Looking for some opinions on behaviour in the videos in the link below (hoping it works!)
My little Poppet recently lost her companion, and as I didn't want to continue the piggy cycle, my friend has stepped into help and let me borrow her boy.
Poppet is a 5 year old neutered sow weighing 800g, Cuddles is a 3.5 year old entire boar weighing 1342g currently. Introductions on neutral territory went well and they have been together now for 12 days in a large c&c with 25.5 square foot of continuous floor space.
Cuddles has been a good boy, he doesn't mount poppet and after he got over the initial excitement of having a friend for the first time in his life, he has calmed down alot. He follows and bum sniffs which results in poppet peeing on his face! He popcorns alot and generally seems very happy with the pairing.
My concern is the constant "warning" noise poppet is making. She can be eating, sleeping or sitting at the other end of the cage but when she sees or hears him coming, she starts making this high pitched sound. They get veggies seperately , have 2 water bottles and 2 large hay areas including a smaller foraging/hay area in the middle. I don't believe he bully's poppet, and he certainly has never hurt her, but her behaviour is new to me. She rumble struts at him more than he does to her, and she's not shy on pushing him out of where she is sleeping if she doesn't want him there. Her weights is at the lower end of normal for her and has dropped a bit since cuddles arrived, but she is much more active due to the dynamics which could explain it.
Poppet has athritis which she takes meds for and has monthly accupuncture with her exotics vet. She however still has excellent mobility and can move quicker than cuddles ! She also only has one working kidney as the other was destroyed by a huge stone. She's also on daily meds for this. On the whole, she is still a well piggy with a normal quality of life.
I have included videos of her rumbling and shouting when he's no where near her, of her weeing on him when he bum sniffs and of her wheeking for her veggies as normal! I haven't saw her popcorn since cuddles arrived which is one thing that concerns me, as she was always a jumpy piggy !
Does anyone think she's stressed/ unhappy with this noise she keeps making? Or is she just being a grump?!
TIA!
Pigs
My little Poppet recently lost her companion, and as I didn't want to continue the piggy cycle, my friend has stepped into help and let me borrow her boy.
Poppet is a 5 year old neutered sow weighing 800g, Cuddles is a 3.5 year old entire boar weighing 1342g currently. Introductions on neutral territory went well and they have been together now for 12 days in a large c&c with 25.5 square foot of continuous floor space.
Cuddles has been a good boy, he doesn't mount poppet and after he got over the initial excitement of having a friend for the first time in his life, he has calmed down alot. He follows and bum sniffs which results in poppet peeing on his face! He popcorns alot and generally seems very happy with the pairing.
My concern is the constant "warning" noise poppet is making. She can be eating, sleeping or sitting at the other end of the cage but when she sees or hears him coming, she starts making this high pitched sound. They get veggies seperately , have 2 water bottles and 2 large hay areas including a smaller foraging/hay area in the middle. I don't believe he bully's poppet, and he certainly has never hurt her, but her behaviour is new to me. She rumble struts at him more than he does to her, and she's not shy on pushing him out of where she is sleeping if she doesn't want him there. Her weights is at the lower end of normal for her and has dropped a bit since cuddles arrived, but she is much more active due to the dynamics which could explain it.
Poppet has athritis which she takes meds for and has monthly accupuncture with her exotics vet. She however still has excellent mobility and can move quicker than cuddles ! She also only has one working kidney as the other was destroyed by a huge stone. She's also on daily meds for this. On the whole, she is still a well piggy with a normal quality of life.
I have included videos of her rumbling and shouting when he's no where near her, of her weeing on him when he bum sniffs and of her wheeking for her veggies as normal! I haven't saw her popcorn since cuddles arrived which is one thing that concerns me, as she was always a jumpy piggy !
Does anyone think she's stressed/ unhappy with this noise she keeps making? Or is she just being a grump?!
TIA!
Pigs
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