New member of the SFA family

[FernieB]

Poor Gingerpig's period of solitude since losing Scruffypig at New Year has finally come to an end. He has met and approved a lovely sow and she's now moved in with him. Things were a little tense yesterday when they had their first big run round together and Ginger was a bit keener on Madam than she was on him, but he soon learnt that 'no' means 'no' and they seem quite happy together now (no bloods been shed and ears are intact). Fingers crossed it stays that way. She's spent the morning happily exploring the cage with Gingerpig following her like a lovesick puppy. She's already implemented new house rules - 'no going in an igloo if she wants to be in there' and 'ladies first to food'.

Pigtures will follow once she calms down and is less skittish about being caught.

Awwwwwwwww Welcome to SFA (She'll need a MN NN too)

She's definately setting the Ground Rules then that she's First,Last and Anything Left Over Is Hers.

She'll be confused, changing houses, meeting her new beau.
And he'll be confused like it takes much to confuse a boar because his brain tells him Go 4 It though his 'nads have long since gone before him.

The Range had some Poncey Hay with Rosepetals (for Valentines obvs), I can just imagine Berts face "What Fresh Hell is this then, Mother ", but you could find some nice little herby frondy things to pay Cupid with.

BTW- is she arranging for the Rescue to come and ship Current Bun out?
She sounds like a No Nonsense Piggie

Pigtures or at least a detailed description of colour/coat type/eye colour and claw colour

Madampig is her MN name. She's a right little madam. In the last five minutes she has swiped a piece of apple and a particularly leafy bit of celery right out of Gingerpigs mouth, despite having her own portions. Poor boy may be regretting this relationship. Valentines Day will probs not be celebrated at this rate.

Current Bun has yet to meet her face to face, although he has glared at her from his corner. She is ignoring him.

Gingerpig is not sure whether to try being all Alphapig or soppy about her. I went in to feed them earlier and she hid behind him in an igloo, so he was being proudly protective. Last night when they met there was some definitely ungentlepigly behaviour and I had to question the job Scruffy did bringing up Ginger. I'm just keeping fingers crossed they continue okay together, it's still early days. Current Bun is probably crossing his paws that they both leave

Promise I'll supply pigtures as soon as she sits still somewhere other than a tunnel. In the meantime, she's smooth with pink claws (yippee) and a black face with a white body.

Managed to contain her long enough for a quick snap!

How lovely they look 💞
Does madam have a tiny patch of ginger on her shoulder?

She does East. Just to get Gingerpig on side.

She is gorgeous (I'd call her 'Badger' if she was mine)

I bought some Burgess Excel Nuggets with Blackcurrant & Oregano today, its like tiny droppings but the Piggies on the bag photo are a close dupe for Gingerpig&Madampig

Mine won't eat the blackcurrant and oregano ones.
However I was cheeky, when I first saw them I thought mmmmmm they sound nice, but then further thought if I buy a big bag they'll ignore them. So wrote to Burgess asking for a sample.
Small bag arrived, opened nuggets placed in bowl and piggies promptly went on hunger strike
Mint ones are the way to go according to EastMids pigs

Arse- I bought two bags, I didn't actually notice they were different till I saw the shape had changed.
I did buy something blackcurrant cubelike when we had GP1/GP2. They declared them inedible but they did smell like cats' pee (these pellets don'r thankfully)

Prepares to disguise pellets with gin if they don't guzzle them.

Gingerpig eats selective nuggets. Madampig eats burgess excel. I've had to buy some burgess specially to mix in the bowl. Gingerpig has decided he likes them best and I caught Madam chowing down on the selective!

Aww Fernie she's lovely. Gorgeous little face. Sounds like she knows her own mind too.

Our ginger pig's wifey was (in fact is!) something of a little madam too. One time, our Ginger was calmly munching on a lettuce leaf when agouti girl hurtled over, realised there were snacks in the offing, jumped onto his back, put her paws on his head, reached down between his ears, nicked the leaf deftly out of his mouth, flicked it up and away and was back in an igloo with it before Ginger had even realised what had happened

Your two make a lovely looking couple. Is madam pig a similar age to Gingerpig?

Awww! It's always nice to see a new piggy on here. She's gorgeous.

Madampig met Currentbun last night. He sniffed her nicely and she jumped straight past him and went to stake her claim on his new box. He'll be phoning the rescue himself this morning

So , a week on (or a wheek on ) how are they settling in? Is MadamPig the Alpha now?

Its fun finding out their favourite foods (and the ones they'll turn their tiny snouts up at too)
My new girls took a while but now they love sweetcorn. (The pigs like the leafy ones when I get get them)
And they seem to like the new Burgess - or they're just better at hiding it round the Pighouse.

Hint Hint

Madampig has really settled in. Gingerpig has taught her about the fridge and now she wheeks too when she hears it opening. He's also taught her to 'put herself away' once kitchen playtime is over - so she follows him into their tray to be carried to their cage. She's taught him to hate tomatoes which were once his favourite and he's got her hooked on celery.

She's a lot less skittish now and doesn't always hide when we go past. Gingerpig took her to the vet last week to be registered and weighed. Madampig was a model patient and sat quietly during her examination and was very still on the scales. Unlike her husband who tried to turn off the computer screen (he could reach with his nose) and fought the vet when she attempted to check his teeth. He was very pleased to be told he was a healthy weight as he'd been a bit concerned about the size of his rump.

Madam is definitely the boss and Ginger is her protector. She's hides behind him if she's nervous and he runs to find her if she wheeks. It's very sweet. Sometimes Ginger just rumblestruts the perimeter of their run/cage. We think he's warding off predators, although I'm not sure what he thinks will attack in the kitchen - it definitely doesn't deter Current Bun who's taken to staging quick raids on their food bowl when they're out playing. Apparently pig nuggets are nicer.

I'm finding it strange adjusting to a female pet - I still wander into the kitchen first thing and say 'morning lads'! Also I was prepared for the rivers of pee that I'd heard sows produce, but she's not been too bad so far. Judging by the cleaning out I've done recently, it was Scruffy who produced the rivers.

I'll try for more photos tomorrow. She's camera shy and does run away whenever she suspects a photo opportunity.

She still won't really pose for photos. I've managed a snap of their kitchen playtime set up. I currently have a large supply of boxes and arrange them in various ways. If they really try they can spend an entire afternoon wandering round the boxes without seeing each other at all.

Slight action photo of Madam emerging from a tunnel. She's so girly - she spends ages in the pink box.

I love your kitchen set up Fernie!

Do they stay on their fleece or wander off if? Not sure I'd trust our pigs to stay put. Ours have floor time with one of those indoor pop up run things and I put various tunnels and hay bag things in it but quite often they just find one shelter and sit in it. So lazy

MadamPig and GingerPig look very cute together.