Introductions Introducing Trixie to Ferb & Penny

Good luck! I knew you'd end up keeping Trixie.

Introducing Trixie to Ferb & Penny

She's so sweet!!! I still don't know if she's pregnant, I'm starting to think (hope) she's not.

Oh, and for anyone not familiar with my herd Ferb is neutered.

Hopefully she's not pregnant. How long have you had her now?

Introducing Trixie to Ferb & Penny

3.5 weeks. She has gained 50g but she's not fully grown and was kind of skinny (I suspect she was on an all or mostly all pellet diet before). The vet thought Trixie might be pregnant but said it was too early to tell for sure. Trixie loves all veggies. I've been feeding her parsley just in case.

Introducing Trixie to Ferb & Penny

This is fascinating, I almost (but not quite) wish I were an undergrad taking animal behavior again so I could write a paper.

Penny and Trixie are trying to figure out their order in the herd.

Ferb has rumbled and mounted Trixie twice but is mostly ignoring the ladies.

Trixie took lettuce away from both of them.

For some reason right now Trixie is watching Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. Ferb and Penny are eating hay.

Here are some pigtures:

Introducing Trixie to Ferb & Penny

Penny is giving Trixie a hard time, she won't leave her alone and they keep sniping at each other. Trixie seems scared of Penny (granted Penny outweighs Trixie by 360g). They must all be exhausted by now but won't nap (I'm exhausted watching it all, lol).

It's me, watching you, watching me lol Congrats!! . The duo has become a trio.

Goodluck, I hope it all works out with the trio!

In my experience with expanding my pair introductions have always taken hours before I felt comfortable putting them all in the same cage.

When I added Daisy to my trio it was very stressful, Daisy is very dominant and was chasing, nipping, lunging and jumping for about 12 hours before they settled down enough for me to feel comfortable to place them in the same cage.

Do your best to power through it and hopefully they all decide to behave themselves. Let us know how it goes!

Thanks for the well wishes everyone!

They seem to be mostly okay with each other (and it's been over 6 hours) so they are going into their new cage in a bit (new chloroplast, grids and connectors washed in vinegar).

Ferb and Trixie get along fine. Penny is kind of mean to Trixie, I hope that settles down.

And somehow there's an enormous amount of poop in the intro pen, like they are popping extra to impress each other.

It took my three weeks to settle down after I did a 2-to-1 introduction. The two most dominant ones squabbled while the more gentle one hid. Now it's pretty calm, unless boss pig is in heat. Then, she drives the other two nuts.

Introducing Trixie to Ferb & Penny

@spy9doc lol! @bpatters it will be interesting to see Trixie in heat. I'll keep you all posted on their progress. And whether Trixie is pregnant.

Here they are in their new home (with plexiglass and hard plastic on everything because Ferb & Penny think chloroplast and grid vinyl coatings are a food group):

It was clam and quiet overnight and this morning. Too calm and quiet, it's making me nervous. When I left for work this morning all 3 were gathered around the hay pile eating, after they had shared a lettuce pile.

Maybe it's the lack of hideys? I have a beach towel draped across one end of the cage but that's it for right now.

Quit looking the gift horse in the mouth!

@bpatters I know, I know! I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop though, I'm just that kind of person I guess.

So glad they're all getting along together.

lol I'm guilty of being pessimsitic at times too. BREATHE!! and think happy, positive thoughts of piggies living in harmony.

They seem to be doing well with less squabbling. I'm much more relaxed about the whole situation. Putting them in new chloroplast and thoroughly washed grids and connectors really seems to have helped.

Trixie wants to do whatever the other 2 are doing, but she doesn't quite have the routine down yet. And none of them are wheeking, hopefully they will start up again soon, I actually miss the "we're starving" chorus.

Trixie is not pregnant! Yay!!!

The vet still feels the lump she thought might be a pup but it hasn't changed sizes in 4 weeks. She thinks it's a cyst and recommended Trixie be spayed.

When I asked her staff how much they charge for a Guinea pig spay I got sticker shock. I'm calling other exotics vets in the area tomorrow to find out what they charge.