Piggie wars?

[Pigle]

We have gone from a solitary 5 year old lady pig pig 2 weeks ago (following a berevement) to a successful pairing with a 3 year old lady pig. We are 2 days in to the second week of this succesful bonding - they took to each other straight away. All I have seen behaviour-wise is Coco (the old lady) doing a bit of mounting to establish her position as head pig over Sage.

We have decided to add another piggie to the herd as we don't want to find ourselves in a solitary pig situation again. Our rodentologist lost half of a pair earlier this week when her elderly boar had to be put to sleep. She has rehomed the 2 year old girl with us as she wasn't able to get her accepted by her other pair - one of those piggies is a bit of a bully and the piggie being rehomed is a bit nervy and not the most intellegent pig going... She has only ever lived with her husband and has been depressed since he died.

Anyway... we introduced Olga, our new arrival, to our pair in the kitchen on fairly neutral territory with some dried food and cucumber this evening and blood was drawn after 5 minutes. Some of it mine. Our new piggie also has a little knick by her mouth where Coco bit her.

Initially they ignored each other, then they eyed each other up a bit over the cucumber. Once the cucumber had gone they took more of an interest in each other, and we had a bit of rumblestrutting and then teeth chattering and then fisticuffs.

We have separated them, treated our injuries and put them in adjacent cages so they can have a bit of a sniff and check each other out. I called our rodentologist and we decided that tomorrow we'd try another introduction. We will bath everyone and introduce them in the bath whilst the main smell is Flea or Die.

Any advice? How long before we know whether or not this is going to work?

 

[Romily]

Keep a towel near by (or wear gardening gloves) to protect yourself incase it happens again. If they are not going to get on I imagine they will make their feelings known within a few mins of the reintroduction.

 

[Pigle]

Everyone was shampooed and we introduced them in the bath, while they were still very damp and drying off.

The new piggie was the aggressor on every introduction, starting with a bit of teeth chattering and rumblestrutting. Coco, our old lady, did not take kindly to this, she has always been head pig. Sage, on the other hand, is quite submissive and did not respond to the teethchattering.

We ended up separating them, as introductions ended in bloodshed last night.

The person we got Olga from said that she is quite in your face and can be quite clingy and isn't the brightest piggie in the herd. My feeling is that Olga is quite dominant and possibly a bit socially inept.

She has always lived with a chap and I suspect that she may get on better with a submissive gentleman pig rather than females.

I will be sending her back to her original home tomorrow, it is cold and damp outside and I don't want to take her out as she is damp. I'd like to make some constructive suggestions as to what options she has for a happy life, she is only 2. Any suggestions?

 

[flintstones]

, I was recently in your position with an older girl and in this case a male. Although amzingly my girl will have shared floortime with me referring but she can't be trusted to live with him. I have tried her with my girls too and she was immediately agressive. She is now living side by side with shared floortime.

I would suggest your wee girl gets to pick her own friend perhaps at a rescue you could take her along for some speed dating my boar will be doing that very soon. I have did that with another pig of mine with a successful outcome.

I tend to think if they immediately go for one another it's not going work. I'm sorry it hasn't worked out. There are alot of options for the little one worse case scenerio side by side.

 

[Pigle]

Olga is going back to her original home, I spoke with her people this evening (who are missing her) and I think she will be looking for a neutered boar.