The Pigglingtons

piggieminder said:
The piggies have had a reasonably good run health wise since 2022, 2025 is making up for it. Just found darling Fizz bunny hopping and limping badly. There's nothing in the cage he can have fallen off, these two are not climbers so I don't think he would have been on top of the hides and there's no ramp. Poor piggy, Fuzz is being a pain getting all dominant with him so he knows he's not right. Hope I don't have to separate them. I've given him Metacam (vet approved) off to the vets tomorrow unless he's massively improved in the morning.
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That's how my boys fell out
 
Some good news.
Fizz is much better this morning so no need for the vet visit. He is slightly stiff on his back right leg but nothing like yesterday. He stood at the bars begging this morning so can't be too bad. I will of course watch him and take him to the vet if he deteriorates rather than improves.

Now for the bad news! What a day yesterday was.
Parker has been getting a bit hormonal, after nipping bits out of his brother and upsetting Duck to the point he was defending Snoopy he has now fallen out with Bertie. Bertie had been doing well putting up with him, he surprised me really how good he was. Last night Parker kept climbing on Bertie's back and head and humping him. Parker is not much more than the size of Bertie's head so it was some feat getting up there on a bucking piggy. Bertie was getting really stressed and in the end put his nose under Parker's belly and launched him across the cage. Parker travelled a distance of about 3 grids in the air, the little devil kept going back for more. After throwing him 3 times Bertie started teeth chattering so I removed Bertie and gave him a cuddle. He just went limp and cuddled into me. My partner took him upstairs and kept him quiet while I divided the cage, he said he's never seen a guinea pig so stressed. I've put Bertie's ramp back and he's mostly in his loft this morning, staying out of Parker's sight through the bars.

I was going to move Duck and Snoopy down next to Bertie, divide Red and Brillo's old cage again and put Parker in next to Brillo which means I can have my puzzle table back and lose a cage. We are afraid moving Duck and Snoopy might upset their bond and give me two more single boars so my partner has persuaded me to leave them as they are for now and let things settle. It will give me time to decide what to do about Parker long term and see how Duck and Snoopy do when Snoopy's hormones come in.
 
Glad Fizz is better, hope he continues to heal completely.

Piggies !
They can be so awkward and dramatic at times.
Hope everything settles down
 
I was worried about Parker being on his own at such a young age but he has exhausted all the other options I have and he needed to be separated for his safety. Watching him this morning I don't think there's a problem, he is completely nuts. He runs up to the divider, thumbs his nose at Bertie and does popcorn zoomies round the cage when Bertie looks at him. He jumps into his hammock and popcorns in there, shaking his head, it looks like he is on a trampoline.
For now I think we are okay with him as he is. I've got some time to decide what to do with him, he's learnt how to be a piggy from Duck and Bertie, he's not pining for in cage company. He has the loudest wheek I've ever heard from a piggy, it's ear splitting and used every time a hooman moves on the off chance of food!
 
Snoopy and Parker are now coming into their points it's fascinating to see these two white piggies changing. Snoopy is slightly bigger than Parker and his points are blacker and more defined.
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Snoopy
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Parker attempting to stand like a polar bear. He wouldn't cooperate for any more pictures!
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An extra one of Snoopy, he was such a good boy posing for me. He is definitely the quieter character (at the moment!). Parker reminds me of Red act first ask questions later, look cute while you are doing it, that butter wouldn't melt look that gets the humans every time even if you have just taken a chunk out of that expensive new hidey.
 
Guinea Pigs often surprise me, they never do what you expect them to. Today I was more than surprised, I was shocked. I've not been happy with Parker on his own since he fell out with Snoopy, he's far to young to be living side by side. Today as a last ditch attempt to sort the problem with what I have rather than hunting for another piggy I tried a very unlikely to succeed bonding. Probably one of the easiest I've done!

IMG_2207.webpIn the bonding pen, I added a couple of 2 door hidey's to check how good this really was before moving to the cage. Brillo sharing a hidey, never! We were shocked.

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In the cage. Sorry not the best photos, the light was terrible by the time I moved them. There's a bit of rumbling from Parker but Brillo's ignoring him unless he gets right in his face, then Parker gets a very gentle nose push. Everything crossed here that Brillo keeps his temper and doesn't get too fed up with Parker. We have tried to bond Brillo multiple times over the years but after he fell out with Red (rolling ball fight) he didn't want to know.
 
Lots more hidey sharing this afternoon. Brillo eventually tries to move away from Parker and gets followed into the next hidey until Brillo gets very insistent and won't let Parker in. Long may they continue to get on and as he gets bigger Parker forgets about trying to mount Brillo, it won't go down well when Parker can actually reach!
 
Uh Brillo and Parker there's a lot of noise coming from your cage, what's going on.

Duno says Brillo, nothing to do with me. He's standing there all innocent looking.

Brillo you can't pretend to be innocent when you are standing there with a big lump of Parker's hair dangling out of your mouth.

Boars, who'd have 'them!
 
Oh boys, stop worrying your humans.

Hope you managed some sleep, and didn’t have to spend the middle of the night rearranging everypig.
 
So far so good. Most of the time Brillo ignores him. Straight after the hair incident they were back side by side eating in the hay pile. I really hope they will settle. I don't like seeing such a young piggy living in a divided cage. I can be around today and tomorrow so will keep an eye on them.
 
I really hope Duck and Brillo will tolerate their young cage mates, it's so lovely to see them both with a "friend" rather than side by side. They are doing really well considering they are very elderly boys and have been on their own for so long. I just wish Bertie had tolerated Parker but it wasn't to be. Maybe later when things have settled I can find Bertie a less dominant friend to bond with although I'm not sure he considers having a friend in your cage is worth losing your ramp and loft for! I am supposed to be aiming towards less piggies as I get older not more!
 
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