Cant decide who to rehome and what do you do in the rain?

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blue292

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Oh I'm having to make a horrible decision. I got 4 piggies off a friend a few months back and they were all really skittish and not tame. They have all settled really well and I am loving their lovely personalities. The problem is I have a toddler and I'm a childminder too, so am very busy and I'm finding that they are not getting as much attention as I had hoped. So I'm thinking i should rehome 2 of them in order to be able to devote my time to the two remaining piggies. The boys are tamer but one is a bit nippy and doesn't like cuddles allthough he is easy to pick up and comes running for food. The girls go crazy when I try to catch them but are happy to be cuddled. They are all gorgeous!

Really I would like to keep my favourite - a cuddly boy and one of the girls but the boys are not neutered so that's a bit more of a job and I am struggling to choose which girly. They are living outside and I'm wondering if they were indoors I would spend more time with them and wouldn't have to get rid of any of them. Its amazing how quickly you fall in love with them isnt it!?

My other question is what do you do when it rains? My pigs have been stuck in their hutch all day today as its been pouring - do you keep yours in in the rain?
 
HI, Welcome,

Do you have the males and females together? What size hutch do you have? So long as they have plenty of hay, and veggies/fresh grass they dont need outdoor run time, unless the hutch they are in is very small. And with the attention thing aswell, so long as they are provided with food and some love/talking to and petting, with the company of each other they dont need constant handlling.
 
The hutch is fairly big, the girls have upstairs and the boys downstairs but it is blocked off so no cheeky mating! The boy that is biting is a bit rough with the other boy and goes through phases of mounting him - I'm wondering if he can smell the ladies and its sending him crazy wanting to mate?

I had pictured having very tame piggies who are always with me. I used to have a wonderful hamster who would sleep on my lap and let me carry him around everywhere when I was a child. I think where I have 4, I spend so much time worrying about who to get out to play with that I end up running out of time and they miss out...
 
I found my lot got a bit tamer when they came inside, they all hate being caught, two hate being cuddled but after a year of having them I wouldnt swap them for the world.

Mine are due to move back outside to their hutch for the summer, I have a rain screen which I leave propped open on rainy/cloudy days so they get light and air but sadly no grass time for them when its wet. I also work full time so they only get to have grass time on dry days if its my day off, but they like their lives and they are happy, maybe someone else could devote more time to them but I like them being a gang of piggies in each others company and it suits their personalities fine
 
Hi,

I have just moved my 4 piggies outside after spending the winter in my dining room, and i am feeling guilty about them being out in their hutch in the rain too :(. Toffee Woffee is right though, they don't need to be out in the run EVERY day and they have each other for company.

What I usually do if it rains for a few days, is make up an indoor run in the kitchen or dining room so they can have floor time (and lots of cuddles!). I use the grids from my winter cage to section off a safe play area for them and put some tunnels and hideys in for them.

I do agree that they get more attention when they are living inside, so i can see where your dilemma is coming from. You have a tough decision to make :(.

Helen xx
 
Unless you get one of the boars "done" and put him with a female after 6 weeks, keeping a boy and a girl is unlikely, unless you have them living on their own which wouldn't be fair really, I think keep as is, and just make sure they get as much human contact as you can manage, but remember they have each other for company so try not to worry, or get one of the boys nuetered and pair him with one or both of the females, but that still leaves one boar..... Tough decision.
 
we let ours run round in conservatory when its raining they love being indoors and also love watching the telly x
 
My (7) piggies live inside all year round, as I find that they and we get more out of each other that way. yes, i would agree that if your boars arae being aggressive towards each other, it could be the proximity of the sows that is causing it, but other remedies are to check that you have enough space for them, two hideys, two water bottles and two sources of food. Boars really need a 150 cage whereas you can get away with a 120 for sows (the legal minimum).

I have a selection of runs outside (some older than others). I put piggies out in in two or three of them, and cover all the runs with some plywood - I have some very large pieces about 6ft square, which sit on top of the runs. This means that the piggies are protected from the rain, and I also have dry grass in the vacant runs for the next day or so. When grass in a run is exhausted, I move it, cover it, and after a couple of days, it is dry enough for the piggies to go into it. This way, piggies can go outside most days, if warm enough, and rain isn't a problem.

I got my first ply from a builder's skip, and then added to it with offcuts from a friendly builder who thought I was bonkers.

HTH
 
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