Moving from cage to cage

[Little Ones]

I hope this is the most appropriate section for this thread but I wasn’t sure!

I recently started university an hour away from home and I may have the opportunity to have my pigs come stay with me permanently. The place I live is very quiet and there’s no partying or anything that could stress the pigs out.
My only concern is that I stay at uni 4 and a half days a week and go home 2 and a half days a week.
Would it cause great stress on my boys if I took them home for the 2 days I’m there and then back to uni the other 4 days? I don’t want to cause them unnecessary harm nor create dominance behaviour between them.
Right now the pigs are living with my mum, she takes really good care of them however she isn’t the best when it comes to noticing that a pig is acting off.
Also, one of my boys is extremely clingy and so he’s not fairing too well without me - as soon as I get back home I have him on my lap where he’ll just lay and sleep for hours if I let him. My mum says he’s been getting quite jumpy and starting to refuse affection. My other pig is a recent rescue so he mainly only trusts me, he’s coping fine with my mum however he won’t allow her to pet him, he’ll just run and hide.
I don’t know how they’d cope with moving from cage to cage and I don’t want to make it harder on them.
My only other concern is that where I’m staying at university does weekly fire alarm checks. This is very loud for about a full minute as the alarms are in our rooms, it shakes me up every single time so I’m not sure how they’d cope with that either even if it is just once a week.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Piggies&buns]

Piggies tend to travel fairly well...but...they can reestablish dominance when moved. You may be able to minimise it by making sure you take their used bedding with you each time. I’d suggest maybe trying it a few times and see what happens. Each piggy is going to be different - some will deal with it better than others.

 

[Bill & Ted]

My two boys do a regular 600 Mile round trip every 2 months to have dentals. They also have an overnight stay in a hotel and manage fine. It’s out of necessity, not choice but travel well. An hour journey should be fine, if you are transferring to a different cage I would take some used bedding with you so there’s less chance of fall outs x

 

[Little Ones]

Piggies tend to travel fairly well...but...they can reestablish dominance when moved. You may be able to minimise it by making sure you take their used bedding with you each time. I’d suggest maybe trying it a few times and see what happens. Each piggy is going to be different - some will deal with it better than others.

I know that they’ll do fine on the journey - one travels horrifically but if the other one is with him then he’ll be okay. I’m just worried about causing dominance behaviour between them and if they have to do this twice a week it might really unsettle them so I’m in two minds whether to do it or not

 

[Little Ones]

My two boys do a regular 600 Mile round trip every 2 months to have dentals. They also have an overnight stay in a hotel and manage fine. It’s out of necessity, not choice but travel well. An hour journey should be fine, if you are transferring to a different cage I would take some used bedding with you so there’s less chance of fall outs x

I know that ideally them being with me would be best for them, I’m just really worried about causing them to fall out as they’ll be moving cage twice a week. I’m pretty sure they’ll travel okay, I just don’t want to cause upset on either of them once they’re settled in the cage just to be moved again.

I’ll definitely take used bedding if I decide to go ahead with it!

 

[Swissgreys]

I think the best chance of success would be if you could make them the identical cage set up in both places - same layout, same hides, etc.
Mix and match old and new bedding every time, and try and avoid a full cage clean out in both places (just do most of the cage while always leaving something that smells familiar behind).

All you can do its give it a go and see how they adapt.
It sounds like you have a really close bond with them and will know immediately if they aren't handling it well.

 

[Little Ones]

I think the best chance of success would be if you could make them the identical cage set up in both places - same layout, same hides, etc.
Mix and match old and new bedding every time, and try and avoid a full cage clean out in both places (just do most of the cage while always leaving something that smells familiar behind).

All you can do its give it a go and see how they adapt.
It sounds like you have a really close bond with them and will know immediately if they aren't handling it well.

Thank you for the advice! I think I’ll give it a go in a week or two once I get everything set up and do exactly what you said.
You’re right, I’ll probably be able to tell if they aren’t coping with it, and right now they aren’t doing their best to start with so it can’t do too much harm I suppose. I’ve been missing them so much as well.