introduction advice please

[Pepperdog]

As you may remember I have requested a home check for a neutered male to make up the final family member of my herd, I will hopefully be allowed to introduce the girls to him before a final decision is made but I wanted some advice on how best to introduce a new member to the herd.

I am thinking ahead here, I pro.b wont pass the homecheck anyway but I want to be prepared should I get a yes. The last time I introduced girls into a pen of girls I had a humungous great pen with their old cage with them inside, left them there for a week (obvioulsy feeding and cleaning out) then I let them out and kept an eye on things, nothing ever happened and at least the pen was large enough that should they need to get away, they could.

I dont have this luxury this time, they will be living in the hutch together, or in the run during grass time. I was thinking of introductions in the run first, nutural ground for them all, clean out the hutch completely and then observe them inside that. Does this sound like a good plan?

I can step in if things get too aggressive - how aggressive is too aggressive, are we talking drawing blood, seriously going for each other, as I have seen the way crystal treats fudge so I know dominance and bully tactics and leave them to it, might tell crystal to back off but mum will step in if she gets OTT.

Also how long will it be before I know the girls have accepted the boy and visa versa. I am hopeful that as minty managed to get herself in the club producing fudge, she will accept a (ex) male into the herd easily, and as crystal is also a growing female she will be interested in having a male about the house, fudge will just be fudge lol.

I just dread to think that I would have to return the boy because my girls threw him out of house and home, I am sure there is more success than failure but you do read about people having problems with certain groups or single piggies that just dont like their proposed house mates, I dont want this to be an issue for any of them so I want to make sure I get it right and have the introductions go as smooth as possible

 

[Wiebke]

I would do intros in the run or (if the weather is bad) indoors in the bathroom or kitchen on a wipeable floor that has no crannies they can be cornered in or scuttle under. Make sure that hideys have two exits and any food plates are flat in case a chase goes straight over them.

How things go, you will know pretty quickly; the acceptance phase is usually not that long (15-30 minutes); after that comes straight away the dominance phase if acceptance has happened. Normal dominance behaviour has to be tolerated as par for the bonding process.

A boar that has not had opportunity to meet the girls through the bars usually has a stronger reaction and can likely go overboard with testosterone overload. It can take a day or two until he finds the "on" switch for his brain again and it is not a pretty sight, as he'll mount anything from whatever angle. Everything will be liberally drenched in testosterone laden pee. If acceptance has happened, do NOT separate; you will have to sit it out. Coming through this together will forge a strong bond between the girls and the boy. Do not give everypig a bath either - the smell helps to bond them.

Sows that are not in season (especially the dominant ones) will show little interest in a boar. If he is much younger, he will be firmly put in place.

Good signs:
- girl lets boy mount her straight away
- lots of wheeking. It's a special, kind of annoyed wheek which you'll learn to recognise. It means that the girl telling the boy she's not ready - YET! But she will be...
- lots of chasing etc., but no physical aggression form the girl.
- mild teeth chattering when girl feels cornered or too much put upon by a randy male

Neutral:
- boar being completely ignored for any length of time and given strong signs to keep away (needs much more time to work on; best use a slow intro with short meetings over several days; ideally with some food involved); if you force it, it could come to a fight.
There can be some posturing to gauge the other's reaction. Keep a close eye on the situation. A light scuffle can happen.

Bad:
- strong signs of aggression. Yawning, intense teeth chattering with fur standing up, stiff bodies etc.
- Bloody fights with bites from either side. Have a towel ready, just in case.

In the last case, a bonding has failed and it is not worth trying again.

Best of luck!

 

[Pepperdog]

I had read some of the advice given before so I wasnt going to bath the herd till they were all happy and settled - what sort of time period is safe, a month later (I can put up with any whiffy piggies as I worked with goats which stink for years) or a bit longer?

