Help me with my piggy plan please!

[Sookeh]

The situation is this. I've fallen in love with a litter of boy piggies that our local (lovely and professional) pet shop are selling, there are two pairs of boys and a solitary girl.

Anyone who remembers what happened with the last two pigs I bought knows that my big pig is on his own at the moment .

My problem is that I'm very wary about introducing big pig to a new little pig, he's quite skittish and anti social generally and genuinely seems to prefer being on his own. I would like to give him a little bit of company however so I'm considering buying the pair of bonded boys and putting them into my big cage and then putting Tyrion (big pig) into the medium cage and then putting the cages side by side.

Another issue with this is room. The only two places big enough in the house for the cages to go side by side are the room by the garage and the sun room which is also the kids playroom. Both rooms are very cold a lot of the time without the heating on but the sun room does get natural light which the little room by the garage doesn't. If they went into the little room by the garage though that room could be solely for them and they wouldn't have to put up with noisy playing kids in their space .

Can anyone give me any advice on my plan? I'm not sure if they'd be okay with the temperature and lack of light although they would get light at playtime etc. Any help would be very much appreciated!

Bump

Sookeh - have you looked at the Barmy 4 Boars website?
There's lots of advice about all things boary.

One thing they do stress with boars is 2 is the magic number

If you get the 2 babies )boars) you'd need loads of room. And when these two reach teenage they might try to over turn the supremacy of your boar. And I just think it would be really unfair to put your resident boar in that situation unless he's really the type to step down and accept a new Alpha Boar.

Could you give them the garage to sleep in (they won't be that bothered by the lack of natural light- mine have perspex windows so get a bit of light, but they're in their boxes most of the time)
They could have some playtime in the sunroom- maybe buy them a paddling pool? Just make sure the temperature change isn't too much.
You can insulate their garage accomodation with hay, SnugglePads/Pet Hotties , even a heater out of their reach. They can't stand damp or draughts and can cope with a degree of cold. You'll probably find they cuddle up in their hay. But this is where you'd need to be careful with the pigs relationship (fighting/bullying)

If one of my boars died (they are 2yo) I wouldn't want them alone TBH>It's a long day and long night to be alone. (Even in winter when they are in for the night, they go in their Pighouse by day.And we're out. And at night there's no-one to play with)

My GP1 is a big, bolshy smoothcoat ,so I'd get him a boar pig (to be Daddy/Big Brother to)
My GP2 wouldn't cope with being 'in charge' so I'd get him neutered and get one or two females. Probably side-by-side them until he's safe and they're quarentined.
Then he'd know they were there and he wouldn't be alone.

If they can 'match' Tyrion to one of the boar pigs that would be ideal.
Then they could go into neutral territory in seperate cages to get used to each other.

Good Luck [hgrin]

Hi - hope Tyrion is doing OK, he certainly sounds happy and like he is having fun! Bonkey started a thread about side by side cages, it is a problem when space is an issue - ours were side by sided and up and downed (!) but we kept them in a shed for most of the year, bringing them in was always a bit of a squeeze. _ 70s advice about having 3 boys sounds like good advice - even with girls 3 was always a bit of a nightmare as one would always gang up on another. I realise you dont want to split up the established boy pair, but I do wonder whether Tyrion might be more stressed if there are 2 - he might feel a bit ganged up on?

Im not sure about boar psychology, but with girls, in the end, one of them took on the mother role and bossed the others about - you might just have to treat them as separate entities until they get used to each other - this may take some time, and may or may not happen. I do think they need some light, maybe the door could be propped open? but guess they would all prefer their own private space, although they might like getting to know you all in your space. It is a tough decision to make, but be prepared that your integration plans may take some time - it took months with one of my girls, she was a law unto herself! Good luck. :)