Help with cage after Bonding

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LRatcliff

New Born Pup
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Hi- I am in the process of bonding two males. One is from a rescue and one has been mine but lost his buddy a couple months ago.

I did the neutral playpen for around 14 hours. Went from chattering, chasing, to mounting nonstop. My OG is super laid back and never cared of the new guy wanted to be in charge. After the constant mounting a noticed when they would get tired, the new pig would snuggle with my pig to sleep. Which I thought was a good sign? I did notice in the playpen that the last couple hours my pig would just be still in a corner and wasn’t really drinking or eating.

The snuggling prompted me to move to cage. Everything has been neutralized and two of everything etc. But now my OG pig is standing on top of a hidey and will not come down. He has been up there for 5 hours. This is obviously concerning because of food and water. Should I remove all the hidey spots in the cage?
 
Piggies&buns said:
How old are they?
How big is the cage?

If he is refusing to interact and choosing to stay away from the new pig, I would be a little concerned about whether things are actually ok between them.

This guide may help with information and signs about bonding
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Click to expand...
They are both around 1. The cage is a 5x2. The playpen I had them in was pretty big. When mine would move anywhere he would get chased and eventually he just stayed in one corner for hours. Should I separate them?
 
LRatcliff said:
They are both around 1. The cage is a 5x2. The playpen I had them in was pretty big. When mine would move anywhere he would get chased and eventually he just stayed in one corner for hours. Should I separate them?
Click to expand...

I would expect to be seeing interaction if things are ok between them after this long together .
Isolating himself and choosing to stay away along with relentless chasing (relentless being key) is concerning.
The key time is when they wake up from their first nap together- it’s at that point that things can become clear one way or the other.
I might be inclined to see if he perks up if you separate them.
 
Piggies&buns said:
I would expect to be seeing interaction if things are ok between them after this long together .
Isolating himself and choosing to stay away along with relentless chasing (relentless being key) is concerning.
The key time is when they wake up from their first nap together- it’s at that point that things can become clear one way or the other.
I might be inclined to see if he perks up if you separate them.
Click to expand...
I put a divider in and he finally came down from the hideout. He has eaten some and is now asleep inside the hide. Should I leave the divider up? Such a bummer, I was really hoping this would work out. They make it so difficult 😵‍💫
 
It doesn’t sound like he is happy being with him and that it is possible they may need to remain separated.

The issue with a 5x2 is that when divided, each half is too small for each piggy long term. You would need to look to expand the space so each piggy can have a minimum of a 3x2.
 
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