Bonding Questions

[PiggyPoppa]

Hey all, we are looking to bond our neutered male with our female and just had a few questions. We attempted to bond them a few months ago but our girl gave us a scare when she gave a nasty bite to our boy and we separated them and have not tried bonding since. We did not have a good grasp on how to bond them so we made some rookie mistakes, for example we were trying to bond them in a playpen but we took items from each Piggies cage and put it in the pen not realizing that would make them more territorial and they need to be bonded on neutral environment. So we are giving it another go but are still confused about a few things as we have read conflicting advice. Some information we have read suggests leaving the Piggies together in neutral territory, monitored of course, for however many hours it takes until they are bonded and then put them in the same cage together from there on. Other advice recommends having a few meetings in neutral territory between the Piggies spanning weeks or months until they are familiar with each other to form a bond. We are somewhat concerned putting them in the same cage together straight away after bonding since our girl bit our boy last time and she weighs more than him now. We have started scent swapping but the way their room is set up they cannot see each other right now, do you recommend moving their cages so they can see/smell each other? Also we are planning to move both into our boy's cage after bonding so we will sanitize before we move them in together, however does this mean we need to buy new hideouts, tunnels, etc as each item will have their scents? Any help is appreciated, TIA

 

[Piggies&buns]

First, please immediately stop the scent swapping. It is old advice which can actually hamper the bonding process and be seen as a territory invasion and thus mean bonding can fail.
Piggies are territorial so if they find the scent of an another pig in their territory, and then meet that pig, they will immediately be seen as an invader which will set them off in the wrong foot.

Instead the two piggies do need to be side by side - this is the case at all times, piggies should never be alone so they should have been side by side since the last bonding attempt.
Please do bring them side by side so they get fed to know each other for a week or two before you attempt it again. This allows them to get to know each other without feeling invaded. Never use the bedding for one piggy in the others cage though.

Short meetings over weeks or months is not the correct way to bond at all.
Putting them together and then separating repeatedly stops the bonding every single time
Meaning they have to start from the beginning each and every time but because they aren’t together long enough they never get through the bonding process stages. It causes stress and may even mean they refuse to bond.
Piggies have to be together for two full weeks to be able to fully complete the bonding process so you can see that any separation can ruin everything.

The way you bond is to put them on neutral territory for several hours and if it goes well you move them to the cage together and leave them together from then on.
Obviously if it doesn’t go well in neutral then they must be separated and in that event you would not be able to ever attempt bonding again.
The cage you move them to needs to be cleaned. But it either needs to be totally neutral or carry the scent of both pigs - this means using the soiled bedding of the other pig and rubbing it all over the cage and items in the cage to transfer both scents into the space.

However I would urge caution if you attempt a bonding given the previous bite. Sows tend to hold a grudge so if she didn’t like him last time, then she is not likely to like him this time to so be prepared with oven gloves to separate them if a fight occurs.
If the bonding fails again, then they must remain side by side permanently.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours

 

[PiggyPoppa]

Ok thanks so much for the advice I had no idea the scent swapping was a no no. We will move the cages next to each other then and see how that works, we have not done it sooner because the cages are different heights but we will figure something out. We are hopeful the previous bite will be forgotten by both Piggies, we will have some oven mitts handy in case. Appreciate the advice, cheers

 

[flowerfairy]

Best of luck with the bonding. I hope the bite is a distant (very distant) memory and that they take to each other.