Day 4 in the guinea piggy house..... do tell how harmonious yours live together....

[noyouhavehadawee]

So its day 4 of Sooty and Charlie (Charlie was bereaved 3 months ago from her sister both 6). I have contacted the rescue today to get some more background on Sooty, she had been in rescue a year not from birth like i thought and before then was handed in by a owner who was under watch from the RSPCA having had their first lot taken of with force. This lot were not in too desperate a condition but handed over before it got there voluntarily. Overnights Sooty has left the duel piggy igloo area and opted to sleep alone under the hutch on the other side of the shed though I have put her back from time to time this seems her place so today like a ncie mum I filled up a bottomless plant pot with hay and put it where she has been sitting - hey presto in she goes a little more protected. I put Charlies igloo back in the hutch above where she pootled off to and left the other one in the dual area. All was well till Charlie came over wheeked, chased her then got in the pot instead - I am fuming with her how bloody rude! The rescue lady reassured me that just normal behaviour and would settle as long as don't draw blood. How do all your Guinea Piggys get on and what age and sex differences do we have and how long did it take to settle if ever? The lady told me the more you have the easier the colony gets and settles down and mentioned she will have another 10 available 11 October when pregnancy watch is over and adding another 2 could help..... Humour me - I feel like this is takig over my life . I had sooty in this morning and she did a massive pee on me - no warning just a full on gush - Charlie at least has the manners to warn me with some fidgeting!.

I woke up this morning to hear Steve bloody Allen on LBC (Londons Biggest Conversation- radio) at 6am whinging on about how cold it was.
I checked before I went to bed, it was 8c overnight so not that cold

Of course my first thought is "GPs have they frozen"?

When I gave them breakfast GP1 was in the trug. GP3 was in the haybox.

So even now it;s cooler they're sleeping apart. It just seems that some animal prefer space but still be in wheeking distance.
Ours will 99% give us Pee Warning.
But GP3 flooded DD new pyjamas yesterday
She wasn't best pleased with him.
GP1 and I had a smirk.

My boys are 2 1/2 and mainly get along fine. They went through a sticky patch at 9 months old when they argued a lot and again after they has to be separated for a while (so one could recuperate after a leg injury). Only once were they seen rolling round on the floor fighting but a bunch of parsley stopped that . And Smooth has a small amount of ear missing which Scruffy looks a little guilty about. Apart from that they're generally okay. There is a small amount of rumble strutting and mounting from Scruffy but Smooth tells him off. They do like each other. If I take Smooth out Scruffy runs round trying to find him and yells at me until they are reunited. Smooth is not too bothered if Scruffy is removed but Scruffy is so noisy I can't really blame him.

Your girls sound like they are settling well and getting used to each other.

Sounds like they're just settling in.

We have 6 girl piggies, and while they all happily spend the day in the run, there are 3 seperate sleeping places.

GP 1&2 (oldest girls at 2.6 - and mine mine mine - I got them for Mother's Day!) sleep in a traditional hutch in the garden, moved into the garage when it's too cold.
GP 3&4 (belonging to dd1 and ds, age about 7-8 months I think) sleep in a big indoor hutch by the patio door.
GP 5&6 (belong to dd2, though she generously "shares" them with dh so he doesn't feel left out!) are currently sleeping in a smaller indoor hutch on the landing, they're 11 weeks.

In dry weather they have a ginormous run in the garden with 3 seperate piggy boxes, but it's quite common to find all 6 in one box together (with their bums hanging out! In damper weather I set up a run in the kitchen so I can play with them. Sometimes their outdoor run is on the patio with an edge over the grass if its a nice day but the grass is wet.

GP1 tends to be a bit bossy and occasionally chases another one - including her sister. GP2 spends a lot of time sitting on top of the piggy box, keeping an eye on things. The rest do lots of chasing around as well as eating, but it's always happy wheeking. Never had a fight or an injury.

The entire shebang is overseen by the House-Rabbit, Speedy MacReadie (he was a rescue and came to us with that name). That's really the reason for the runs - to keep him away from them. He's so much bigger and clearly you can't keep them together. Our garden is completely secure so he can't escape, and he spends a lot of his time "on guard" beside the run. He's been known to see off pigeons and magpies quite forcefully!

sooty is definitely a double fleece blanket at lap time - prolific peer for laughs! They actually seem lots more settled today - munching outside together in ear touching distance - we bought them in and they were both chattering to each other - a definite improvement and cuddling in when both sat on dds lap to each other. I weighed them both tonight - between 875 and 900g each weighing the same - DD was concerned Charlie was breathing fast though i didn't notice this as much - Charlie was 750-800g mid summer so im mildly conerned of her weight gain call it paranoia as thats the way her sister went - dd keeps saying her hair is stuck up- still scoffing lots so I have her on 4 hrly obs. When she is eating im noticing like a jaw squeak - think will have to have at vet as a precaution - could be something or nothing.

I love scruffy pigs hair - I was tempted to call sooty scruffy as same hair doo but dd said it was mean

Scruffy is his alias - his real name is not much better . His hair is mad. My DDs try to style it but nothing works.

Just thought I would update - for the last two weeks my two have really started to be friends, I have took all the enclosure away now from around the pig shed and charlie has took sooty on regular llittle tours free ranging around the garden, charlie seems to have put on some weight as well and has certainly found her squeak again and they are in the routine of both going into the sleeping hutch together at lights out time - if only my dc were as well behaved