What’s after divided bonding cage… remove divider or new neutral cage?

[Fluffbabies]

Hi everyone, I’m a bit confused from the bonding guide on here. We’ve put our piggies to bond in a divided cage overnight.

On the guide it mentions just removing the divider but I’m concerned it won’t be a neutral cage then and they might feel their space is being invaded by the others. Should we take them out, do a whole new fleece then return them just with a pile of hay and water bottle? Or should we just take the hidies out and remove the divider?

Help!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I would remove the piggies, remove the divider, remove hides, put in new fleece, hay and then return the piggies

I'm not sure how long it takes them to view each half as their own territory, but I don’t think i would want to just remove the divider just in case - you obviously want a bonding pen to be neutral

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone, I’m a bit confused from the bonding guide on here. We’ve put our piggies to bond in a divided cage overnight.

On the guide it mentions just removing the divider but I’m concerned it won’t be a neutral cage then and they might feel their space is being invaded by the others. Should we take them out, do a whole new fleece then return them just with a pile of hay and water bottle? Or should we just take the hidies out and remove the divider?

Help!

Hi

Normally, we would recommend to start bonding in an area that is not part of either territory.

However, this can be waived if one party is very young (sub-teenage) and cannot challenge an existing hierarchy (at that age, piggies are looking for guidance from their elders) and the piggies have had time to meet through the bars. This can also be waived if both parties have been in a divided cage that has not been the territory of one side for a short time (one night or just a couple of days) and will still be seen as new ground by both parties.

If in any doubt, conduct the intro outside the cage; that is always safer. If you are merging two groups with their own leaders where both leaders are fully grown and can challenge for the top spot, then always conduct the intro outside any group territory.

 

[Fluffbabies]

Thank you for the replies! It’s the four babies (11 weeks old) and two older ladies (4.5 years old) and they’ve only been in this bonding cage for about 10 hours overnight. They’ve all kissed through the bars and did not see any warning signs yet, other than one of the older ones Nugget laying by the divider for a short time at the start. We don’t mind changing the fleece and then putting them back without the divider if this would be safer.