Hi there, quite often read the forum for advice and tips but never needed to register yet... anyway me and my wife an issue that we can't seem to resolve, just a bit of background to help build a picture. Sorry it's so long.
We currently have three girls, one 3.5 year old (Cokey) and two 5 months (Marbie and Maisie).
Unfortunately Cokeys friend our other older girl (Misty) was lost over Xmas due to the dreaded bloat, this is why we got the two younger ones as we couldn't find a good adopt.
Over the Xmas until now the neutral introduction went well and they all lived happy in a c&c cage setup. Cokey accepted them both and was the lead, Marbie was second and really liked Cokey following her etc, and Maisie a nice friend submissive third in the chain. Unfortunately this all changed.
Cokey had a tumour on the ovaries so they were both removed. We separated her by halving the c&c cage with a divider, after about 4 days she was more active but we maintained separation during most of the day to ensure no issues of her being injured, we did however allow them to socially interact while we were there this however resulted in Marbie challenging Cokey and a fight happened which we broke up. For the remaining days of separation when they saw each other it was loud teeth chattering and raised backs etc, all not good.
Ok fast forward, a few night back we created new neutral ground and introduced, the challenging continued, a few fights which we broke up and then Marbie cut her lip and seemed to go submissive, all good we thought, turns out the trust had gone for Cokey and when she saw Marbie she goes aggressive which makes Marbie natural reactive aggressive but she does appear to back off, but still not in a very submissive way.
We then created a new c&c cage setup in another room and Marbie went in that for 30 hrs to cool down and also to allow Cokey to calm. Maisie was with Cokey as they are fine together. Marbie was a little bully to Maisie when it was just them two, so thought it best.
So after the cool down, we created a larger play area and put them back together, there was a few face off teeth chattering but again Marbie would back off but then later come back sniffing until Cokey noticed then teeth chattering etc. It did at one point calm a little, Cokey would just give a lower aggressive warning that seemed to work. It's worth noting that Marbie was back to chasing Maisie and bum nipping and generally bullying, its also worth mentioning we have opened the play area to the whole bedroom so they weren't close or in the way, Marbie likes to find her and annoy her.
Anyway all seemed to be going ok'ish after 3 hours bar the teeth chattering but they weren't fighting, Cokey came out of the cage and near me then decided to move across the room, then out of nowhere Marbie ran at her and attacked into a full fight (wife's finger got badly bitten, I had told her to use a towel but in the unexpected attack she put her hand in) we broke it up, checked Cokey was ok which she was, then moved Marbie back into the spare room setup where she is now.
I'm not sure what to do, keeping Marbie on her own isn't right but we can't seem to reintroduce her without the risk of harm to her or Cokey.
We really appreciate your help as at the moment re-homing is running through my mind which is a shame as bar the fights with the others she's a nice pig to hold, very nice with humans.
Thanks.
We currently have three girls, one 3.5 year old (Cokey) and two 5 months (Marbie and Maisie).
Unfortunately Cokeys friend our other older girl (Misty) was lost over Xmas due to the dreaded bloat, this is why we got the two younger ones as we couldn't find a good adopt.
Over the Xmas until now the neutral introduction went well and they all lived happy in a c&c cage setup. Cokey accepted them both and was the lead, Marbie was second and really liked Cokey following her etc, and Maisie a nice friend submissive third in the chain. Unfortunately this all changed.
Cokey had a tumour on the ovaries so they were both removed. We separated her by halving the c&c cage with a divider, after about 4 days she was more active but we maintained separation during most of the day to ensure no issues of her being injured, we did however allow them to socially interact while we were there this however resulted in Marbie challenging Cokey and a fight happened which we broke up. For the remaining days of separation when they saw each other it was loud teeth chattering and raised backs etc, all not good.
Ok fast forward, a few night back we created new neutral ground and introduced, the challenging continued, a few fights which we broke up and then Marbie cut her lip and seemed to go submissive, all good we thought, turns out the trust had gone for Cokey and when she saw Marbie she goes aggressive which makes Marbie natural reactive aggressive but she does appear to back off, but still not in a very submissive way.
We then created a new c&c cage setup in another room and Marbie went in that for 30 hrs to cool down and also to allow Cokey to calm. Maisie was with Cokey as they are fine together. Marbie was a little bully to Maisie when it was just them two, so thought it best.
So after the cool down, we created a larger play area and put them back together, there was a few face off teeth chattering but again Marbie would back off but then later come back sniffing until Cokey noticed then teeth chattering etc. It did at one point calm a little, Cokey would just give a lower aggressive warning that seemed to work. It's worth noting that Marbie was back to chasing Maisie and bum nipping and generally bullying, its also worth mentioning we have opened the play area to the whole bedroom so they weren't close or in the way, Marbie likes to find her and annoy her.
Anyway all seemed to be going ok'ish after 3 hours bar the teeth chattering but they weren't fighting, Cokey came out of the cage and near me then decided to move across the room, then out of nowhere Marbie ran at her and attacked into a full fight (wife's finger got badly bitten, I had told her to use a towel but in the unexpected attack she put her hand in) we broke it up, checked Cokey was ok which she was, then moved Marbie back into the spare room setup where she is now.
I'm not sure what to do, keeping Marbie on her own isn't right but we can't seem to reintroduce her without the risk of harm to her or Cokey.
We really appreciate your help as at the moment re-homing is running through my mind which is a shame as bar the fights with the others she's a nice pig to hold, very nice with humans.
Thanks.
