Introductions and Dominance
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- Carpe Cavies
Hello,
How long does it take to re-introduce two piggies? I had to seperate my two females. One started preventing the other from leaving the sleeping box and started nipping the one month old baby w/o reason. The seperation was for four days. I put them in a neutral area and when put together the reaction was mostly ignore each other and a little head butting. The reaction to the baby was better - seemed eager to see her and baby was allowed to sit next to her and rub shoulders. Can I help/encourage them in any way? Is it time to make permanent seperate quarters?
How long does it take to re-introduce two piggies? I had to seperate my two females. One started preventing the other from leaving the sleeping box and started nipping the one month old baby w/o reason. The seperation was for four days. I put them in a neutral area and when put together the reaction was mostly ignore each other and a little head butting. The reaction to the baby was better - seemed eager to see her and baby was allowed to sit next to her and rub shoulders. Can I help/encourage them in any way? Is it time to make permanent seperate quarters?
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- Carpe Cavies
Right now they are in a 19x38 cage. However, I just got my corroplast and creative cubes orders. They will have a 15sq ft cage this weekend. Yes, I have seperate water bottles and food dishes. The one female was not even letting the other out of her seperate sleeping hutch to get to them. Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate being able to ask questions here.
I´ve had a little bit of success neutralizing warring parties by giving them baths. The bath knocks their aggression down a peg and reduces the scent of all concerned. Less scent... less butt-sniffing, less mutual annoyance...
It might be worth a try.
It might be worth a try.
Last edited by bats on Mon May 13, 2002 6:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Carpe Cavies
One female has a "let´s just be" attitude and even when the other becomes grumpy will walk away rather than escalate the encounter. The quiet female shows no sign of submission but did try a little rumble strut and put her head over the more aggressive one. I was wondering if there is any way to teach the other female that it is more rewarding to be peaceful. Have only seen butt sniffing when trying to reintroduce the baby. The baby even tries to pretend nurse and cluck like a newborn. This causes the aggressive female to be tolerant; but only for a while. I don´t want to keep them together if I can´t be sure I won´t come home to bloodshed. They are alone during the workday.
"I had to seperate my two females. One started preventing the other from leaving the sleeping box and started nipping the one month old baby w/o reason."
This is how the adults teach the babies manners so to speak. If there is no bloodshed, do not separate at all.
Even if the sows are "fighting" as in pushing each other around, head butting, mounting, bum sniffing etc, let them sort it out. Add an extra food dish and water bottle, piles of hay in both ends of the cage etc to be certain they are all eating.
If she won´t let the other out of the box, remove the box for now. Put it back at night and be sure there´s one for each pig.
Now of course, if they are doing more than a quick nip, or if you have a ball of inseparable fur, use a dust pan or towel (so you don´t get bit) and keep them apart, but it sounds to me they are simply working out the pecking order.
Females will bumsniff each other, but especially on new pups --- 8 of my girls went beserk over a new rescue pup who is probably 7 or 8 weeks old, for the first few hours, but now they leave her be.
By keeping them apart at all, the dominance issues will start all over again at square one.
This is how the adults teach the babies manners so to speak. If there is no bloodshed, do not separate at all.
Even if the sows are "fighting" as in pushing each other around, head butting, mounting, bum sniffing etc, let them sort it out. Add an extra food dish and water bottle, piles of hay in both ends of the cage etc to be certain they are all eating.
If she won´t let the other out of the box, remove the box for now. Put it back at night and be sure there´s one for each pig.
Now of course, if they are doing more than a quick nip, or if you have a ball of inseparable fur, use a dust pan or towel (so you don´t get bit) and keep them apart, but it sounds to me they are simply working out the pecking order.
Females will bumsniff each other, but especially on new pups --- 8 of my girls went beserk over a new rescue pup who is probably 7 or 8 weeks old, for the first few hours, but now they leave her be.
By keeping them apart at all, the dominance issues will start all over again at square one.
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- Carpe Cavies
I agree. But, during the day no one is home to monitor the dipute and I would feel irresponsible leaving a situation in which an injury would result and medical attention would be delayed. The incident with the baby occurred when the baby was just sitting quietly and the mom walked over and nipped her. True- no injury but I believe that it was not correcting the baby. I think the aggression between the two adults was spilling over onto the baby. Right now, I am starting to think that this female is a "solo" who might want to know that her companions are nearby but not in her "territory".