Bonding Skinny Pig Bonding, is this normal?

[demlivingthings]

Hi I've been on this forum for a while but this my first post.
I currently have 5 pigs where four of them are fur babies while my newest is a skinny pig. I got her in May of this year and placed her in quarantine until after her vet visit; once that was done I placed her in a cage next to my original four where they could see and smell each other but didn't have any personal interaction. After about a month, I began to do formal introductions in a neutral area. It went ok each time, there was chasing a slight chattering from one of pigs but nothing too serious. I did this four times until I decided that it would be ok to move them into one cage together, this was yesterday. I washed the blankets and scrubbed down the cage and moved everything around and placed all 5 pigs into the cage. I currently have a wooden cage that is 14.5 square feet on the bottom and has a top floor that is 5 square feet. The chasing has continued and I have noticed nipping where there is a little marks on my skinnies back; nothing that is deep enough to draw blood but every time one of the other pigs come close she starts to cry out. I know that it takes time but since this is my first skinny pig I'm not sure if its ok for the nipping to be hard enough to leave scratches. I think I'm more looking for reassurance that it's ok to keep her in the same cage. Thank you!

 

[Piglet333]

I was curious how the introductions have been going with your skinny pig? I also have a skinny pig and would like to get her a friend but my worry is exactly what you are describing, i dont want her hurt at all shes so delicate. I know that plenty of people have skinny and reg pigs together with no problems.

 

[bpatters]

I'd keep them together, but FYI, that's not the way to go about pig introductions. They're wired to establish dominance every time they meet a new pig, and when you repeatedly put them together and separate them again, you just stress them out and make them start all over again from square one. If you ever need to do it again, introduce them once in a neutral area, for as long as it takes, and then put them in a thoroughly cleaned cage that smells nothing like any of the pigs.

You can help with the scratches by filing the nails of the other pigs so they can't scratch her as easily.