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Are They Ok

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CAROL-ANNE

CAROL-ANNE

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I have a nuetured boar and 3 sows, 2 of whom are new to the group, one of them is completely blind. My older sow is the boss of everyone. They do not fight but they don't seem to be best friends either, they all lie separate from each other , the blind one hardly seems to come out except to grab food and take it back to her tube, I have taken the tube away so that she is not so isolated from the group but they all have there own house of logs to hide in.Does it matter that they are not best friends?
 
This sounds perfectly normal. Most of the time my pigs are in separate cabins. They are still close and bonded but just need their space. I would not take away the blind pigs house though as houses make pigs feel safe. Please do not worry, they are friends.
 
CAROL-ANNE said:
I have a nuetured boar and 3 sows, 2 of whom are new to the group, one of them is completely blind. My older sow is the boss of everyone. They do not fight but they don't seem to be best friends either, they all lie separate from each other , the blind one hardly seems to come out except to grab food and take it back to her tube, I have taken the tube away so that she is not so isolated from the group but they all have there own house of logs to hide in.Does it matter that they are not best friends?
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Please give your blind sow her hidey back. Your piggies are well bonded and are behaving normal for a group. My groups will go to rest and sleep at the same time, but they have all their favourite nooks and crannies; they same as they would use an abandoned set as a group. I also have got some piggies I pretty much see only at feeding time and occasionally during roaming time.
 
I have just changed the tube for a wooden den instead, its easier to clean as she was peeing inside the tube making it smelly, she still has a house to herself I made it small so the rest can't really get in.
 
Your blind girl is likely bottom of the pile, so she generally gets the least favourite. I usually have at least one more hidey than there are piggies in a group, so an evicted underpiggy still has got a choice! ;)
 
Wiebke said:
Please give your blind sow her hidey back. Your piggies are well bonded and are behaving normal for a group. My groups will go to rest and sleep at the same time, but they have all their favourite nooks and crannies; they same as they would use an abandoned set as a group. I also have got some piggies I pretty much see only at feeding time and occasionally during roaming time.
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I changed the tube for a wooden den I made it small so that the rest can't get in, she was peeing in the tube it was hard to keep clean do you think this ok.
 
I never thought of that I can add another hidey or two no problem thanks for that.
 
PS: You may need to give your blind girl extra feeding time away from the group if she is being pushed off - or do what I do, serve small portions several times a day (including pellets) in small bowls, so everything gets eaten all at once. Always one more bowl than piggies in case there is some dominance pushing off going on. ;)
 
Will do. Thanks for the help I value this site and recommend it to anyone buying piggies from a very large pet store where I work..
 
awwww, well the response helped me also! my 2 girls really don't seem to "like" each other very much; but no fighting, they just are always separate and the older one allows the little one (the newest) to take food away from her and evict her from hideys! I've had the little one for a couple of months now but she is very young; the older one is almost a year; i worry because whenever i check on them, the older one is inside a hidey and the little one is wheeking loudly! I feel like even though they're together, that she may be lonely because they don't interact! I probably worry too much
 
irene said:
awwww, well the response helped me also! my 2 girls really don't seem to "like" each other very much; but no fighting, they just are always separate and the older one allows the little one (the newest) to take food away from her and evict her from hideys! I've had the little one for a couple of months now but she is very young; the older one is almost a year; i worry because whenever i check on them, the older one is inside a hidey and the little one is wheeking loudly! I feel like even though they're together, that she may be lonely because they don't interact! I probably worry too much
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They do interact! Young piggies learn what is edible and what not by snatching food from older piggies' mouths. You can find out a bit more what makes guinea pigs tick in groups in this thread here: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/biological-facts-and-guinea-pig-society.109062/
 
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