Dill&Pepper
Junior Guinea Pig
Looking for opinions on what best to do to keep my 3 girls happy.
For context, I’ve got Pepper a 4ish year old sow and Pickle and Pollyanna who are just over a year old. Pickle and Pollyanna came as sisters from a pet shop as an emergency when Pepper was in acute pining after the loss of her ‘sister’.
Pepper is boss pig, and very chilled out. Pickle is underpig and v submissive, but absolutely loves Pepper and spends a lot of time snuggling and licking her. Pollyanna is the feistiest sow I’ve ever owned and seems to spend her entire time patrolling the cage and winding the others up. She bullies Pickle by chasing her and kicking her out of hides and the hay tray, luckily Pickle doesn’t seem that bothered (she’s a v. healthy weight and often chookened out relaxed so doesn’t seem at all stressed). But as time goes on it seems that the gap between Pepper/Pickle and Pollyanna is getting bigger. I’ve just got a big 2-storey hutch and often find Pepper and Pickle on one floor and Pollyanna on the other by herself.
As far as I can see I have 2 options: get another pig and hope they’re more settled as a 4, or get a friend for Pollyanna, bring up the ramp on the 2 story hutch and keep 2 pairs. And I need to decide whether to look for a neutered boar or a single sow. Suspect I’ll struggle to find a single sow in a rescue and really don’t have space for another pair. Or is it likely that actually Pollyanna just likes her own space, and now she’s in a huge hutch she can relax a bit more rather than having to spend all day defending her territory from Pickle...
Advice/ideas much appreciated.
For context, I’ve got Pepper a 4ish year old sow and Pickle and Pollyanna who are just over a year old. Pickle and Pollyanna came as sisters from a pet shop as an emergency when Pepper was in acute pining after the loss of her ‘sister’.
Pepper is boss pig, and very chilled out. Pickle is underpig and v submissive, but absolutely loves Pepper and spends a lot of time snuggling and licking her. Pollyanna is the feistiest sow I’ve ever owned and seems to spend her entire time patrolling the cage and winding the others up. She bullies Pickle by chasing her and kicking her out of hides and the hay tray, luckily Pickle doesn’t seem that bothered (she’s a v. healthy weight and often chookened out relaxed so doesn’t seem at all stressed). But as time goes on it seems that the gap between Pepper/Pickle and Pollyanna is getting bigger. I’ve just got a big 2-storey hutch and often find Pepper and Pickle on one floor and Pollyanna on the other by herself.
As far as I can see I have 2 options: get another pig and hope they’re more settled as a 4, or get a friend for Pollyanna, bring up the ramp on the 2 story hutch and keep 2 pairs. And I need to decide whether to look for a neutered boar or a single sow. Suspect I’ll struggle to find a single sow in a rescue and really don’t have space for another pair. Or is it likely that actually Pollyanna just likes her own space, and now she’s in a huge hutch she can relax a bit more rather than having to spend all day defending her territory from Pickle...
Advice/ideas much appreciated.
