Reintroduction of piggies has begun!

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flintstones

flintstones

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I am reintroducing my wee friend in the bathroom at the moment both are terrified and huddling together the irony of it all! Yet Fred's a big bullying when hes in his cage the cocky one, but yet we can use the new baby to hide behind!
 
He is obviously very territorial! You may probably face a few weeks of bullying. However, the two boys will bond nevertheless - especially as Mervin seems to be a submissive character.

Make sure they have something to eat together; sharing food is a good bonding ritual. Just let them get on with as much as possible today and preferably not in the cage, so Fred can make friends without feeling territorial.
 
They are being left together all day with some food! Nothing is happening, so I suspect they can't hate each other. I was thinking of removing there hidey holes and tunnel so they have nothing to be territorial about and just giving lots of hay for the first few days... Would this be wise?
 
If you make sure that there are at least to lots of hay to flop out on not close together!
 
Ok I will... and see how it goes but no matter what I will not be separating tonight... As much as it breaks my heart it's for the best!
 
Is he rubbing his rump along the ground ? The purring might be the start of humping but it will just be dominance.
 
Difficult to say, Just keep a close eye on them. This doesn't sound like an easy bonding, but stick with it, lots of distractions for them. x
 
Purring (or rumbling) rumblestrutting, short bursts of teeth chattering, humping, chasing, head butting, nipping are all part of dominance behaviour and acceptable. You have to brace yourself for quite a bit of that once Fred and Mervin are over the the first fright of being in a strange place. As long as Mervin sticks to loud squeaking, he's signalling his submission.

"Chinning" holding the faces together with the heads held up or prolonged intense teeth chattering with all hair standing on end is a warning sign for a serious fight! But that means that both parties are ready for the challenge.
 
I have literally never felt so bad! This is absolutely horrible the baby is sqeaking loudly and Fred Rumbling!
 
So if Fred is doing the intense chattering and hair on end... about lunge but mervin runs will Fred go after him? Should I interfere at this point?
 
Only if the little one comes off with a bite wound. A lot of Fred's behaviour is threatening and a lot of the little one's squeaking is sheer drama.

It is NOT easy to stand by and let them get on with it, I know!
 
If he comes off with a bite wound will it be bad, I struggle to know when i should interfere... but they areboth cowaring together at present
 
2 hours and they are still just huddled together under the toilet! The mind boggles all that space and no movement! :)p
 
As Wiebke said, sounds like at the moment they are united in their fright at new surroundings, just keep on with the observation. xxxxx
 
Well hopefully the fright will bond them... but in fairness it was fine yesterday it wasn't until the cage that it kicked off I'm presuming this will be the case... I wish someone else could bond my guineas for me 8..., I freak out far too easily but like Niki said I'm trying to stay calm and remembering it's not as bad as the baby is making out!
 
It really is hard to stay calm as they do wheek v.loudly & you think OMG they're being hurt. Babies, in my experience, do over-react they are extremely vocal & aren't necessarily being tortured when they do wheek.

All babies have to learn that if they wish to be a part of the cage they have to know who is boss. Very rarely have i read (i've never seen) an adult boar hurt a baby, sows are different.

People who know my Haggis know what a nightmare pig he was & yet i've bonded him to 2 babies now - he still chatters & rumbles but part of it is Noah, he winds him up because i see him popcorning off after he's done whatever to cause Haggis to brrr etc.

I have been in tears bonding piggies with palms sweating & ready to take valium & i am convinced they do pick up on it. You only become calmer after experiencing bonding & knowing what's acceptable & what isn't.

You are doing really well, you've kept at it & you're observing them, i wish we could teleport just to reassure each other that what we are seeing is perfectly normal piggy behaviour :)
 
they aren't even going near each other, can't work out if this is good or bad but no sign of anything and they have been together about 6 hours now
 
JoanneG111 said:
they aren't even going near each other, can't work out if this is good or bad but no sign of anything and they have been together about 6 hours now
Click to expand...

This is a good sign. They don't have to be close to one another - i don't think i have one pair of boys who cuddle & i rarely see any of my sows close to one another - they like their own space. :)

For me 6 hours together with no "naughtiness" is excellent, i would have them in their home now :)
 
They've called a truce for the time being... Perhaps you can try and introduce some of their hides (only two exits) and see how that goes down?

All those excess emotions do wear the piggies out as much as you! At some point you will get the next round.

You're doing fine!

BIG HUG
 
Do you think putting them in at 11 is wise as I will be going to bed shortly after. The girl I got from suggested maybe leaving them all night!

In fairness I have a confession I know it was stupid but they seemed fine but after I put them in there after 3 hours of them being fine... I took them out together and then after I put them back in it kicked off... I think I may have triggered that behaviour in Fred... Obviously this time I will not be taking them out for a few days.. couldn't resist cuddles 8...

Deeply regret it now though!
 
Hey Joanne well done! Hope it all goes well.

Ahh bless you - well done for your confession and lesson learned. Hope tonight goes better for them. You're being very strong and have some wonderful support from Niki and Weibke.
 
Putting them in the cage will most probably trigger another round, so you can either put them in the cage nowish to give them time to work it through and then go to sleep or leave them in the bathroom overnight.

Changing at bedtime is NOT a good idea! Only put them back when yopu have more time to keep an eye on them.

Piggy keeping is a learning curve - we all still make mistakes and are learning from them.
 
Thank you wiebke and Niki I just wanted to say you's have helped me so much I think I would of caved if it wasn't for you Thank you everyone for your support you don't realise how grateful I am! Also I want to say thank you to everyone that has gave me advice!

Now for the update... a bit of teeth chattering, chasing and some brr... but all seems well and so far no nips and No fights! Fred likes to puff him up which the baby doesn't seem to care. The baby is making fantastic progression he is so curious.. and comes right up to you which I find majorly strange. Fred cowards and the babies running about lol.

I think I am going to leave them in the bathroom over night and see how they tomorrow. They can stay there till I come back from work!

They are still being difficult but I think they are making progress!

Still got my fingers and toes crossed -c
 
It takes about two days to work out the main paragraphs and two weeks to deal with the small print of a piggy relationship on average. However, you should hopefully be past the worst phase now.

Quite often, the biggest bullies are pretty much cowards at heart!
 
By now Am I correct in thinking if they were going to fight they would have by now? The odd chatter but the baby piggy is following Fred about don't think Fred is too happy about this but the baby is still being submissive! :)p

I wish everyone could see them its hillarious they are providing good entertainment, the chattering doesn't go long not like last night.. I can't believe these are the same piggies :)!

:(|) So far so good!
 
I'm so happy! Not getting complacent but its looking good :)... leaving them in the bathroom till after work tomorrow!

I'm a nervous wreck who would have throught pigs can cause so much trouble!

All ears intacted lol ^)x)
 
I am so happy... and I think I'm wuv with my piggies lol... they are being so good... and I will have too get pics of my terrible 2 very soon! It's almost worth the stress to see them getting on x)
 
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