Am I introducing my new girl right?

[fruitdance]

Marble and Fudge have a new friend (I hope). This is little Pepper and I am desperate for them to all get along.

So far they've been out on the kitchen floor together and been ok. Marble asserts her authority a bit by following Pepper closely behind and chasing her a bit but whenever Fudge goes near the new one or acts dominant with her Marble gets aggressive with Fudge instead of the newbie! I don't really understand why the little one is causing the other two to scuffle with each other.

Anyways, we've partitioned part of the cage off so that Pepper has an area all of her own for the time being. She can get into the other girls' part through the tunnel if she wants to but at the moment every time she does they just chase her back out again.

Fudge and Marble both been pretty temperamental with eachother recently but I hope it'll settle down soon. I'm hoping they'll calm down when Summer finally arrives so they can go back into a bigger hutch and get run time every day to get space from eachother.

Any tips? Am I going about this the right way?

I only got her and introduced her today and know it will probably take time but I want to make sure I'm doing everything right. She is only about 11/12 weeks old too and is tiny compared to the other two who are probably about 6/7 months now.

 

[Claire W]

Aww, they are all gorgeous It sounds to me like you are doing everything right. By adding a third pig, the hierarchy will be shifted. Pepper *should* go to the bottom and it sounds like Marble and Fudge are trying to sort out between them who will be top pig.

Just keep an eye on them all and have a look at our sticky on sow behaviour (in the behaviour section). Sometimes within a trio, a piggy may be left out so also keep an eye out for that happening too although there are many people who have successful and happy trios.

I am sure your girls will be very happy together xx

 

[Rodentopia]

Sounds silly but did you clean the cage out before putting them all in so it was neutral territory? I vinegar cleaned my cage out to remove any old smells and started a fresh with mine and i have boys which are supposed to be harder to introduce. I think letting them play in an out of cage area if good so they can bond and then try the cage again when its neutral. They have to get an heirachy between them so you can expect some scuffles but should be nothing major

 

[twiams]

I'm not sure about how helpful the tunnel part of your partition will be for your piggies relationships, if anything it's showing the two that they can push the other around which may not be something you want to encourage. I'd say it's better just to keep a full partition and not encourage anything to teritorial on any ground that smells like the two original pigs as territory is all its really about at first.

My first thoughts would be to introudce them somewhere really different from anything that smells like any of the other pigs, a bathroom is often a good place as long as its safe for the piggies not to get stuck or anything

Although you mention a bigger hutch for summer, how big is the cage your planning on putting them in right now ? If you don't allow them enough space at the start it's unlikely they'll get along well as they'll each need their own space which is vital.

Always try to bond piggies around some food too as that helps. A big bowl/plate of grass that they can all gather around without being too close is a good way for them to come togehter and usually food takes their mind off any sort of fighting !

Look forward to hearing how your piggies get on

 

[Freela]

Oh my goodness- love the lilac piggie! It's definitely my favourite colour... one of mine has a lilac face. Totally adorable! When I was introducing two girls, we put them in a neutral room to get to know each other. I broke down and scrubbed everything in the cage to make it 'new.' Removing the scents makes it seem like neutral territory. However, I've never had to introduce one newcomer to a bonded pair, in my case one of my original pair had passed away and I think that my remaining pig was lonely and ready to accept just about anyone as a companion! Good luck, and hope it goes well for you!

 

[Mizzpigz]

Oh beautiful piggys..... Sorry cant offer any relationship advice though! Maybe in the human realm