silver meets the girls

[Pepperdog]

Day 3

This morning I have heard chirpy wheeks coming from the pen, if I go on to look silver is often asleep by a piggie or in the middle of the pen looking lost/told off, occasional wheeking in a telling him to gerroff manner but of no great length or volume.

The girls are all acting normal, sometimes I think they are ignoring him rolleyes but it seems that as minty gives him a hard time, fudge is accepting the loner as a fellow loner in the group. Will see how things go as the day progresses, still not letting him eat with them

Maybe as the last time I introduced flash it was outside in the run, then into the hutch so they were outside and I couldnt hear all the talking to each other I dont know if flash was accepted easier than silver or if they were the same with him as they are with silver. Flash was a year older than they were, this time they are a year older than him, might be he is just a bit enthusiastic with his youth and they are making sure he doesnt get any funny ideas

 

[Pepperdog]

day 4

although there is still a fair bit of noise from them from time to time (like last night when silver had the late night randies rolleyes ), they have on the whole accepted his annoying need to prove himself and the nose offs are becoming shorter and shorter.

And........

They are letting him eat from the veg plate :laluot_03:
I put in a small bowl so he had somewhere to go for food, but the girls tried to eat from both, no need to protect the one plate which broke that habit, he does try mintys trick of nicking the food out the other pigs mouth but he doesnt push it and he has been munching away at the veg and also the grass I put in just now with the girls.

I gave him a cuddle today and he just wanted to get back to his girls, he is much happier, if a little above himself at present - what happened to my shy little guy ?/ he is still pestering minty a little too much for her liking, but then all 3 are very lovely girls so who can blame a boy for trying.

I am less worried about moving them to the hutch tomorrow (might delay it to thurs, will see)

 

[Pepperdog]

Day 5 - the move to the hutch

Well how much better things are with the group, silver is still parading around but the girls have got to the "ignore him stage" and only tell him to bog off if he tries something, he is a really confident little man with such a cheeky character which is unfolding now.

Crystal needed to see the vet about her skin so was away from them for a little while, I didnt move them till we came back this morning, I put her in first then the rest of them. Silver was a little nervous of the ramp but managed to figure it out, the girls settled right down welcoming crystal back (so no issues there) and I have checked on them a few times. But as what happened with flash the group has divided up, fudge is with silver and crystal and minty together. I am not concerned that I have two pairs as they equally share each others space but it is noticeable that the loner fudge is with silver while the girls make a united front of untouchability, once silver recognises that, they will accept him lying with them as they did flash and (occasionally) fudge

 

[Pepperdog]

Day 6

I had popped out during the day yesterday to see how they were getting on, perfectly fine was the result.

So this morning I went out to feed and clean them out and it was great to see crystal in such a good mood today, back to her chipper self and the group are settling down nicely having their boss pig back to normal again. Silver was down the bottom with the girls but hiding under one of the stools in there but as soon as the grass was put in the second hay rack he soon came forward, cue some wheeking from minty but she took a step back and let him eat next to fudge.

Its looking really good, minty of course has been so close to crystal from the start, if they were not a few weeks in age different then I would swear they were sisters (despite one being rex and the other abby), flash was very close to crystal and I do think minty resented silver coming in to take over her postition next to crystal as crystal was the only one I ever saw on heat. But flash managed to have a good relationship with minty so I have every confidence that silver will build his own relationship with her, he already has with fudge (bottom of the group).

 

[Guinea pigs <3]

Hey Jess, glad to see everything has worked out well with Silver and the girls! xx>>>

 

[Pepperdog]

thank you, it has been a nervous week but mostly because I know the girls so well which is why I know introducing a 5th member would not be the right thing to do, and especially as crystal reacts to stressful situations so badly I dont think this would be fair for her, and it was the right decision to get silver when I did as everyone was still very unsettled and lost, it didnt upset a re-balance again and they have all had to come through this together - hopefully this makes them stronger.

