Is Bonding Failing?

P

Polly013

New Born Pup
Joined
May 2, 2022
Messages
12
Reaction score
3
Points
35
Location
Manchester
Hi, our guinea Honey is 3 years old. Her lifetime partner died a month ago and 2 weeks ago we brought 2 new pigs home. They are a bonded pair of 12 months old. All 3 are girls. We have attempted to bond by putting their cages close together, swapping bedding and we’ve put them together in a neutral run on the grass about 6 times over the past 2 weeks. Today we are hoping to leave them for longer and see if they can properly bond. I’ve read all of the bonding information on here but am still a little confused as Honey’s behaviour is not mentioned. She seems to sit stock still for a very long time, not nibbling grass, not moving at all. She will move if they nip her but until then she sits completely still while they move around her. She is also trying to hide. And finally they chase her, then nip her and she wheeks loudly. Then it all settles down again. I’ll attach a couple of videos when I can work out how! I’ve no idea if this is fine or she is horribly stressed by it and we should give up. Any advice gratefully received please!
 
the forum is unable to host videos. If you upload to a third party host such as YouTube, you can then post the link here.

With piggies (who aren’t fear aggressive), you need to do the bonding once and see it to whatever the conclusion may be. When you separate them out together repeatedly, they have to start from the beginning each time because they haven’t ‘settled’ into the initial bonding.

Nipping can be a sign of dominance with skin not being broken. It sounds like the wheeking may also be submissive rather than pain or anything else.

The other thing is when you’re bonding you only put food/hay in, no hides. Are they on the grass again today? How long have they been out?
 
Siikibam said:
the forum is unable to host videos. If you upload to a third party host such as YouTube, you can then post the link here.

With piggies (who aren’t fear aggressive), you need to do the bonding once and see it to whatever the conclusion may be. When you separate them out together repeatedly, they have to start from the beginning each time because they haven’t ‘settled’ into the initial bonding.

Nipping can be a sign of dominance with skin not being broken. It sounds like the wheeking may also be submissive rather than pain or anything else.

The other thing is when you’re bonding you only put food/hay in, no hides. Are they on the grass again today? How long have they been out?
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for replying. They’ve been out for 2 hours now. I’ll remove the bridges we have in. Things don’t seem to get worse or better really! We just go around this cycle of chasing and nipping, standing very still, then everyone starts nibbling grass again!
 
Update - fighting seems to have stopped, and the newbies are snoozing together. Honey is eating on her own in the furthest corner from them! She doesn’t seem to want to be near them but we have seen one of the newbies eating right next to her and she also ate no problem. 3 hours in, I have high hopes for the next 3 hours 😁
 
Piggies&buns said:
Have you read the bonding guide I linked in earlier? It explains what behaviours you are looking for
Click to expand...

Yes I’ve read it all, but it’s still hard to tell. The young ones have slept, Honey is eating, they are watching her, they’ve sat nibbling grass together, they’ve all washed at some point, and there’s not really much squabbling now, but they do seem to be ignoring each other and are staying apart. I don’t really know what to make of it. It’s all peaceful!
 
Eating together is a step in the right direction. The worry is that she hasn’t really interacted with them. Not sleeping next to each other is absolutely normal and not something I would use as a gauge. When they approach her, what does she do? And what do they do?
 
Siikibam said:
Eating together is a step in the right direction. The worry is that she hasn’t really interacted with them. Not sleeping next to each other is absolutely normal and not something I would use as a gauge. When they approach her, what does she do? And what do they do?
Click to expand...
Apparently my daughter said she just approached them and one of them nipped at her so she went away again. ☹️
 
Polly013 said:
Apparently my daughter said she just approached them and one of them nipped at her so she went away again. ☹️
Click to expand...
Read section IV again for me. Has any of the things mentioned happened? Nipping can be a dominance behaviour if skin isn’t broken - this is (I think) usually something sows do.

The issue is her not interacting with them. Sometimes with trios, you can have an outsider situation.

Is it all three sat together or the pair?
 
Siikibam said:
Read section IV again for me. Has any of the things mentioned happened? Nipping can be a dominance behaviour if skin isn’t broken - this is (I think) usually something sows do.

The issue is her not interacting with them. Sometimes with trios, you can have an outsider situation.

Is it all three sat together or the pair?
Click to expand...
Yes, I read about the dominance nipping but when does that stop? She’s made the submission wheek a lot so when do they accept that. They are sat together at the opposite end of the run to her.
 
I just gave them a little nudge towards her but they ran straight back to their corner, as if they are afraid of her. But she has not bitten them at all, not once. I’m so cofused now! Sorry!
 
Siikibam said:
It’s difficult because although it’s not clearly failed, there is no interaction between them. I’ve got a thought in mind but @Piggies&buns what do you think? I’ll also tag @Wiebke @VickiA @PigglePuggle
Click to expand...
We have had to remove Honey after 8 hours. Behaviour suddenly ramped up, with the others cornering her and biting her, then baring teeth. I think we have decided they need to stay separate as Honey seems very stressed which we really don’t want. Thanks for all your advice today. 🙂
 
I’m sorry things didn’t work out. It may be the two were happy in their pair and didn’t really want another friend.

Hope Honey settles down soon too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top