When do you know that you have a mismatched pair of pigs? With successful intros I've had the the past, they got along fine after moving to the cage. This time, I had what appeared to be a successful intro, the first day in the cage went fine and now the baby appears to be a bit of a bully towards the older pig. (Riker is 4.5 months, Leonard is 6 years).
There's been no major fighting, but they will chatter teeth, then Riker will chase Leonard until Leonard hides. Sometimes they're coexisting fine, it's not an all the time thing, but I don't want Leonard to feel like he has to "hide" all the time. He's old, and spent a decent amount of time chilling in his pigloo before the baby arrived, so maybe he's not "hiding" as much as I think he is. He was the beta pig in his last relationship with a boar but they got along very well. Riker had been living with a few boars (I think father and a sibling) prior to my adoption.
My question is, how do you give it before you realize they might not be a good fit together? This afternoon will be the 48 hour mark, I know it's super early, I just want to be sure this is "normal" since I haven't dealt with it specifically before. They are in a C&C I am preparing to enlarge and currently there are two of everything except the pellet bowl.
Baby Boar Bullying Senior?
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bpatters
- And got the T-shirt
You've got an adolescent boar. He's going to chase/mount/torment the other one until he gets over puberty, which could be a while. Leonard may or may not put a stop to it.
If you decide to leave them together, weigh Leonard frequently to make sure he's not losing weight.
If you decide to leave them together, weigh Leonard frequently to make sure he's not losing weight.
So this doesn't seem too bad then...I've historically adopted senior pigs, so I'm a little out of my element with a baby. Strangely, there has been no humping, not even during the intro, just some chattering, strutting, chasing, and "yawning" on Riker's part. Leonard will also chatter but does not seem to be the instigator. Thanks!
You have to introduce them slowly. Allow them to play together for about an hour a day for 2-3 weeks. The behavior I find usually evens out and they get along better.
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bpatters
- And got the T-shirt
Actually, that's contrary to most recommendations.
Guinea pigs are wired to establish dominance when they meet another pig. Repeated meetings are just stressful for them, and don't do anything to make the final introduction any easier.
It may, repeat may, make introductions easier to have them live side by side for a while, and swap out cage things between the cages. But they may also break their teeth chewing the bars trying to get to each other, and one has to be moved. There's no guarantee it will work anyway.
Guinea pigs are wired to establish dominance when they meet another pig. Repeated meetings are just stressful for them, and don't do anything to make the final introduction any easier.
It may, repeat may, make introductions easier to have them live side by side for a while, and swap out cage things between the cages. But they may also break their teeth chewing the bars trying to get to each other, and one has to be moved. There's no guarantee it will work anyway.
Pigs can be adolescents until around 12 to 18 months old, so that will give you a rough time period of how long this bratty behavior is going to last.
Our brattiest "teenager" pig -- who seemed to constantly bully the others and/or had an attitude with humans (no biting, just impatient) has turned out to be the mellowest of the bunch as an almost 3 year old now. Go figure. (We had 7 pigs when she went through teenager angst, now we have 6; one neutered boar and six females.)
Our brattiest "teenager" pig -- who seemed to constantly bully the others and/or had an attitude with humans (no biting, just impatient) has turned out to be the mellowest of the bunch as an almost 3 year old now. Go figure. (We had 7 pigs when she went through teenager angst, now we have 6; one neutered boar and six females.)
I am keeping a close eye on them and watching Leonard's weight. He has a small cut on his face above the lip on one side that must be from Riker. This is day three. Even if Leonard is not losing weight, I feel like I may have to end up separating them because I don't want him to live out his senior days having to constantly try and avoid the bratty, teenager pig if it's going to mean in a lower quality of life. I don't want to separate them until I've decided though, as bpatters said, the repeated meetings are not good and I've read rarely end up resulting in two pigs that didn't initially get along eventually being best buds.
(I'm new to the forum, so please tell me whether I can comment like this or should start a new topic :))
I have a pretty similar situation as Gessika has, apart from my boys, Bonbon and Falafel, are around 9 (lived for 4-5 month alone) and 2-3 month old and have been living together for a month now. Honestly, sometimes I feel that it's just not working and I should separate them for their own better... So this question of "when to say they are not a good fit" also came to my mind.
Do you guys think they will calm down after some time, e.g. after both of them get over puberty?
I have a pretty similar situation as Gessika has, apart from my boys, Bonbon and Falafel, are around 9 (lived for 4-5 month alone) and 2-3 month old and have been living together for a month now. Honestly, sometimes I feel that it's just not working and I should separate them for their own better... So this question of "when to say they are not a good fit" also came to my mind.
Do you guys think they will calm down after some time, e.g. after both of them get over puberty?
Behaviors. It seems to me that they still can't decide who is the dominant pig. At first, only the older one was rumbling, licking the little one's bum and, you know, tried to show that he's dominant. But I've noticed the baby also tried to rumble at Bonbon a few timed. He's always stealing Bonbon's food, sometimes kind of attacks him (slightly jumps). They are chasing each other often. Good thing: there was never an actual fight.
Sometimes though, they sleep in their own hide-outs or even close to each other and its fine, and eat side by side. For example, when they are scared (they really don't like plastic bag sound) they can even jump in one hidey and sit there side by side for a while.
Oh, I meant that maybe they are not the best fit together. I've heard that sometimes piggies, especially males, even have to be separated, since they can't decide who is the boss and thus are not getting along. So I am just constantly thinking whether it is temporal or not.
I'm not really experienced, they are my first piggies - I am worried to either over-, or under-react.
The cage is 150 cm*60 cm/~60"*24". Here's how the set up usually looks (sometimes I change the hide-outs and their positioning). On weekends I also attach a twice as big play area to the cage.
(sorry for the image quality)
Thank you for your help!
Sometimes though, they sleep in their own hide-outs or even close to each other and its fine, and eat side by side. For example, when they are scared (they really don't like plastic bag sound) they can even jump in one hidey and sit there side by side for a while.
Oh, I meant that maybe they are not the best fit together. I've heard that sometimes piggies, especially males, even have to be separated, since they can't decide who is the boss and thus are not getting along. So I am just constantly thinking whether it is temporal or not.
I'm not really experienced, they are my first piggies - I am worried to either over-, or under-react.
The cage is 150 cm*60 cm/~60"*24". Here's how the set up usually looks (sometimes I change the hide-outs and their positioning). On weekends I also attach a twice as big play area to the cage.
(sorry for the image quality)
Thank you for your help!
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