Unique Pig Introduction Problem

[Ghostwheel]

I have not seen anyone address this problem, yet. If someone has, can you direct me to the link.

We had two rescued piggies and one died. Our remaining piggie, Hazel, seemed very depressed, so we thought we should give her a piggie friend and off we went to the Rescue. We found a nice quiet pair who seemed get along with Hazel, one of them being a special needs piggie. There were also two baby piggies, that Hazel seemed to like OK. We took the quiet pair, because we were told that the babies were spoken for. End of prologue.

We put Christina and Tolly(special needs piggie) in with Hazel on the floor, cleaned her cage completely, and watched the three pigs. All looked good. After about an hour, we put all three piggies in the cage. Hazel made it 10 minutes before taking a large fur chunk out of Christina. We gave them a break. We tried again the next day on the floor. Hazel made it 15 minutes before mouthing over Tolly. She started yawning and clacking, so we removed her again. Neither Tolly or Christina seem to know what teeth clacking means (like "Get out of the way!").

Next thing we know, the rescue calls and says the people who wanted the babies didn't want them. Well, we did. At this point, we now have a three story C &C cage, with Tolly and Christina in one part, Hazel in another, and the babies on the top. Tolly and the babies get along famously, Christina gets along with one baby so far (I think all four will be fine together soon), but Hazel is having none of the first piggies together, a little of Tolly for a while, and a little of the babies for a while, although she doesn't mind being able to see them all next to her. We haven't tried Christina and Hazel together alone yet-that seems to be the problem.

Did we just screw up royally for Hazel? Instead of having one piggie to introduce to a herd, we ended up with a herd to introduce to one piggie. And honestly, she mostly only tolerated her original piggie friend, but we thought that was Hayden's fault. Now we see we might have been wrong, maybe Hazel is the anti-social one.

Can anyone recommend a way to try to get this to work? It's only been a week, and there is plenty of room for all the piggies to be separated, but we'd like to get them all together if we can. I see a lot of introducing one on one and one to a herd, but not a whole bunch to one, especially when the one is used to being the big cheese and she is the biggest piggie. (Christina and Tolly around 7 months, babies around two months)

Thanks for any suggestions anyone has.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

How big is the cage? Sometimes you just have to give them time to adjust. Usually adults so well with babies.

[clotho]

I had two female piggies together. The girls were 10 weeks apart in age and they both wanted to be dominant. Ducky was definitely the dominant one, but Muffin kept bothering her a lot - always squabbling over the food dish (though we have two) etc.

I then took in a pregnant foster and her sister. Bandit had 6 babies. When the babies were 2 weeks old, I introduced Daisy, Bandit and the 6 babies to my two girls all at once.

I used a huge neutral area with lots of hideys and a huge pile of veggies for them. Bandit was used to being head pig in her cage and Ducky was in hers. The two of them had to have a couple "fights" before they settled that Ducky was going to remain top pig. Muffin (my other dominant girl) picked on the babies quite a bit for the first couple days, but then she settled right down. Now all is well in the cage and the girls get along great.

One thing people do is they get scared when they see a "fight" and split the piggies up too soon. Every time you take them apart and put them back together, you are causing more stress and making them have to start ALL over again deciding who is top pig. The dominant pig has to show everyone who is boss and have them accept it before they will settle down. It could take a few weeks or even a few months for things to settle down totally - and even then, there are times it will flare up - especially when the girls are in heat.

If there is not major bloodshed, try leaving them together and see if they can sort it out. Pick a day you are available to watch them all day. Clean their cage out totally - make sure there are NO scents left - and clean everything - water bottles, food dishes, hideys. You can also try a buddy bath if you want - the scary experience can help them bond and makes everyone smell the same so they are starting out on even footing.

If all else fails, maybe Hazel is just an anti social piggie. I hate to believe that - but I guess some are. She may just be happy to be near the others without having to share space with them.

Another thing I'm wondering is if you have had Hazel checked out by a vet. If a sow gets ovarian cysts, it can cause them to be very antisocial and grumpy with other piggies. Check this link out and see if you see any other symptoms in her: Guinea Lynx :: Ovarian Tumors

Good luck and I hope it works out. Let us know how it goes.

[TX_2_Pigs]

It has now been 3 months since I introduced Dodger and Mr. Wiggles to Harry and Chopper. And just yesterday Harry and Chopper wound up in a flying ball of furry fury. It only lasted a couple of seconds before Harry ran off. Harry ended up losing a tad bit of hair but was otherwise unscathed. He has had a small scratch on his nose and a couple of the others have had some small scratches as well. Harry has even bitten me when I happened to have my hand in the cage and he decided to lunge at one of the others that was on the other side of my hand.

As clotho has said, you have to leave them together to work it out. If you keep separating them they will never get the chance to figure it out. In neither of the incidents you have reported has there been any blood drawn. I know it can be nerve wracking to watch them tussle and go at it and it can be annoying when one pig is constantly bullying the others, but you have to let them be.

Try to make your bottom level of your cage as huge as you possibly can. I really think this has a lot to do with why my pigs haven't come to bloody blows. I have a 3x8 on the bottom and a 2x3 loft.

And welcome to the board!

[Ghostwheel]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Our cage is 14 sq feet on the bottom. 11 sq feet in the middle and 6.5 sq feet on the top (three level C&C cage) currently. We plan on widening the bottom to 16.5 SQ feet, since one pig doesn't really want to climb.

We had to separate Hazel from the others because she had drawn blood, and was not calming down. The other pigs completely defer to her, with the exception of Tolly, who is still not aggressive in any way-just clueless, but that doesn't seem to be good enough. The other four get along great. Hazel has her own section about 9 sq feet, and the others share the rest. She doesn't mind seeing the other pigs in the other areas (especially since she only lost a little of her original cage, still has her ramp and all the rest is new), and she doesn't chatter over the grids any more. We haven't given up. I was thinking of switching to fleece, and that would change the look and feel of the cage.

I understand that they get stressed every time you put them together on neutral ground, but how many times can I/should I try, if Hazel keep attacking? Is there a time limit where I should just say, OK Hazel stays in her space?

Thank you again for the consideration.