dearbarbie
Junior Guinea Pig
Hello everyone
I've been taking a rain check from posting as have been ill, and well, mourning for my baby boy Jesse. And trying to get our new pig to get on with our bereaved one.
We found him online knowing with heavy hearts we would have to get a new pig before we were ready. He was posted in a guinea pig group I'm in on Facebook as looking for a new home. When we got to the owner's house, it transpired that he was 4 months old and had already lost 2 cagemates: the first he got on with then the other one got really bitey, and the second died of bladder stones. He was all on his own and this lady kept rabbits mostly, we brought him home to give him the love he deserves.
Machete (remaining pig, 1 year old boar who was previously the dominant one) and he (still no name, we call him Minipig at the moment) lived separately for 2 weeks whilst we quarantined him, then when put together Machete was dominant and after a few successful introductions we put them together.
One day last week I was handling Minipig and noticed his ear had been bleeding, looked like Machete has bitten a hole in it! I cleaned it and it's healing well but we put them both in the garden run to watch them and noticing some aggression, which led to a full-on fight, you know when there's a huge ball of 2 angry pigs impossible to separate!
Minipig sustained scratches to his eyelids, he was squealing in pain, and has some other minimal bites, and Machete had a minor wound, so we separated them again. Machete does the whole bum-rubbing and low growling dominant thing but nothing hurtful, Minipig chatters his teeth then leaps at him. He's tiny and doesn't really stand a chance, Machete is the brown one in my avatar and he's huge, I swear he's part-capybara, he's the length of my forearm!
Everytime we have tried to put them back together Minipig is the one who always starts the teeth chattering, the chasing, and even mounts Machete's head. Machete has always been a bit boisterous but in comparison he's really calm. He was mounting Minipig at first introductions and now he just runs away, and Minipig fields him like he's playing rounders.
Giving away Minipig isn't an option, he's already had a home that didn't work out for him and we're not going to give up on him. I just hate the idea of Machete being alone - when we brought Jesse's body home to bury him, we let Machete see his body and see he was dead, so he could begin to grieve and understand where he'd been. It was so sad to see!
Now, the little Minipig is really skittish, so I think that might be why he's so jumpy and argumentative. He's nervous being in the indoor run (a wide, low plastic crate) and runs around it like something really wrong. And they fight in our huge outdoor run...
We got our recently-passed piggy Jesse from a breeder who also boards our pigs whenever we go away (as Jesse was from her, he boarded for free!). She was our first port-of-call when Jesse got ill and as we didn't get back to her after Jesse died, she emailed yesterday asking how he was (and checking we still need boarding next week).
When I replied saying our poor baby didn't make it, and that our new piggy wasn't bonding very well (could it be his 'teenage' age?) she offered to try bond them again whilst they're boarding with her. And she said, if that didn't work she would like to give us one of her Berger, a recentlyish-born piggy who has a really good temperament as a gift. I cried at her generosity, she hates the thought of little (ha, he's not little at all!) Machete being on his own just because the other pig is fighty.
Jesse was a lovely darling of a boy, I have never bonded with an animal so well apart from my dog as a teen, and hand-reared certainly seemed to make a difference. Apparently Minipig is hand-reared but when the lady we bought him from handled him he wriggled with fear (when I held him he was nice and calm!)
Three questions (all lies, there's loads, sorry!):
-Why are guinea pig people are some of the kindest I have ever met (looking at you @helen105281 and @Pebble)?
-What do we do? Do we try match them again and if it doesn't work, take on this new piggie Berger? Will living as a herd of 3 calm things down or do we have Machete and Berger, then have Minipig living separately? Is a 2-floor hutch big enough for 3 piggies?
I feel awful as I don't want to end up resenting Minipig, he's sweet in his own way and just seems so so scared I think, until he digs into Machete - I feel awful for bringing him to meet Machete and bringing him even more disruption after his cagemate sadly died Having all this going on is making me miss Jesse and his sweetness even more!
Thanks for reading this huge thread...
