Hey everyone,
I have two wonderful boars named Griffin and Felix. We adopted them one year ago (April 29 is our adopt-aversary) and they were both roughly 1 year old when we adopted them (so they are 2 now. Though i think Felix might be a bit younger than the shelter thought). They were already bonded together from their previous home which made everything really easy. There was a little fighting when stupidly listened to the petstore and got a smaller cage but quickly built a big enough enclosure for them to ease the fighting and they have been good since.
My problem is that i'm having a hard time with them bonding with me. Whenever they are separated, at all, Felix gets very anxious and starts crying for Griffin. Griffin will usually be fairly relaxed until Felix starts crying but then instantly he seems to get anxious once he hears Felix crying for him. So after a year of having them, i haven't been able to get them used to being held, pet, brushed, etc.
I love that they are so attached and worry about each other, but i would love to have the kind of relationship with my piggies that i see so many other people have with theirs. I try to follow everything i read about how to build trust with them. They aren't terrified of me. If i have food in my closed hand ,they will climb on my hand and nudge me. They will smell my hand any time i put it in the cage (to see if i have food) if i make a wheek noise at them, they respond with a wheek back (which is really cute). They aren't afraid of me, but they won't let me pet them or hold them.
Does anyone have any more suggestions on what i can do to build up that bond between me and my piglets? I'm also really scared for when the time comes that one passes away because they are so so attached i worry about what issues that will cause with the remaining piggy
I have two wonderful boars named Griffin and Felix. We adopted them one year ago (April 29 is our adopt-aversary) and they were both roughly 1 year old when we adopted them (so they are 2 now. Though i think Felix might be a bit younger than the shelter thought). They were already bonded together from their previous home which made everything really easy. There was a little fighting when stupidly listened to the petstore and got a smaller cage but quickly built a big enough enclosure for them to ease the fighting and they have been good since.
My problem is that i'm having a hard time with them bonding with me. Whenever they are separated, at all, Felix gets very anxious and starts crying for Griffin. Griffin will usually be fairly relaxed until Felix starts crying but then instantly he seems to get anxious once he hears Felix crying for him. So after a year of having them, i haven't been able to get them used to being held, pet, brushed, etc.
I love that they are so attached and worry about each other, but i would love to have the kind of relationship with my piggies that i see so many other people have with theirs. I try to follow everything i read about how to build trust with them. They aren't terrified of me. If i have food in my closed hand ,they will climb on my hand and nudge me. They will smell my hand any time i put it in the cage (to see if i have food) if i make a wheek noise at them, they respond with a wheek back (which is really cute). They aren't afraid of me, but they won't let me pet them or hold them.
Does anyone have any more suggestions on what i can do to build up that bond between me and my piglets? I'm also really scared for when the time comes that one passes away because they are so so attached i worry about what issues that will cause with the remaining piggy