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General Adding a 4th piggy

aliciakae

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Right now we have 3 piggies and my husband reading that they actually do better as pairs so that no one is left out, any thoughts on this?
 

sallyvh

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I've had trios and quads of girls and in my experience, I prefer having the groups of 4. In both of my trios at different times there seemed to be an odd pig out. Everyone got along well and there weren't any issues, but one was usually away from the other two.

However, in quads, they seem to kind of form pairs. At least that has been my experience with it.

You have to be the judge for your pigs though, if you have a trio and they seem happy and you're happy with your group, there certainly isn't a need to add another pig. Even with mine, the only reason I added another pig was because one came along that I wanted. My girls would have been if left in their trios.

You also have to be prepared that adding a 4th could rearrange their social order and cause a falling out, resulting in you having to separate some pigs from others. Just something to think about and consider! I'm assuming you have females? With me, I have always had luck adding a baby female into the mix. The older girls seem to always accept a little newcomer.
 

aliciakae

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We have had the 3 about a week now and they seem to randomly switch pairing up. When choosing the ones that are together I have tried to keep them all about the same age and size. The 3 girls that I have now are all about 5 months old. Part of the problem I am running into is that I want to add either an Abssyian one or Texel but finding them seems to be impossible in my area
 

sallyvh

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With only having them a week, they wouldn't have had enough time to truly adjust or you to have a solid grasp on their social order yet.

Not to mention, they are entering their "puberty" stage and can be pretty sassy with one another. Be prepared for some bickering especially if you ads another. All my girls who I have had around the 6-8 month mark have gone through a dramatic period. If you want another one and are prepared with funds/space then there certainly isn't anything wrong with getting another. Just be sure you have a big enough cage. I would say that a group of 4 young active girls need at least a 2x6 C&C (16 square feet) or larger.

Overall, I wouldn't think finding an abyssinian would be too difficult, they are pretty common. Check out rescues, shelters or craigslist type sites near you, I imagine you can find one. On the other hand, finding a texel will likely be challenging. In all my years of owning pigs I think I have only seen 3 available for adoption. I have 2 texel girls, both were from breeders who were unable to use them anymore in their breeding programs and were not eligible to be bred, so they were rehomed to me as a pet only situation. Overall, they are much more difficult to get.
 

aliciakae

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I did find a new one to adopt but it hasn't been as easy as introducing the other ones. I was able to find a cute little teddy bear piggy but so far she seems to want to spend most of her time up in the loft by herself. The other 3 immediately warmed up to each other so I am wondering if I just wait it out and let them all come to terms on their own
 

bpatters

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Yep, you do.
 
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