Help!

[hot fox]

We have four girls and a neutered boy, who live in harmony, generally! There is a definite heirarchy, but they all know their place.
I rescued a guinea pig two weeks ago from an Ebay advert (long story) and have kept her in quarantine. She is in good health, so we re-arranged and enlarged the C&C and cleaned everything. Used Piggie wipes on all the Pigs to make them smell the same (this worked on a previous unsuccessful introduction) so we placed Poppy in and all appeared to be going really well. She was popcorning around the enclosure. The two Underpigs (sisters) stayed out of the way, and there was a fair amount of mounting from our boy. The two dominant elder girls were sniffing and sussing Poppy out.
After about half an hour (once I thought the worst was over) the teeth chattering stared and they started rising up and fighting. We left them as long as we dared, then noticed Poppy had been bitten and was bleeding, so we took her out. The sad thing is she is the one who started it!
She seemed so happy to have new friends and a lovely big enclosure. We have wiped the wound, it doesn't look too serious and have placed her back into her Ebay cage. On her own again :-(
What did we do wrong? Should we try again?
HELP! B-(

 

[lauralucy]

hi

i would try her with the older 2 on they're own not in the cage and see how it goes? if it goes ok add the others and if all goes well put them all in the cage new piggy first.

 

[Niki]

You didn't do anything wrong & it may be she got a little above herself & was put in her place. It's no surprise to me that she appeared to be the one on the attack; she most likely felt threatened & attacked defensively.

Weeble came to me with me knowing she hated all other pigs. First i successfully bonded her to a neutered boar & when my other neutered boar passed, leaving 5 girls i tried to bond Weeble & her boar to them. It didn't go well, Weeble flew down the hutch leaping & attacking anyone who got in her way. Teeth chattering from everyone ensued because they were all on alert & obviously i removed her & her boar. I kept introducing them & after a few weeks she realised they were no threat & she & her boar have been part of a herd of 7 for the last 8 months.

I would try Poppy with them again & hopefully she will realise they're no threat but there are no guarantees & Poppy may never be a part of the group.

I should also add nipping, chasing & mounting are all a part of sow behaviour & all are perfectly normal & if often looks a lot worse than it actually is.

 

[Liane]

Oh thats such a shame to hear

An alternative method you could try is sitting with your pigs on your lap, and trying to introduce them that way. I think wiping them is a good idea, too. If they're sitting together, it might make her feel less threatened and then you could try her in the house again if it goes well.

 

[paulag]

Sometimes it can take a while to get intros done with established groups - they have to establish a pecking order. It's very difficult because it's best to remove the newcomer if things get nasty, but it means they then often have to start all over again.

A neutral area such as a hall or bathroom floor (i.e. With no hiding places or wires) can make a good place to introduce. I usually have some nice hay or veg for them to munch to distract them a bit. In summer an outdoor run is good. You can also Try a split cage if you've got some spare cubes or mesh.

Paula

 

[hot fox]

Thanks all, we shall indeed try again, using lots of your ideas here, but we shall wait until Poppy's injury has totally healed. In the meantime, her cage is next door to the C&C so at least she can interact that way.
As always, I'm so grateful for your input.
Thanks
Foxy French

 

[The Pog Nation]

Hope things go well for Poppy

 

[Wiebke]

Keep her next to the others so she can interact through the bars and get to know them; I always do that with a newbie. That will take several stress factors out of the intro proper. It doesn't take much to overset a tight situation.

Make sure that you do intros in a completely neutral place, putting the newbie there first and then the top sows and the boar.

The wipes won't help much in my opinion, frankly. A buddy bath can be useful in a case of boars having fallen out over too much testosterone by removing the stench to help calm them down, but otherwise your wipes can well rather serve as an irritant than as a help. I never use a scent mask for my own intros and rather rely on waiting with intros until both newbie and Tribe are sending out the right kind of signal that they would like to meet.

A big flat plate or two with grass or veg in chunks can help bond as well.