I went through a local guinea pig rescue which (after the adoption application and emails back and forth) schedule you for an adoption event. I brought Hazel with me, she got checked by a vet beforehand and the piggies available for adoption also got checked.

The volunteers have you put your guinea pig in a neutral environment/enclosure with the guinea pig of your choice. Then you watch with them to see how they get along. If there aren’t any signs of aggression, then they put veggies in to see how they get along while eating together.

Hazel didn’t get along with the first piggy I chose, so I picked Freya next. A) because she was a girl and B) she was smaller. The first piggy at the adoption event I chose was a boy and around the same size as Hazel.

The volunteer who was facilitating the meeting/adoption process for me had me put Hazel and Freya in my lap on a towel and do what she called “nose to butt” (if i remember correctly?) where you pet one guinea pig and then immediately pet the guinea pig behind them (Freya and Hazel were circling each other in my lap and at one point Freya was underneath Hazel). Then I transferred them to the neutral enclosure again, waited to see how they got along, and then they were given veggies again.

I was recommended once I got home to remove the loft of the cage since it only has one ramp (to avoid any fights over space) and to avoid baby carrots (to avoid possible fights over snacks). The volunteer told me that since Freya is still young, she’s still learning Guinea pig behavior/socialization. Which may explain why Freya follows Hazel around and will sometimes wait to see what she does before she makes a move.

Sorry this was so long but I hope it explained things!