Introducing... Roxy! (pigtures)

[gpigluver14]

I adopted her on June 15. She's three, and was surrendered because of allergies. I'll start introducing her to Snickers next Friday. I'll be breaking the quarantine two days early, but she's certainly healthy. She lived her whole life a loner, so I really hope they get along okay... Oh, and I just really liked the name Roxy- it's not definite, so if you have any good suggestions, fire away! Here she is:



The fleece I was holding her on matches her coloring!



She certainly is photogenic.



Piggy lips.

[Harrys Dad]

Roxy sounds like a great name. Nice looking girl!

[gpigluver14]

I just had to include Snickers, too.

[PrayerWarrior]

What beautiful pigs! I hope they get along and live long, happy lives.

[fourboys4now]

They are both beautiful pigs. I hope the intros go well too. One of my boys has coloring close to Roxy's and I named him Cupcake since it looked like different colors of frosting.

[erikahand83]

Roxy is a beatiful piggy girl. I love her coloring!! Good luck with introductions next friday.

[A1APassion]

Very pretty!

I love the contrast of colors.
Good luck with her & intros.

[gpigluver14]

Thanks everyone.

One of my boys has coloring close to Roxy's and I named him Cupcake since it looked like different colors of frosting.

Cupcake's a cute name!

[Toadies]

What beautiful children!

[gpigluver14]

Intros went not so well... Snickers and Roxy were both chattering their teeth and displaying these types of behavior:

Posturing for possible attack, battle for dominance is escalating
Teeth chattering: sustained (signal of anger, aggression, warning)
Nips, light bites, may result in little tufts of fur in their teeth
Wide yawn, but this is no yawn, they are showing their teeth
Snorting (like a strong puff or hiss

I even found a tuft of someone's hair. I separated them for the time being to give them a break from each other, but mostly because I was doing something and couldn't watch them closely anymore. I will try again tomorrow, hopefully it will settle itself out. It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure Snickers is the more dominant one, but I guess Roxy just doesn't want to back down just yet. ?

Do I repeat the whole thing over- in neutral territory- or do I just allow them to find each other in the cage again?

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Neutral territory. Put down lots of food as a distraction. Try a buddy bath too.

[Nelli]

Your piggies are a-dor-a-ble.

I read that sometimes it helps if you clean out the cage so there aren't any territorial issues and put in clean and new everything (bedding, wash the food bowls, water bottles, hayracks, just clean everything and then try putting them in together).

I didn't have any of these issues with my intro so I haven't tried this personally.

Has anyone else read or tried this? Has anyone known this method to be successful?

I don't think it would hurt to try it. Good luck! Hope it works.

[PixieStix]

Originally Posted by Nelli

I read that sometimes it helps if you clean out the cage so there aren't any territorial issues and put in clean and new everything (bedding, wash the food bowls, water bottles, hayracks, just clean everything and then try putting them in together).

I didn't have any of these issues with my intro so I haven't tried this personally.

Has anyone else read or tried this? Has anyone known this method to be successful?

I don't think it would hurt to try it. Good luck! Hope it works.

The pigs should be intro'd on neutral territory, and if there are serious dominance issues, a buddy bath is a next step. Before they go back in the cage, the cage should have been scrubbed and everything washed to remove anyone's scent. Bedding etc should be changed out. This way nothing will smell like one of the pigs, therefore won't 'belong' to them. When I introduced my two pigs, one was in a temporary cage, the other in a quarentine cage, so I could put them together in the totally new C&C cage.

[gpigluver14]

Thanks for the help. I didn't have a choice when it came to re-introducing them in neutral territory. I had them separated, one on the top level, one on the bottom with the ramp blocked off very securely, and they still got to each other. Thankfully, everything turned out all right for the most part and they worked out most dominance issues. The cage was clean when they were both in there together, with 2 water bottles, 2 food bowls, and 2 hideies, so sharing wouldn't be an issue, nor scent. The only thing I saw this morning between them was a "nose battle" as I call it, (when the higher nose in the air wins.)

[PixieStix]

Originally Posted by gpigluver14

Thanks for the help. I didn't have a choice when it came to re-introducing them in neutral territory. I had them separated, one on the top level, one on the bottom with the ramp blocked off very securely, and they still got to each other. Thankfully, everything turned out all right for the most part and they worked out most dominance issues. The cage was clean when they were both in there together, with 2 water bottles, 2 food bowls, and 2 hideies, so sharing wouldn't be an issue, nor scent. The only thing I saw this morning between them was a "nose battle" as I call it, (when the higher nose in the air wins.)

Oh, I wasn't directing this at you, I was responding to Nelli's question on into techniques. That's great that they're now getting along well.

[gpigluver14]

Everything is well between my two pigs now. There has been no more nose "face-offs", only a lot of rumble strutting and/or mounting, which they both do. The new one does it even more than Snickers though. At least one of them is in heat.

I've also decided to not keep the name Roxy. It just doesn't fit. Maybe I'm picky, but I would like a better name for her. I would love a name starting with "S" so it goes with the name Snickers. I kind of like the name Sadie, or Cassy.

If you have any "S" names, or good names in general, please share!

[Gemiinii]

I've got it! She's a Smore. She's got the right colors: Golden, chocolate and white.

Whatever you name her, she's beautiful.