Hi all,
I'm hoping I can get some advice on my current piggy situation, I have 3 female guineapigs, all around the age of 5 months, 1 slightly younger. They live in an outdoor double tier hutch, 2ftx6ft with a connecting ramp between floors.
We bought Bramble and Kupo as a pair a month ago and after the initial settling phase they settled well as a pair with Kupo being dominant and Bramble not fighting for leadership. Relationships between us and them were also on a good path; handfeeding, sniffing fingers and allowing the hand to move around them without running away etc.
My daughter had done so well helping me look after the pigs (even the yucky stuff) and learning about them that we decided to buy her her own piggy when we found the right one. So 2 weeks ago we rescued Pumpkin, who was quite a calm little pig who had been well handled by the rescue centre staff. She had been put into adoption as she's had an eye abscess when younger which meant she had been isolated from other piggies for around 4 weeks. The eye infection had completely cleared up and her vision was only left slightly impaired on that side. We kept Pumpkin in a indoor hutch for just over a week so she could get used to us and our noises.
Once she had settled well and started hand feeding, and coming out into the hutch run area more we started to let the guineapigs sniff each other through the bars, the pair sniffed and seemed interested, make good small chatter noises to each other, Pumpkin became very excited - a side we hadn't seen previously she started to run around her run, squeaking loudly, climbing the walls and sniffing, popcorning etc so the next day we put them into a neutral run area with a dividing panel, lots of food and a few tunnels (2 ended). They sniffed at each other through the bars and seemed ok so we lifted out the divider.
They then spent a good 2 hours in the run together, Pumpkin stayed submissive, she was smaller than the pair, there was mutual bum sniffing, a bit of following, Kupo did some rumble strutting and lifted her chin, there was a few chases, but no lunges, at that stage it looked like playing. There was a small amount of nipping from Bramble to Pumpkin, which surprised me but I think that she was just establishing that she was above her in the pecking order.
While they were all in the run we cleaned out the outdoor hutch, disinfected and rearranged the toys. Then as there had been no fighting we moved all 3 back into the hutch together. That was 4 days ago. I'm sorry for the wall of text I just wanted to make sure you had the background information in case it was relevant.
So the current situation is that Pumpkin is not integrating with the pair, there was a lot of chasing/nipping in the first 2 days, and although that has calmed down she is still chased out of the bed area and if one of the pair go into a tunnel or corner she's sat in she bolts away. They aren't blocking her from food/drink though and she eats at the same time although a bit a nervously. This morning we found she had a nick on her ear, its already scabbed over and isn't large at all. She has no other signs of fighting though, no missing fur etc so I'm hopefull that its just a misjudged nipping.
At this point I'm not sure what to do for the best, whether I should take her out and continue with bonding sessions in neutral spaces or if there is hope that this is normal "new pig" behaviour and it will settle down.
I would appreciate any advice,
I'm hoping I can get some advice on my current piggy situation, I have 3 female guineapigs, all around the age of 5 months, 1 slightly younger. They live in an outdoor double tier hutch, 2ftx6ft with a connecting ramp between floors.
We bought Bramble and Kupo as a pair a month ago and after the initial settling phase they settled well as a pair with Kupo being dominant and Bramble not fighting for leadership. Relationships between us and them were also on a good path; handfeeding, sniffing fingers and allowing the hand to move around them without running away etc.
My daughter had done so well helping me look after the pigs (even the yucky stuff) and learning about them that we decided to buy her her own piggy when we found the right one. So 2 weeks ago we rescued Pumpkin, who was quite a calm little pig who had been well handled by the rescue centre staff. She had been put into adoption as she's had an eye abscess when younger which meant she had been isolated from other piggies for around 4 weeks. The eye infection had completely cleared up and her vision was only left slightly impaired on that side. We kept Pumpkin in a indoor hutch for just over a week so she could get used to us and our noises.
Once she had settled well and started hand feeding, and coming out into the hutch run area more we started to let the guineapigs sniff each other through the bars, the pair sniffed and seemed interested, make good small chatter noises to each other, Pumpkin became very excited - a side we hadn't seen previously she started to run around her run, squeaking loudly, climbing the walls and sniffing, popcorning etc so the next day we put them into a neutral run area with a dividing panel, lots of food and a few tunnels (2 ended). They sniffed at each other through the bars and seemed ok so we lifted out the divider.
They then spent a good 2 hours in the run together, Pumpkin stayed submissive, she was smaller than the pair, there was mutual bum sniffing, a bit of following, Kupo did some rumble strutting and lifted her chin, there was a few chases, but no lunges, at that stage it looked like playing. There was a small amount of nipping from Bramble to Pumpkin, which surprised me but I think that she was just establishing that she was above her in the pecking order.
While they were all in the run we cleaned out the outdoor hutch, disinfected and rearranged the toys. Then as there had been no fighting we moved all 3 back into the hutch together. That was 4 days ago. I'm sorry for the wall of text I just wanted to make sure you had the background information in case it was relevant.
So the current situation is that Pumpkin is not integrating with the pair, there was a lot of chasing/nipping in the first 2 days, and although that has calmed down she is still chased out of the bed area and if one of the pair go into a tunnel or corner she's sat in she bolts away. They aren't blocking her from food/drink though and she eats at the same time although a bit a nervously. This morning we found she had a nick on her ear, its already scabbed over and isn't large at all. She has no other signs of fighting though, no missing fur etc so I'm hopefull that its just a misjudged nipping.
At this point I'm not sure what to do for the best, whether I should take her out and continue with bonding sessions in neutral spaces or if there is hope that this is normal "new pig" behaviour and it will settle down.
I would appreciate any advice,
I'm trying not to worry (its not working xD ) but she is still eating well, and today she was nose to nose with Kupo and didnt bolt away, so thats progress - Bramble is still chasing her though. Hopefully it will settle down with time, I'm keeping my eye on them in the meantime.
