MandFpiggies
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi there, as some of you may know, one of my three girls, Maisie, had to have surgery to repair a broken leg six weeks ago, and because of that she had to be separated from her sisters, we did this by dividing up their cage, so she has been right next to them all along. She has now had the all clear to rejoin her sisters, Daisy and Poppy. This just seems to be the next test of my nerves :...
When Maisie left the main cage, Poppy who I think is a few weeks older, or very certainly bigger was the definite boss pig, while she has been away however Daisy has grown a lot and has in fact overtaken Poppy in weight, now Poppy is still making all the noises of the boss piggie, but Daisy is definitely not taking any s**t any more, and these days if Poppy runs up to her to take her food, or turn her out of the comfiest bed, instead of running away, Daisy calmly stands her ground, Poppy rumblestruts around her, but she just stands there, until Poppy gets the message and wanders off defeated. And into this I have to put my precious, delicate, little Maisie who I've wrapped in cotton wool for the last six weeks, my fingers will be bitten to the stumps!
I know I should do intros during floor time, but I wonder about this, as when the other two have floor time it seems to just escalate their behavior, with the chasing, and the humping, and the stand offs, it never comes to blows, but I think that's because Daisy is a master of passive aggression, she just stands there with that look in her eye going "yeah your the boss, but just so long as I let you".
My plan was to do intros with towels and dustpans at the ready, then let them all have floor time together, for an hour or so each evening for say a week, then as we are planing to make them a new cage during this time at the end of the week their first night together would be spent in a completely new cage for all of them -c
That was the plan, but now I'm getting nervous @) Any suggestions from the more experienced of you out there would be VERY welcome. Although I doubt I'm going to feel any better about doing this, short of having some of you holding my hand while I do it. Anyone fancy a holiday in Ireland?
When Maisie left the main cage, Poppy who I think is a few weeks older, or very certainly bigger was the definite boss pig, while she has been away however Daisy has grown a lot and has in fact overtaken Poppy in weight, now Poppy is still making all the noises of the boss piggie, but Daisy is definitely not taking any s**t any more, and these days if Poppy runs up to her to take her food, or turn her out of the comfiest bed, instead of running away, Daisy calmly stands her ground, Poppy rumblestruts around her, but she just stands there, until Poppy gets the message and wanders off defeated. And into this I have to put my precious, delicate, little Maisie who I've wrapped in cotton wool for the last six weeks, my fingers will be bitten to the stumps!
I know I should do intros during floor time, but I wonder about this, as when the other two have floor time it seems to just escalate their behavior, with the chasing, and the humping, and the stand offs, it never comes to blows, but I think that's because Daisy is a master of passive aggression, she just stands there with that look in her eye going "yeah your the boss, but just so long as I let you".
My plan was to do intros with towels and dustpans at the ready, then let them all have floor time together, for an hour or so each evening for say a week, then as we are planing to make them a new cage during this time at the end of the week their first night together would be spent in a completely new cage for all of them -c
That was the plan, but now I'm getting nervous @) Any suggestions from the more experienced of you out there would be VERY welcome. Although I doubt I'm going to feel any better about doing this, short of having some of you holding my hand while I do it. Anyone fancy a holiday in Ireland?
