Its bonding day eve and I have some questions!

[molzify]

Hi all!

So all being well we will be introducing our nearly 6 year old neutered boar to our two 8 month old bonded girls who we adopted last week. Our boar, Rupert, was previously bonded to my two girls Pumpkin and Bramble, I followed the advice on this forum and from day 1 they got on like a house on fire so I'm hoping Mabel and Bessie will like him too.

It's probably a silly question but where we plan to set up the bonding pen is where the girls cage is set up. Should I mop the floor and give the sideboards and wall in that area a quick wipe down just to ensure we are in "neutral no pigs here before" territory?

I would consider setting it up in the living room but I distinctly recall Pumpkin firing a lot of pee around when she met Rupert and I'm not sure my new sofa needs eau de pig urine sprayed at it just yet!

And my other question, I've read the guide thoroughly and I might be over thinking this massively (story of my life) but who should I put in the pen first? Rupert who's lived here longer and will be more settled in the pen initially and then add the girls who are a little bit bonkers? Or let the girls calm down a bit in the pen and then add Rupert?

 

[Merab's Slave]

When I bonded Micah with his new wives it was in the piggy room, however he been living beside their cage until he was safe.
Bonding was exciting - Micah didn’t know whether to zoom, popcorn, hump or rumble so he tried to do everything at once

I hope that Rupert will be as excited with his new wives and they will be very happy together.

 

[weepweeps]

It wouldn’t hurt to clean everything first. I’ve only bonded older piggies with a baby so I always put in the older one in first.

Good luck I hope they like each other.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all!

So all being well we will be introducing our nearly 6 year old neutered boar to our two 8 month old bonded girls who we adopted last week. Our boar, Rupert, was previously bonded to my two girls Pumpkin and Bramble, I followed the advice on this forum and from day 1 they got on like a house on fire so I'm hoping Mabel and Bessie will like him too.

It's probably a silly question but where we plan to set up the bonding pen is where the girls cage is set up. Should I mop the floor and give the sideboards and wall in that area a quick wipe down just to ensure we are in "neutral no pigs here before" territory?

I would consider setting it up in the living room but I distinctly recall Pumpkin firing a lot of pee around when she met Rupert and I'm not sure my new sofa needs eau de pig urine sprayed at it just yet!

And my other question, I've read the guide thoroughly and I might be over thinking this massively (story of my life) but who should I put in the pen first? Rupert who's lived here longer and will be more settled in the pen initially and then add the girls who are a little bit bonkers? Or let the girls calm down a bit in the pen and then add Rupert?

Hi

Personally, I would not bond in a place that is more familiar to one of the bonding parties. Could you peg some towels to the sides of the pen to prevent anything from going where it shouldn't?

I like to give piggies a little time in a divided bonding pen so they can say hello and get over the first overexcitement but if you can't start with Rupert since he is senior and then add the girls together from their carrier.

 

[molzify]

Hi

Personally, I would not bond in a place that is more familiar to one of the bonding parties. Could you peg some towels to the sides of the pen to prevent anything from going where it shouldn't?

I like to give piggies a little time in a divided bonding pen so they can say hello and get over the first overexcitement but if you can't start with Rupert since he is senior and then add the girls together from their carrier.

I can definitely do all of the above, including a divided pen :-)

 

[Wiebke]

I can definitely do all of the above, including a divided pen :-)

My tip is unless things are clearly going wrong to rather leave them in the bonding for the first night after the bonding beause the more of the rough bit they can get out of the way, the easier is the settling in into their shared cage; you will see alot less dominance that way because they feel more like a bonded unit by then compared to moving them just a few hours after an intro.

 

[Merab's Slave]

Hope all went well today

 

[molzify]

Rupert saw the vet at 3pm who has given us some meds for his sore feet and agreed he didn't see any reason for us not to try introductions if Rupert was otherwise well, so we gave it a try with the divider and had a couple of tooth chatters when Mabel got a bit too boisterous but eventually things calmed down and we removes the divide and of course the usual dominance behaviours happened but now, we're just eating and hanging out.

They'll be in the bonding pen overnight and back into a thoroughly scrubbed cage with Rupert tomorrow.

 

[fluffysal]

Excellent, congratulations to handsome Rupert. They are very lucky ladies

 

[Merab's Slave]

I’m glad it’s so positive so far.
They make a gorgeous little family

 

[weepweeps]

That’s brilliant news. Glad it’s going well.

 

[Wiebke]

Rupert saw the vet at 3pm who has given us some meds for his sore feet and agreed he didn't see any reason for us not to try introductions if Rupert was otherwise well, so we gave it a try with the divider and had a couple of tooth chatters when Mabel got a bit too boisterous but eventually things calmed down and we removes the divide and of course the usual dominance behaviours happened but now, we're just eating and hanging out.

They'll be in the bonding pen overnight and back into a thoroughly scrubbed cage with Rupert tomorrow.

Sounds like it has worked out. Well done!

Once they are far enough through the bonding process (the extra night will hopefully help with that), it doesn't matter as much whether the cage is totally neutral or not because they have set up their group by then and just need to do the two weeks post intro shaking down but the relly rough part is out of the way.

A clean cage is more crucial for younger boars; the quicker you move them across after the intro, the more important it is. In cross gender pairs there is only one boar so there is no latent rivalry. You have all the social instincts working for you nstead of against you.

 

[Posyrose]

Fantastic news. Lucky Rupert!

 

[piggieminder]

Well done. I'm glad it's gone well for you, bonding is such a nail biting time.

 

[molzify]

Happy to report that all 3 pigs are now in the 2x5 c&c together and are sharing food and hides! Not sure how long this peace will last before we're turfing each other out of hides but I'll enjoy this

 

[Merab's Slave]

Great news

 

[Wiebke]

Happy to report that all 3 pigs are now in the 2x5 c&c together and are sharing food and hides! Not sure how long this peace will last before we're turfing each other out of hides but I'll enjoy this

Wonderful news!

To be honest, in a happy bond there is a lot less than you might expect; it has more the feel of a formality and it is as mild as they can get away with.