male or female?

[Pepperdog]

I dont know what to do, my three are not happy as a trio and the reason flash made them group so complete is glaringly obvious now he is gone, I have a pair and one again (and its always fudge). I dont want to rush out and get a replacement so soon as I am still very upset about losing him, I cant for example look at black and tan pics of pigs as he was one my grief is still quite raw.

But putting my grief aside I know I must for the good of the group help them to become complete and balanced again, but I wonder if I should be looking at a neutered male again or go for a female. I think I have been unlucky but are males more prone to UTI's for instance, but then the girls were much better for having a male in their group purely for the fact he is a male, would a girl cause more friction?

I just dont know - which is why I am typing all this.

Although I am still tempted to increase the number to 5 adding a male and female, as I was thinking about putting another abby in the group before I lost flash - that would have made an odd number again though :red I would feel guilty for having a female over a male knowing so many need homes, or do I add a female to the trio, and get a pair of bonded males to live in a separate pen (and have 6 ). Oh god I dont know 8...@)

 

[Wiebke]

I couldn't look for months at pictures of my Minx and was very uspet when bereaved Dizzy chose another mismarked red dutch piggy as her new companion... But in due time, I came to love her Llewelyn very much!

There is no gender bias with UTI; it can happen to all piggies. Some strains are more resistent to antibiotics than others. It is just sheer bad luck you had.

As to your group - why don't you try to date your trio with another girl first? There are two good rescues within your area.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=209994852075231951564.0004b8fd9391b4257d8eb&msa=0

You can always add a neutered boar later. With five piggies you will get group behaviour and the outsider/even numbers problem is not much of an issue anymore. Trios are the most difficult constellation of them all.

 

[Pepperdog]

As ever the voice of wisdom x>>

I was thinking about getting the girls dated, but wasnt sure it could be done with the three of them, thought it was a service mostly for singles - as I am still naive about the dating thing and thanks to the map I can have a chat with the two rescues - although yate kindly offered a cuddle session to me which I will see if I can take them up on and talk about it then.

I didnt know that 3 was an awkward number, so 5 isnt out of the question for me, have got plans to extend the hutch for the summer, the indoor pen is deffinately large enough for 5 to live in quite comfortably (it looks so big now there is just 3)

 

[Wiebke]

As ever the voice of wisdom x>>

I was thinking about getting the girls dated, but wasnt sure it could be done with the three of them, thought it was a service mostly for singles - as I am still naive about the dating thing and thanks to the map I can have a chat with the two rescues - although yate kindly offered a cuddle session to me which I will see if I can take them up on and talk about it then.

I didnt know that 3 was an awkward number, so 5 isnt out of the question for me, have got plans to extend the hutch for the summer, the indoor pen is deffinately large enough for 5 to live in quite comfortably (it looks so big now there is just 3)

You can certainly date more than one piggy - for instance, I dated my two redoubtable cataract sows (who had befriended each other on their own accord) last summer to find them a neutered boar of their liking; in case you wondered how I managed to get a working Trio. Thankfully, they were obliging enough to accept husboar #1, so we never got any further! It is just more common to date singles.

I am a big fan of piggy dating, having sweated through quite a few iffy introductions in my time - at a rescue, you have the backing of experienced supervision and can really concentrate on finding a piggy that just slots in. With sows and neutered boars you usually know within 15-20 minutes whether acceptance has happened, latest when they switch into dominance behaviour. That is already phase #2 of the bonding process.

The bigger the group the easier it gets in some ways, as groups are generally much more accepting - it depends on the character/background of the piggies you are adding. Not all piggies are happy to live with a big group and I generally rely on a good rescue's judgement for that.