I might just bed the hutch up with newspaper during the dominance phase, the last thing I would need is to try to wash fleece and towels every day then run out, I can just chuck out the wet paper (will put some absorbant stuff ontop, still not using sawdust) and when they have settled down I can put back the fleece and towels for everyones comfort - or should I just buy more fleece ?/

being a complete novice I presume that even though the boy has no bits anymore, he is still aware that he is male and goes through the motions so to speak but with no consiquenses (I know this is the case with males on the farm that had been done after they were a certain age before the snip) I will have to check the time period of the neutering as they are still fertile for is it 6 weeks after the op? So I am right in expecting him to become rather randy but then he will settle down once the novilty wears off?

Sorry for the daft questions :red your advice is briiliant above but I just wanted to confirm and run some things buy the knowledgeable people on here.

Interesting to see yawning as a negative signal - in dog behaviour (which I know a lot more about than piggies) its an apeasment signal and is a sign of stress, or not wanting to become aggressive - however it can be the for-runner to an aggressive outburst from insecurity or the wrong responding signals. Funny how its the same for piggies

 

[Pepperdog]

Just thought I would update this with what has happened.

Put all the girls in the run which was moved last night to a new place and opened up the extension section, placed fleece on one side so they feel secure when in the run (as my girls dont like too much open space). And right away put flash in with them.

He rumbled around strutting his stuff with them all squeeking away as he did it, he was doing the "big man" posturing and rumbling and the girls were not that impressed. Minty at one point squirted wee right out the back - that took me by surprise (and yes she is deffinately female as she was pregnant), it does explain the wee up the walls of the hutch though, I presume this is a marking display.

Next came the chasing and humping, he humped poor little fudge first who ran away each time, minty stayed away to begin with then she decided he was too handsome to ignore any longer and got involved in a chase too. Crystal seemed to be happier to stay away for the longest time (yet she is the dominant one of the three), she got chased a few times but has not allowed him to hump her.

Then fudge decided to follow flash around, minty and crystal started popcorning around the run, flash joined in a few times but mostly minty has been jumping about, crystal the second most leapist and fudge just follows flash about.

Minty and fudge have had a good sniff of flash who let them really nuzzle into his fur, crystal only just plucked up some courage later on once I had put in some hay and muesli.

When I left them an hour later (as needed a wee) to put the washing on they are all chomping away on food one way or another.

It kind of goes - chomp, chase, chomp, chase, sniff, chomp, chase, chomp.

Is it too early to say things are looking good? Is it normal for them to popcorn when they are excited like this and is this also a good sign? Fidge has really taken to flash at the moment and keeps nuzzling his face, and rubbing her face over his - is this normal?

Sorry for the questions :red

 

[flips]

Popcorning and nuzzling sound good.

 

[wenton5]

Hi, I was told that once you introduce you should not take the new guinea in and out of the cage, your post reads:- boar being completely ignored for any length of time and given strong signs to keep away (needs much more time to work on; best use a slow intro with short meetings over several days; ideally with some food involved); if you force it, it could come to a fight.
There can be some posturing to gauge the other's reaction. Keep a close eye on the situation. A light scuffle can happen. I'm trying to figure out whether I should let my new boar visit during play time until they are comfortable or just go for a one time trial and if things are neutral or good then put him in the cage (rearranged of course). Your thoughts? Thank you!

 

[Lilly]

Hi, I was told that once you introduce you should not take the new guinea in and out of the cage, your post reads:- boar being completely ignored for any length of time and given strong signs to keep away (needs much more time to work on; best use a slow intro with short meetings over several days; ideally with some food involved); if you force it, it could come to a fight.
There can be some posturing to gauge the other's reaction. Keep a close eye on the situation. A light scuffle can happen. I'm trying to figure out whether I should let my new boar visit during play time until they are comfortable or just go for a one time trial and if things are neutral or good then put him in the cage (rearranged of course). Your thoughts? Thank you!

Hi, the thread you are posting in is over a year old and was referring to initial introductions outside of the cage in neutral territory. Once they are in the cage together, you do not separate unless blood has been drawn. You should post your particular question in a new thread of your own to get an answer.