Introduction Questions

[LennyPig]

Hi there, as you may know, one of my castrated boars, Archie died at the weekend leaving behind his cage mate Belle.

As well as Belle, I also have a second pair, Lenny and Piglet (castrated boar and sow) and I am hoping to integrate Belle into Lenny and Piglets group.

All three pigs are pretty much the same age (just over 1 year old).

All three pigs live in C&C caging, Belle lives next door to Lenny and Piglet. Until Saturday we had high correx between the pairs cages so that the boys couldn’t see each other and I have now taken this down. They are still separated by grids but they can now see each other and interact through the bars.


I have 3 questions
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**ONE**...... How long do you think we need to keep them in this situation (living next door to each other and interacting through the bars) before we take the plunge and introduce.

**TWO**...... Should I put all three in the neutral run together to meet, or should I introduce Belle to one of the pair and then add the second of the pair, or should I introduce Belle to one at a time separately?

If I did go with one at a time would I go for the boar and Belle first or the sow and Belle first? Or would I introduce Belle to the most dominant pig first? Gees this is complicated

**THREE**...... I know when you introduce pigs, you should choose neutral ground but is there anything else I need to know?

 

[Wiebke]

Here is a reference thread with all the tricks of the trade:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31509

How long you keep them next to each other, depends on you. If they are interested in each other, they will click anyway (and they are a good age for that)! As Belle has been living with a boy beforehand, she will be quite accepting of Piglet.

I have been lucky in that I could time most of my introductions so that the head girl of the newbies was in season and therefore the introduction was no problem.

It is best, if you introduced them all together on neutral ground for as long a period as you can provide. The more relationship stuff they can work through in one go, the better!

Which means that if you put them next to each other until the weekend, they have plenty of time to get to know each other! If there is some chattering between the girls during that time for some reason, I would separate them immediately and introduce them first alone.