few precautions that your should take.

If you already own an adult male guinea pig and are considering purchasing a new baby male guinea pig, then you will have no problems introducing them to each other. You should never introduce two adult males to each other as they will fight until one dies.

However, if you already own an adult female guinea pig, introducing a baby to an adult female is much easier to do.  Although it will take much more patience, you can introduce two adult female guinea pigs.

Also, as long as your adult male is neutered, you will be able to easily introduce a female guinea pig to him, regardless of age. Although a single neutered male can live in a colony of females with no problems, you should never have two male guinea pigs living with a female or females as they will always fight.

Regardless of the sex or age of your two guinea pigs, you should have a neutral space available for them to be introduced in. Ideally, this space should be well away from other animals, small children or any other distraction.  

Start by placing a few really nice treats in the middle of the neutral space. Pretty quickly the two guinea pigs will start eating the treats and will be forced to recognize each other over a positive experience.  

At first the guinea pigs will sniff each other out and should therefore be supervised during the entire process.  Once you are confident that they are comfortable with each other, you then place them into their cage together.

If your two guinea pigs do not hit it off right away, it would be best to keep them separate in different cages for a while. Place these cages side by side so your guinea pigs will be able to observe each other and get used to each other and always supervise their playtime together.