Introducing the babies

[Kriket]

It's been about 2 and a half weeks, and the babies seem healthy as horses (granted, little tiny ones). My husband got the idea to introduce the babies to the "big girls" the other night. He cleaned the cage for me, and put them all on the coffee table together. They got along great on the table, but when he put them all in the cage together, Nutmeg chased the babies around and nipped at their butts "meanly" as he put it. No blood was shed, but he felt that the babies were scared, so he took them out of the cage and put them back in the temporary cage they were in. Should I just put them back in again and keep an eye on them all... maybe put a lot of extra hay in there to distract everyone....
Also. The babies are on Alfalfa hay becasuse they are so young. I know they can eat the timmy hay, but how to I discourage the bigger girls from snarfing down all the alfalfa hay?

[Chloë-Jasmine]

oh that's a good question. Chu Chu sometimes does the same thing, chases Cocoa's babies around and bites there bums. Maybe it's like a 'get the heck outta my cage thing' That's how it was before I moved them into my biggest cage. Chu Chu does it soemtimes when they eat a vegtable she had her eye on but it's not so common. What size cage do you have? I'm sure if there's enough room Nutmeg won't even care they are around. But defaintly keep an eye on them just incase it's more violent then mine were. Hmmmm... maybe you should buy a pigloo that's only big enough for the babies to get into and put the Al Hay in there. You may have to weigh it down so the bigger ones don't flip it. And then when they get to big for it, by them one a size bigger the same colour and everything and they'll never know the difference.

[Kriket]

Originally Posted by Chloë-Jasmine

oh that's a good question. Chu Chu sometimes does the same thing, chases Cocoa's babies around and bites there bums. Maybe it's like a 'get the heck outta my cage thing' That's how it was before I moved them into my biggest cage. Chu Chu does it soemtimes when they eat a vegtable she had her eye on but it's not so common. What size cage do you have? I'm sure if there's enough room Nutmeg won't even care they are around. But defaintly keep an eye on them just incase it's more violent then mine were. Hmmmm... maybe you should buy a pigloo that's only big enough for the babies to get into and put the Al Hay in there. You may have to weigh it down so the bigger ones don't flip it. And then when they get to big for it, by them one a size bigger the same colour and everything and they'll never know the difference.

The small pigloo thing is brilliant! I don't know why I never thought of that. Nutmeg is currently being nice to the babies, so that's always a good thing. I cleaned the cage super good, and moved everything around. I bought a fleece throw for the upper level at walmart too, very nice, they love it! Currently they're in a 2x5 with a 2x1 loft, but hubby said after christmas I can add more grids to make an L shaped cage to go against the wall. Then it will be HUGE! Yay for the piggies!

[Chloë-Jasmine]

Hehe, I never would have thought of that but I had made a little house out of extra coroplast so they would have somewhere to hide. Sometimes Chu Chu tries to get in but she gets stuck half way. I would LOVE to have an L shaped cage, it would just make so much sence roomwise. Good luck with your alfalfa!