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Hoping someone can help us!

GPgrammy

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Hello all!
I am new to the forum, and I am also hoping someone out there has the knowledge I'm looking for. My son and his GF have 2 male piggies. One is over 3 years old and they have had him about 2 years. They just got another male piggy about 3 weeks ago that is about a year old, I believe. This one is going through puberty, so whatever age that happens for them, as I am far from knowledgable about them. When they first introduced them, they didn't argue, they just tried to hump each other. That lasted a couple days, then, they became fast buddies and shared a normal sized cage. They were truly best buds. The kids did get a bigger cage so they could have plenty of room to roam and run around.
They bring them (the piggies) with them on weekends when the come home from college to visit. At college, they share a very large cage. When they visit here, they use the cage they were first introduced to each other in. This morning, they started fighting with each other. Jumping and kind of biting at one another. Is this caused by the puberty change in the one, or do you think it's the cage size? Or.....????? Will they go back to normal, or will there be a problem from now on? I hope someone out there can shed some light on this new problem. They are so sweet and cute, and we just love when they come visit (grandma and grandpa)!!! LOL. :D Thank you so much! I didn't mean to get so lengthy on the post, sorry!
 

bpatters

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Any change in living conditions can trigger the whole dominance scene all over again. And if you've got three male pigs in a small cage, there'll almost certainly be problems. How large is the cage at your house? And is it possible to just expand that cage with grids, and leave the door open while they're there?

Welcome to the forum. We love piggy grandparents!
 

YourSoJelly

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I agree! Cage size definitely has something to do with dominance. Especially I the cage gets smaller. Welcome to the forum, by the way! :)
 

GPgrammy

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Thank you for your fast reply! They just have the 2. I was off on the age of the new one though. He is only about 2 months. I was kind of leaning toward the cage change. I will pass on this information to them.
I have several pics of them on my phone (not a smartphone), but not loaded on the laptop yet. When I get some pics loaded I will post them. they are sweet, cute and a hoot and we all love them dearly! Our inside kitty is fascinated by them and loves to lay by their cage and watch them. Our German Shephard wants to lick them to death. She thinks they are HER babies!
 

YourSoJelly

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Awes! My Lab Hershey think that Nala is just the coolest thing ever! Nala will lick his nose ( through the grids of course)and it's so cute! Pumpkin bites Hershey's nose so he doesn't care about her really. Another thing could be that because he is only two months old, he is trying to fit his dominance thing. A different cage means that he has a second Chance to establish dominance.
 

Carissa6729

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Awh it's great that you love your grand-pigs so much!

I agree with bpatters, any type of cage changes can trigger the dominance dance in boys. The little one won't be hitting puberty for awhile (few months, generally around 6 months) but you may have the dominance issues then again.

I found my two boys would start all over with the rumbling and humping, even when I took them out for floor time and put them into their clean cage. They would do it in any new environment (or new to them that day). My cage is big enough so I just started dividing it and cleaning while they are in it which helped to curb some of the behaviors. My boys are 6 months old, so I try to keep the bickering down to a minimum lol! Having a huge cage has probably been the best help. Ours is approximately 4.5 ft x 8 ft (4x7 C&C cage) for two boys and they can still bicker a bit when they run into each other. I just tell people now when building their C&C for pigs, when you think it's big enough, add another 1x2 grid area!

My GSD puppy also LOVES my boys, she get's at the side of their cage and the pigs come up and give her kisses. It's kind of weird if you ask me, but it is cute!
 

bguardguy

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Our puppy does the same thing. He will just walk up to the cage and Tobias will I the the edge and they just sniff each other and both take off running laps.
 

2198lindsey

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I've got a little Treeing Feist and when I'm cleaning the cage he'll come lay in with my girls, he loves piggy kisses!

Welcome to the forum. c:
 

GuineaGal2013

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Welcome to the forum. Like everyone else said, cage size is probably the problem. I'm so glad that you love your grand-piggies so much. My in-laws don't even let ours in their house. And I love that you are an ACTIVE piggy grandparent trying to find out what is best for the piggies :) Keep up the awesome work and I'm sure I speak for everyone when we say we can't wait for pictures :D
 
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