Liviacraythorn2403
New Born Pup
Hi all, I’m new to this page.
I’m just looking for advice on a new piggie I bought on Wednesday. I would appreciate no nasty comments as it’s not necessary and I find that Facebook guineapig pages have far too much judgement and hate.
My new baby sow is 7 weeks old, she’s been fully health checked by a vet for illness so I was told she didn’t need to be isolated as it would cause her too much stress to be by herself in a new environment.
I already have two 1 and 1/2 year old bonded sows who I adopted in February.
I did a small introduction between the older two and the baby yesterday and swapped some bedding over so they could get used to the smells of one another and then let them sleep seperate for the night, however the baby didn’t move at all for the full 7 hours in her cage on her own, she also didn’t drink or eat.
This morning I decided to see whether my other two would temp her to eat and drink so I put them in a neutral environment (my conservatory) and let them explore each other for the whole day. One of my girls took to her straight away and was showing her the ways. The baby started eating and following both pigs around, all pigs shared some grooming with one another too. However occasionally my other pig seems to have a go at her.
People online told me that it’s not right to seperate them now that they have met because I would have to restart the bonding, so I’ve cleaned the girls hutch with bicarbonate soda and white wine vinegar to get rid of my older piggies scent and I moved things around so it looked like a brand new hutch. I’ve attached a run to the outside too for extra space.
I also bathed all three in the same shampoo so they smelt similar to one another.
I'm a little concerned about leaving all three together over night now but I don’t really have a choice. I haven’t noticed any conflicting behaviour between any piggies in the hutch environment however I did notice that they were leaving the new baby out and one pig was a bit nippy to the baby but not drawing blood. Should I be worried about this.
Sorry for the long story (it’s context)
I’m just looking for advice on a new piggie I bought on Wednesday. I would appreciate no nasty comments as it’s not necessary and I find that Facebook guineapig pages have far too much judgement and hate.
My new baby sow is 7 weeks old, she’s been fully health checked by a vet for illness so I was told she didn’t need to be isolated as it would cause her too much stress to be by herself in a new environment.
I already have two 1 and 1/2 year old bonded sows who I adopted in February.
I did a small introduction between the older two and the baby yesterday and swapped some bedding over so they could get used to the smells of one another and then let them sleep seperate for the night, however the baby didn’t move at all for the full 7 hours in her cage on her own, she also didn’t drink or eat.
This morning I decided to see whether my other two would temp her to eat and drink so I put them in a neutral environment (my conservatory) and let them explore each other for the whole day. One of my girls took to her straight away and was showing her the ways. The baby started eating and following both pigs around, all pigs shared some grooming with one another too. However occasionally my other pig seems to have a go at her.
People online told me that it’s not right to seperate them now that they have met because I would have to restart the bonding, so I’ve cleaned the girls hutch with bicarbonate soda and white wine vinegar to get rid of my older piggies scent and I moved things around so it looked like a brand new hutch. I’ve attached a run to the outside too for extra space.
I also bathed all three in the same shampoo so they smelt similar to one another.
I'm a little concerned about leaving all three together over night now but I don’t really have a choice. I haven’t noticed any conflicting behaviour between any piggies in the hutch environment however I did notice that they were leaving the new baby out and one pig was a bit nippy to the baby but not drawing blood. Should I be worried about this.
Sorry for the long story (it’s context)