They were all happy this morning, had to pop out to hospital to visit my brother so had not had a chance to watch them too much, but I am happy that they are a group and the relationships will further blossom over time (fingers crossed for no unexpected fall outs). And the real proof is going back to what I just said about crystal and stress, she is by far happier in herself about everything, even if minty and silver never become best friends, he has a companion in fudge and he has an admirer in crystal.

 

[Pepperdog]

The last lot of photos

on the sat crystal did lie with minty with silver chatting her up, fudge is at the water bottle

then outside in the hutch on weds, the girls tucking into grass

silver just underneath the stool, he did go on to eat some grass as well but the fact that he got this close without too much protest from minty (who is behind the stool) was proof of how much they had accepted him

silver running up the ramp

I think he is happy now

 

[Pepperdog]

They are settling down together nicely now, silver is still holding back a little bit when the girls are tucking into grass or veg, but he is coming forward to eat with them a lot quicker and even had all 4 eating the grass out the hayrack (I have one for putting it in so they dont sit on it and pee on it) with no issues.

I had for the first week put a cozy outside the bedroom area of the hutch just incase he was kept out of the sheltered section, after a few days I noticed it was not being used so have removed it. A lot of poops in the bed area indicates they are all using it well.

My whole gang seem much more settled and they are doing well together out in their summer home.

 

[Guinea pigs <3]

All sounds perfect in piggy land! Any more pigtures

 

[Pepperdog]

thought I would do another update

Silver is getting braver when people are around, even with the OH he is now coming forward to feed with the girls and doing less hiding. He is such a sweet boy, just so unimposing and adores minty (who still plays hard to get) my other abbey, I have found crystal and fudge together a lot, but then they are the most vocal and forward of all of them anyway, I suspect when they come in for the winter I will see more of the dynamics as I did last time than I get to see in the hutch. Just so sad that because I have not had more than one dry day at a time none of the pigs have been out in the runs for grass time, my lawn is well sheltered so stays damp even on sunny days unless I have several in a row.

Anyway, a trio of quick photos from last week after a clean out, silver actually was brave enough to come out from the very far corner for me to snap him

all 4 together minty in the far corner, silver infront of her, crystal just at the bottom left and fatty fudge taking up the right corner

actually nomming while I was standing there with minty behind him (who is equally as daft and skittish when I am around)

It was not an easy bonding, I hope this thread helps others. There was a lot of dominance displaying but never any serious squabbles, only minty and silver ever came to proper square ups, no blood drawn and generally normal dominance behaviour while the two of them sorted out where they stood beneath the watchful eye of boss pig crystal. One thing that was the saving grace of the tension was fudge, being bottom pig she was no threat to silver and looked after him while her mother got stroppy, her mother rarely gives her a hard time and only crystal has been bossy towards fudge so she helped silver find his spot in the group. All 4 of them are very special pigs indeed.

 

[Pepperdog]

there is no tilt to his head, he isnt ill, you make no sense at all

 

[Jewelswye]

Thank you for this Pepperdog. The video was especially great! Your pig sounds just like Millie. It was also funny seeing their reaction to it lol

 

[Pepperdog]

thank you, there were some scarey scuffles on the first couple of days but nothing too horrendous so I braved it out and I am glad I did as they really are a brilliant group now.

And on that note, another update

Silver has really started to come on in leaps and bounds and they really have given him all the confidence and social skills he needed to be a piggie and a happy piggie at that. He is still skittish at times but he is now eating from the veg bowl with the girls and especially when I am still in the room.

This is him nomming hay in the chew block

he still does a lot of this

but he has bonded really well with the girls, in this photo I made a noise just before I could snap him lying right up against the cozy with crystal in

sorry for the poor quality but its inside in bad light.

I find him often in with minty, his obsession with her is still strong but then she is a lovely pig so I can understand that He does rumblestrut on occasion but he is a naturally quiet pig, he still asks for howyafather often from the girls but is polite enough to back off when told to.