A bit of a scuffle this morning

[youthnovels]

This morning I noticed, completely by chance, that Elsie and Baby Pig were chasing each other and then followed it up by quite extreme hip swaying.

I'm a bit confused as I've never noticed them do this before, Baby Pig was born and grew up in the same cage as Elsie (Elsie is technically her auntie) and they live happily with three other sows.

I watched them for 15 minutes and nothing else seemed to happen then, they even shared food from the same bowl. It's hard to watch them all the time as they're outside and afterwards it seemed to die down. I've been lucky as in all my life I've never, touch wood, had a problem with piggies falling out. They seem to be fine now, so is it safe just to leave it be and just keep an eye on them?

I do have the means to split them up but then I have to decide who goes with who and I really don't want to do that.

 

[lynda1]

How old is Baby pig? It could just be that she is growing up and trying to work her way up the ladder a bit but are you sure she's a she?

 

[youthnovels]

How old is Baby pig? It could just be that she is growing up and trying to work her way up the ladder a bit but are you sure she's a she?

She was born on September 15th (I think), 100% sure that she is a she. I'm sure we'd have lots of babies running around by now if she wasn't! Sorry her "real" name is Cilla but she still gets called Baby Pig.

The "queen bee" Maisie did pass away around six weeks ago which I guess could have changed the group hierarchy but Peaches, our eldest pig, stepped into that role. :{

 

[bessiehen]

Most information I have read says to wait as long as possible before splitting pigs up as they tend to sort out things their own way. I think I printed a list of dominant behaviours and their meanings from cavy spirit. The behaviour you described seems normal dominance behaviour to me, when my pigs had a real fight it was VERY different and VERY obvious what was going on - they had had a couple of weeks before hand clacking teeth at each other, then on the day of the big fight they went from clacking, to hackles up, to suddenly both on their back legs and flying at each other I managed to separate them quickly and have had them living apart (but next to each other) since then. Check your piggies over regularly to see if they have any missing fur / bite marks / hair in their teeth - signs that they may have been properly fighting.

 

[youthnovels]

Most information I have read says to wait as long as possible before splitting pigs up as they tend to sort out things their own way. I think I printed a list of dominant behaviours and their meanings from cavy spirit. The behaviour you described seems normal dominance behaviour to me, when my pigs had a real fight it was VERY different and VERY obvious what was going on - they had had a couple of weeks before hand clacking teeth at each other, then on the day of the big fight they went from clacking, to hackles up, to suddenly both on their back legs and flying at each other I managed to separate them quickly and have had them living apart (but next to each other) since then. Check your piggies over regularly to see if they have any missing fur / bite marks / hair in their teeth - signs that they may have been properly fighting.

That's what I was thinking as it didn't seem to be anything serious but at the same time it was quite extreme hip swaying. As opposed to the swaying I've seen when I've been bonding. Hmmmm I'll keep an eye open and keep checking them over.

Thankyou everyone!