Behavior changes after losing cagemate

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TheCageCleaner

Post   » Wed Jul 21, 2021 6:31 pm


Hi all,

It’s been a week and a half since we lost Dana and my remaining three pigs have definitely noticed she’s gone.

My neutered boar is fine, but my two girls are having issues. Bean is 3 and Opal is 2. I adopted Opal as a baby and had to quarantine her for a solid month or so on the advice of the vet (they claimed it was due to her developing immune system making her susceptible to any illnesses the rest of my pigs might have). As a result she was living on her own when she really should have been with other pigs, learning ‘how to pig’. When I integrated her into the herd she began bullying Bean, who is super skittish and nervous in general. However, after a little while, things simmered down and everyone got along fantastically.

After Dana passed I ended up changing up our cage quite a bit, removing the upper level (which nobody ever used) and putting in new hides which were a bit larger and had multiple entrance/exits. I noticed Opal was going up to Bean inside the hides and bullying her again! Bean would just sit there and squeal instead of running. So I swapped the hides out for their regular pigloos—there are 4 of them in the cage for 3 pigs—but it’s still happening. Bean will be inside one and Opal will run up and nip at her face, much squealing ensues, etc.

I’ve not seen any fights, or blood drawn, but I’m concerned about poor Bean. At what point should I consider separating, if at all?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Wed Jul 21, 2021 9:50 pm


Cut extra holes in the pigloos so she doesn't get trapped. That may help, and may prevent Opal getting her face slashed if Bean decides to take up for herself.

A buddy bath might also help.

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