...and finally - is this how people end up with loads of piggies?!?!
I've been taking a rain check from posting as have been ill, and well, mourning for my baby boy Jesse. And trying to get our new pig to get on with our bereaved one.
We found him online knowing with heavy hearts we would have to get a new pig before we were ready. He was posted in a guinea pig group I'm in on Facebook as looking for a new home. When we got to the owner's house, it transpired that he was 4 months old and had already lost 2 cagemates: the first he got on with then the other one got really bitey, and the second died of bladder stones. He was all on his own and this lady kept rabbits mostly, we brought him home to give him the love he deserves.
Machete (remaining pig, 1 year old boar who was previously the dominant one) and he (still no name, we call him Minipig at the moment) lived separately for 2 weeks whilst we quarantined him, then when put together Machete was dominant and after a few successful introductions we put them together.
One day last week I was handling Minipig and noticed his ear had been bleeding, looked like Machete has bitten a hole in it! I cleaned it and it's healing well but we put them both in the garden run to watch them and noticing some aggression, which led to a full-on fight, you know when there's a huge ball of 2 angry pigs impossible to separate!
Minipig sustained scratches to his eyelids, he was squealing in pain, and has some other minimal bites, and Machete had a minor wound, so we separated them again. Machete does the whole bum-rubbing and low growling dominant thing but nothing hurtful, Minipig chatters his teeth then leaps at him. He's tiny and doesn't really stand a chance, Machete is the brown one in my avatar and he's huge, I swear he's part-capybara, he's the length of my forearm!
Everytime we have tried to put them back together Minipig is the one who always starts the teeth chattering, the chasing, and even mounts Machete's head. Machete has always been a bit boisterous but in comparison he's really calm. He was mounting Minipig at first introductions and now he just runs away, and Minipig fields him like he's playing rounders.
Giving away Minipig isn't an option, he's already had a home that didn't work out for him and we're not going to give up on him. I just hate the idea of Machete being alone - when we brought Jesse's body home to bury him, we let Machete see his body and see he was dead, so he could begin to grieve and understand where he'd been. It was so sad to see!
Now, the little Minipig is really skittish, so I think that might be why he's so jumpy and argumentative. He's nervous being in the indoor run (a wide, low plastic crate) and runs around it like something really wrong. And they fight in our huge outdoor run...
We got our recently-passed piggy Jesse from a breeder who also boards our pigs whenever we go away (as Jesse was from her, he boarded for free!). She was our first port-of-call when Jesse got ill and as we didn't get back to her after Jesse died, she emailed yesterday asking how he was (and checking we still need boarding next week).
When I replied saying our poor baby didn't make it, and that our new piggy wasn't bonding very well (could it be his 'teenage' age?) she offered to try bond them again whilst they're boarding with her. And she said, if that didn't work she would like to give us one of her Berger, a recentlyish-born piggy who has a really good temperament as a gift. I cried at her generosity, she hates the thought of little (ha, he's not little at all!) Machete being on his own just because the other pig is fighty.
Jesse was a lovely darling of a boy, I have never bonded with an animal so well apart from my dog as a teen, and hand-reared certainly seemed to make a difference. Apparently Minipig is hand-reared but when the lady we bought him from handled him he wriggled with fear (when I held him he was nice and calm!)
Three questions (all lies, there's loads, sorry!):
-Why are guinea pig people are some of the kindest I have ever met (looking at you @helen105281 and @Pebble)?
-What do we do? Do we try match them again and if it doesn't work, take on this new piggie Berger? Will living as a herd of 3 calm things down or do we have Machete and Berger, then have Minipig living separately? Is a 2-floor hutch big enough for 3 piggies?
I feel awful as I don't want to end up resenting Minipig, he's sweet in his own way and just seems so so scared I think, until he digs into Machete - I feel awful for bringing him to meet Machete and bringing him even more disruption after his cagemate sadly died
Having all this going on is making me miss Jesse and his sweetness even more! Thanks for reading this huge thread...
...and finally - is this how people end up with loads of piggies?!?!
