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Help! Loner Pig? :(

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Swizzle's_Mom26

Junior Guinea Pig
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I got Swizzle as a single piggy, and I know they need company, so I've been going to the local rescues and trying to find her a suitable companion. Swizzle is 10 months old, a TSW Abyssinian sow. Anyway, I went to my local rescue. There were 4 piggies available, 2 adult sows, and 2 baby sows. We introduced Swizzle to Nibbles, a 2 year old ruby-eyed white American sow. They did NOT get along. They had a nose off and some rumbling, and then Swizzle ignored her and went for the hay. Nibbles approached the hay, sat down and washed herself, wanting to be friends. Swizzle, for some reason got scared (there were no noises or smells that could have frightened her) and lashed out at Nibbles, and actually bit her ear and face! So we separated them, and left Swizzle alone for a while. Then we tried The other adult sow. Similar result: They greeted each other, Swizzle ignored the piggy, if the sow looked at her for more then 2 seconds, Swizzle lashed out. Same with the 2 babies (they were about 6 months old).
All the piggies were shy, we thought maybe they just weren't Swizzle's type. So I tried the other local rescue. They had 2 piggies, both 8 months old. Same thing AGAIN. She just kept lungeing at them and biting, and she was NOT HAPPY. It's like she just wanted to be alone. Tried a different rescue. They had 2 piggies. Same thing. So I don't know what to do. She's perfectly fine being alone, and she just loves veggies. She is happy and healthy. And there aren't any other rescues that are near us. (I can't drive more than 2 hours away). Do you think I should just keep her alone? She is very aggressive with all piggies, and bites them.
 
You could wait and maybe try her with a neutered boar, she make take to a boar better. These things do happen but sometimes it is best not to give up. Patience can be the best thing :)

Where abouts are you?
 
No offense, but I'm really not comfortable with discussing my location. I'm in the US though.
I did find a critter rescue that has a few neutered boars, including an ADORABLE black Abyssinian! I talked it over and we are going over there tonight to introduce her to both some neutered boars and sows at that rescue, they have a LOT of piggies! I'll keep this thread updated! And I really hope she likes that black Abyssinian! <3 Here's what he looks like
sandy1.jpg
 
He is gorgeous. I hope she likes him. Good luck. I think it is wonderful you are trying to find her a suitable friend and are going to rescues.
 
Wow, he is a very pretty piggy. I hope she likes him. Good luck, and keep us updated!
 
He does look nice. I hope that she takes better to him. I agree that it is great you are persevering like this.
 
*sigh* She was crazy to the boars. She started squealing like she was dying and retreated to a nearby hidey. When he came over to sniff her she bit him. HARD. She even drew a little blood on one boar. I feel so bad that she's hurting them! They're fine now, but do I have some sort if scarred for life neurological psycho sow on my hands?! Is there something wrong with her? I really fell in love with that black Aby. :(
 
There's probably nothing wrong with her but it may be that actually unlike most of the advice we give she does actually prefer being a single piggy!

I know it's always wise to have them in pairs or groups but sometimes you get a piggy which just doesn't like it for whatever reason.... It's always worth remembering too that piggies pick a friend based on rather different criteria to us and she may not get along with the piggy you would choose and it might not be the first, fourth or even seventh pig that takes her fancy so it's worth being patient and trying again in the future. We probably wouldn't pick our future wife/husband from a room full of people after ten minutes and then live happily ever after and piggies don't either.

I can understand you might not want to discuss your location but even a general idea like UK or USA or a county/state will help us give you the best advice as we have members from all over the world and the options for finding piggy friends can be very different depending on where you are :)
 
I think I'm just going to let her be a single pig as long as she's happy to be one. She got VERY stressed out from all the introductions. So I'll just play it by ear and the second I think she's getting lonely, drive to one of our four rescues. Now, piggies aren't a problem. I found a great rescue with boars and sows and they get piggies in pretty often. So, Swizzle will remain a single pig for now. But like I said, the second her attitude changes I WILL find her a friend.
 
Gosh it does sound like she doesn't want a piggie friend at the moment. How was she with piggies the other side of cage bars? I'm not an expert but I wonder if a pair of piggies in an adjoining cage might be good for her - she could talk to them then if she wanted to. Sounds like she may not be that sociable though!
 
Even with piggies next to her she was nervous and jittery and nippy all the time. Maybe she had a bad experience with piggies? I don't know anything about her past, I got her off Craigslist.
 
I was going to suggest the same thing as PiggySmitten. I think the problem is that you are forcing these strange pigs on her quite suddenly. Maybe if you get the black boar (He is gorgeous! How can she not fall for him? ) keep him in a separate cage near enough for her to be able to smell and talk to him. Give Swizzle more time to get used to the idea of a companion.
 
I took Maggie on as a rescue just over a year ago. We bonded her with a boar whom we had also recently got. Things were great between them. Sadly though Albert had a dental and didn't make it. At the time we had 4 other girls and we tried bonding her with each of those, she hated all 4 and was aggressive towards them. Again we adopted a boar to bond with her. No luck either with him. Last October we took in 2 sows which the owner could no longer look after, I thought 'brilliant she's bound to get on with one of them' no such luck. So Maggie remained a single girl. This summer she went on holiday to a rescue where the owner tried bonding her with most of the sows in the rescue. She hated them all. We took her back at the end of the summer to try her with a newly neutered boar. She hated him as well. I've now given up trying to bond her, it seems she is happier on her own and having her own space. The strange thing is though she has a c and c cage next to the other pigs and through the bars she is totally fine with them with absolutely no sign of aggression as well as chatting and interacting with them.
 
My parents (whom I live with currently) said they were ok with 2 piggies in one cage but they don't want more than one cage in the room they are in. O.o Now today my dad said only 1 piggy. So I don't know, it's their house, their rules and she is fine right now. So I'm just gonna wait.
 
I had a pig who was much the same, attacked any pig that went near her, including a neutered boar and even a 3 week old sow, so she ended up living alongside our other pigs (who welcomed the baby sow) and enjoyed taunting them through the grids instead. You may find that over time she does find the perfect friend.
 
I too have a sow like this, she is an aby x and attacked every female she was introduced to, luckily a friend of mine let me have her "visually challenged" neutered boar and my sow fussed around him like he was her baby! She went on to develop ovarian cysts and had a hyserectomy, sadly her old husboar passed away not long after this :( I assumed that maybe hormones had been her problem and did think that maybe she would be ok with another sow post op - but no she is still the same and now is with husboar no 2!
 
Hi I'm in the UK ad I recently fell in love with a rescue boar, but I'm having the same trouble with him, the rescue center warned me not to try and bond him with anything other than me as he was super aggressive to all piggies. I'm really worried he'll get lonely though, should I keep trying?
 
Like with humans, not every piggy will actually get along with others. If I were you (and provided that you have the space and are allowed to have more piggies), I would rather think about next door company which she can interact with through the bars. that way, she has her own unthreatened territory but is not lonely and has the stimulation of her own kind.

It can well be that she has been separated at too young an age and then been kept without contact of her own kind, so she has no concept of how to deal with other piggies and is aggressive because of that. She is a bit young for ovarian cyst/hormonal aggression problems. There are single guinea pigs that don't get on with others. There is nothing wrong with the concept of them living alone, provided that it is by their own choice and that they have been given that choice. ;)
 
I agree. I too had a Lone Boar, Poppy. I went to the rescue numerous times trying to find him a friend. No matter what, Neutered Male, Female, young old, he was having none of it.

He went on to live a happy healthy life with me being his 'partner'. As Wiebke stated, it was his choice.
 
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