So, for those who have three sows, can you walk me through the dynamics? The introduction process of a new pair with an existing pig?
Long story short, I have always had a pair of sows. Because in my initial pair one passed away sadly around age 2 due to a severe dental infection, we've had to reintroduce a new pig if part of an existing pair passes away. Right now we have Leela, who turned 5 recently, and Tomie, who is under a year. So we know there will come a time when we will need to find a new companion for Tomie, just because there is a 4-1/2 year age gap between the two of them. We hope to have Leela a good while yet, but I am starting to wonder what happens after her because it has become increasingly hard to purchase or adopt single pigs in my area. Basically, there are no guinea pig rescues where I'm living, and guinea pigs only come into the Animal Shelter sporadically and are already paired up with a friend at the time of adoption. Because of that our pigs have been pet store pigs... except that the pet store where I've always gotten my pigs now will also only sell as pairs. We managed to get Tomie as a single pig, but there is no guarantee that we would be able to purchase a single pig again in the future. Which means my options in the future for adopting a single pig to make a pair with Tomie may be limited. So... what are the logistics of adopting a pair of pigs and then introducing Tomie? What is different between a pair and a trio of sows? Is such a pairing likely to work? Besides increasing the floor space (which would be challenging but we could make it work), is there anything else I would need to know if this is the option I would have to take in the future? Not sure why I'm stressing about this right now, but it has been bothering me lately!
Long story short, I have always had a pair of sows. Because in my initial pair one passed away sadly around age 2 due to a severe dental infection, we've had to reintroduce a new pig if part of an existing pair passes away. Right now we have Leela, who turned 5 recently, and Tomie, who is under a year. So we know there will come a time when we will need to find a new companion for Tomie, just because there is a 4-1/2 year age gap between the two of them. We hope to have Leela a good while yet, but I am starting to wonder what happens after her because it has become increasingly hard to purchase or adopt single pigs in my area. Basically, there are no guinea pig rescues where I'm living, and guinea pigs only come into the Animal Shelter sporadically and are already paired up with a friend at the time of adoption. Because of that our pigs have been pet store pigs... except that the pet store where I've always gotten my pigs now will also only sell as pairs. We managed to get Tomie as a single pig, but there is no guarantee that we would be able to purchase a single pig again in the future. Which means my options in the future for adopting a single pig to make a pair with Tomie may be limited. So... what are the logistics of adopting a pair of pigs and then introducing Tomie? What is different between a pair and a trio of sows? Is such a pairing likely to work? Besides increasing the floor space (which would be challenging but we could make it work), is there anything else I would need to know if this is the option I would have to take in the future? Not sure why I'm stressing about this right now, but it has been bothering me lately!
