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The Tribe is now a pawball team!

yodelpig

Young Bun
My resolution of sticking to ten guinea pigs hasn't even made it as far as Christmas! :oops:

There is a new, very local guinea pig rescue to me which I am supporting, and one of a job lot of seven boys in mostly not very good (to downright appalling) condition just before Christmas promptly turned out to be the most adorable ginger girl... :love::love::love:

I had to wait until the New Year until all our guests had been and gone and I had the living room back before Tani (from the Welsh word for "fire") could come over and be introduced to the Tribe, which was one of the livelier occasions with a little red rocket running and jumping circles around a very bemused Tribe!!! But all has gone well and Tani is busy settling in now.

Feisty little Tani is extremely skittish and freaky where humans are concerned. Which is probably the reason why she was included in that lot after only one week at that hobby breeder's - good girl; it has got her out of THAT place and a fate of being bred without good care!!! She is already starting to come round quickly each time she has been spooked by nothing, so with the example of the other chilled out pigs, it will be only a matter of time.

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Here is a little video clip of the Tribe from yesterday (please click on the picture to start it).
It is also the first time I have seen Caron plonk right out in the open - so that was a special surprise, too! Caron is making herself very much at home now!!!


And here is dinner time for humans and piggies (video clip):
 
i love her little fuzzy bottom;):love::love::love:

how do they all get on in a big group? we have a trio(1 male 2 girls) and a pair (2 girls) ...the pair have a male but he has to be kept separate as he has teeth problems and we have to monitor his food intake:cry:
so i was thinking i might try and put the pair with the trio:? will it work easier or harder than adding just the one?
 
how do they all get on in a big group? we have a trio(1 male 2 girls) and a pair (2 girls) ...the pair have a male but he has to be kept separate as he has teeth problems and we have to monitor his food intake:cry:
so i was thinking i might try and put the pair with the trio:? will it work easier or harder than adding just the one?

I find adding a couple of piggies easier; that way you don't get any outsiders, especially in small groups - for me, the two + two + neutered boar approach worked better to get me to a group stage. Watch out for the two dominant sows - they will have to sort out the leadership between them unless one pair is much bigger than the other.

I would start with having them next to each other separated by mesh/bars for at least a day or two, so they can suss out the others and get used to their presence. It will take some of the stress out of the introductions on neutral ground proper.

And yes, my group gets on with each other. Not everypig is best friends, but they are and behave as a bonded group and tolerate/support each other. I have one girl with permanently blocked tear ducts and one with double cataracts, and both are getting taken care of by their mates. They really exhibit herd behaviour, and I find it ever so fascinating - what upsets one piggy, upsets the group as a whole; it's a living organism!
 
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Aww they are lovely. :love: I love how they are all eating in a line but then there's just one at the other side. :lol: How big is there pen? Bet it has to be hugeee! :shock: :D
 
:wave: Hello! Love seeing all your piggies-in-a-line pics over on TGPF too :D

We've just had a new addition, a boar called Dude, neutered and hopefully in 4-6 wks he'll be heading up a hareem of 3 wives! ;)
 
Aww they are lovely. :love: I love how they are all eating in a line but then there's just one at the other side. :lol: How big is there pen? Bet it has to be hugeee! :shock: :D

My day time pen is the whole living room! :p I work from home; so the piggies are my company, especially on the boring days... The piggies have their special corners with a plastic underlay and any cables are out of bounds.

There has been a lot of hard work and patience in building up a herd over the last year, especially as many Tribe members are rescues from bad backgrounds. But it is so gratifying to see them finally flourish and it is amazing to witness the integrating power of the group now.

The line up never ceases to crack me up; there is always so much interaction going on. Some days the piggies will line up rpetty nicely (although the perfect line up will be hard to achieve; I usually had about 3 seconds of it once week!), but others it is sheer mayhem! :D
 
She is beautiful, love her markings and tufts! :love: I love your setup and the piggies all getting on together.
 
thanks for the advice:D we have the girls next to the group anyway so hopefully there wouldnt be too many issues..... the pair of girls are quite timid so i reckon that the dominant girl in the trio will be head girl still:lol:
 
Tani is a little firecracker indeed! With patience, she is slowly becoming less nervous with every passing day.

I am so glad to have her; it has spared her a fate of having been bred under less than optimal conditions (to put it politely - I have handled the filthy bags of bones she was handed into rescue with!!!) She has really shown off how relaxed and chilled Caron has become.

And who can withstand a bum like this???

:love:

Thankfully, those boys are flourishing and in the process of looking for homes; a couple already have. And the worst off, a deaf, very partially sighted boy has become a very happy and much fussed over sponsor piggy in my new local rescue.
 
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