Should I worry?

Guineananny

Guineananny

New Born Pup
Joined
Jul 3, 2022
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Location
West Midlands, United Kingdom
Hello,
Second post today, sorry anxious new owner! We’ve had 2 baby sows since Saturday (10 and 11 weeks who were cagemates with each other and more sows) The younger of the 2 is much more confident than the older one and has assumed the dominant role this far. There were a couple of initial disagreements involving bum nudging maybe nipping and much squealing from the submissive. The last 2 days seemed more settled, they slept together, played together ate together but then today more hideout scuffles and more loud squealing from submissive? Both settled down and had a nap in sight of each other but not together afterwards? I should say this was after a spotclean where I changed the peemat under the hideout. Also they are new wooden hideouts with 2 doors that I swapped their pigloos for yesterday. I thought it was all settled but now I’m panicking that it’s going to worse.
 
This all sounds very normal. These are mild dominance behaviours and something which you will see throughout life, and particularly when they come into season.
The loud squealing from the submissive piggy is indeed submission squealing - a good sign as she accepts her position.
They are also in a two week period to reestablishing their relationship. This will happen as they have moved to your home, a new cage etc - piggies need to reestablish in a new environment.
You will likely find that they don’t share hides much, cuddling up and sleeping together is very much something they will do as youngsters comfort but once they feel settled, you may find that then sharing a hide is a rarity. My two don’t share a hide - if I do happen to find them in the same hide it’s usually because something has startled them and they both happen to have run into the same one
 
Thank you so much for the reply. It just looks (a lot of moving around and swapping positions in the hideout) and sounds (loud squealing) so scary! I’m an anxious person and so worried they will end up fighting. I really want to enjoy them!
 
That all sounds like normal behaviour. You’ll get used to the sounds they make. They usually sound worse to us. Remember they are just talking to each other.

My two boys will be in a hide together and one will move and the other one will squeak in annoyance at having been disturbed.
 
I just popped in and they were both in the same hideout again, but the one I thought was submissive climbed on top (across the back of) the one I thought was dominant while squeaking. Dominant one just lay there trying to nudge her off but didn’t make a sound then moved slightly and lay down. Then they did it again and again! Climbing over each other and squeaking. I also saw the dominant? one nip/nudge the others butt earlier. I must admit I am becoming quite anxious when I watch them. It’s like kids I just want to say stay away from each other if you’re not happy! There is an identical hideout next to the other one, a tunnel and a curtain hideout! It’s a 4x2 cage.
 
Please don’t worry, dominance behaviours are entirely normal and as I said, they are in a period of establishing a relationship - you see more of it during this time.
 
Hello,
We have 2 sows (10 and 11 weeks) who were cage-mates with other sows. We have had them at home for 9 days today in a 4x2 fleece lined cage. I confess I was shamefully unprepared for dominance behaviour. I thought they would just happily be together pootling around, eating hay… silly me!
I am struggling with watching this behaviour and have become absolutely terrified that they are going to hurt each other, When I am watching them and talking to them it’s fine until they end up in each other’s space, then I panic. Is it normal for them to climb all over each other in a hideout one squealing, making it move around? One of them leaves eventually (usually the squealer) and they both carry on like it never happened. There has also been, nipping near face and bum, nudging, mounting, It just all looks so mean. The boss one always seems annoyed at the other one. I don’t even know if they like each other, they don’t seem to bother with each other very much. They still choose to be in their hideout more often than not. It’s not constant behaviour but I’m so anxious. I care about them both so much and just want them to be happy with each other.
 
Try not to worry - dominance can look distressing to us but to them it’s very normal. The behaviours you describe are normal, and also they will still be in a period of reestablishing. Equally, should they have a strong season, then you will see dominance behaviours then also; some seasons pass by without any event (they are in season every 15-17 days)
The squealing is submission which is a good thing; as it’s the submissive leaving, then it means she accepts the dominant piggy’s authority.

Do you have two hides the same and do those hides all have two exits? If you have any single exit hides, then please remove them as they can bema flash point if one gets trapped inside

Have you confirmed they are both sows?
 
Hello everyone,
I managed to get a (badly shot!) video of Blossom and Lavender today. Blossom (black & white) who I think is dominant was just chilling in the hideout when Lavender (Black & Ginger) decided to stand in her back door. What do you call that behaviour when she butts at her? There wasn’t so much loud squeaking from Lavender this time and she didn’t immediately run away. Also it looks as though there is some grooming going on in between?
Sorry for the vast amounts of posts but your support is really helping me through what can at times be very stressful for me. I was thinking today that if I hadn’t found you all I would probably have panicked and split them up!

 
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