Bonding How to handle "lap-time" for more than one piggie

Great question! I'll be interested in the answers. Seems like my lap isn't Big enough even when I out my legs out straight. One girl will viciously attack any other on my lap so she gets her own time. The others do get along in that predicament, but it takes me on the couch with a bottom blanket and top blanket and my dh gives me the second pig. Then they do nothing but run around and poop crazily, lol. They don't seem to poop very much by themselves, lol. I wonder if a big lap bag would be easier?

I would maybe keep them on you for15 minutes at a time and talk in a whisper with your hand under the blanket. Or do you not cover them? That helped my pigs feel comfy. Keep the tv or radio on very quietly while they get used to it. My girls will rumble when it gets too loud, lol.. Keep extending the time. That is all the advice I have

Kelly9 said:

I would maybe keep them on you for15 minutes at a time and talk in a whisper with your hand under the blanket. Or do you not cover them? That helped my pigs feel comfy. Keep the tv or radio on very quietly while they get used to it. My girls will rumble when it gets too loud, lol.. Keep extending the time. That is all the advice I have

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Girl, my first problem is actually getting them TO my lap on the couch!! LOL! I live alone and don't have another set of hands to help me wrangle them. The other day Snickers came very close to getting wedged between my recliner seat and arm, and I had to move fast to get him outta there! Is it bad to just give them one-on-one time with me individually to make them more comfortable with me first? Or must they always be with me together every time? I apologize if these are dumb questions. I'm just so afraid of them getting loose.

I have two girls and I take them out separately, mostly because of their personalities. One is my cuddle-bunny and she will tolerate lap time for about 15 mintues. The other girl want down NOW! lol Also, taking them out separately gives them a break from each other and gives me a chance to brush their hair and look them over if I need to.

I am certainly no expert, I am a new piggy owner myself. However my situation is very similar to yours. I had my first little one Stripe starting at 5 weeks old, & I had her for about 3 months by herself, until she was 4.5 mos and we had awesome lap times together every night!!! n
Now we have added Cheyenne, our second, who i guess to be 3 mos old, so they are both pretty young together....and Stripe has also gotten a little more skitterish.

I have been giving them their lap times separately each night. Stripe is starting to settle back down with me a little bit but still not acting as tame as she was before Cheyenne joined us.

I think sometimes we just have to be patient and remind ourselves that it hasn't been very long, if I remember your story correctly Snickers just joined you, which is why I say our situations are similar, as Cheyenne just joined us a week ago.

My hope is that as Cheyanne settles in, Stripe will as well. I have hopes of doing lap time together with both of them in the future, but right now I'm just giving them each individual time until things progress.

I think strike was so very social with me before because she was relying on me for her social time, where is now she's mimicking her buddy more because they're forming their little pack together.

and then I imagine (hope) that it will balance out somewhere in between in the long run.

I think I understand where you're coming from because it's a little sad for me that I don't have that same level of awesomeness in the evening lap time with Stripe as I used to, but again I think it will come back over time, and I also know that it's the better thing for Stripe in the long run to have her bonded cagemate and not just be my little buddy for when I want her.

Good luck keep telling us how it goes! Hopefully I will learn some tips from this thread you started also!

@Kelly9 - Thank you for the advice. I will make sure to keep the noises down and have a nice comfy blankie ready for them!

@miniver and @jrv4babies - You guys hit the nail on the head! One likes (or used to like) being held, and the other one is, "Nope. Not havin' it!" We're going through the exact same things, so for the time being, I will have separate mommy time with them. I will make that their veggie treat time. These two just LOVE their veggies!! Buddy started out thinking he was the dominant one, but they must've worked that out overnight while I was sleeping, because now he follows Snickers everywhere and tries everything he does! It's actually a great thing because Snickers is absolutely fearless, and Buddy was very timid. I think they will balance each other out nicely.

Will start my experiment tonight and let you all know how it goes. Thanks again for the tips!

Yeah I use a big lap pad, but I only get one out at a time unless I have another person to help if one goes to a weird spot. I usually take them out one by one. Plus, one of my girls is bossy and will push the other out of the way if I'm petting her instead.

That is also like us....I am not quite sure my girls have figured out who is the dominant one yet. They don't seem to be scuffliing over it but it's also not a clear end result to me.

@miniver I have the same exact problem Lol! What I do is hold them separately, but sometimes I do floortime and sit in the pen with them and hold them, but they can run around too if they don't want to be held.