[Gpdd] CARE

[MascaraS23 at aol.com]

>From what I understand some pigs just will never get on. It takes a lot of 
patience and persistence when introducing piggies to each other and I think it 
is important to really give it all that - keep trying unless you just feel you 
have exhausted the possibilities/avenues of introduction.  With Neezle & 
Tissey what I did was built a cage out of cubes and for about three weeks I had it 
partitioned so that they could see eachother, press there bodies up to one 
another, rumble strut, etc. After the first week I began trying to introduce them 
via piggy playtime. I basically just let them out in a room that I had pig 
proofed (no electrical cords within reach please)  and I had huge mounds of hay 
in various locations, lots of hiding places to escape to like those cardboard 
tunnels which I believe are called Chubbs..I made tents for them by cable 
tieing two grids together and then covering it with a pillow case. I didnt leave 
the oom but I also didnt interfere unless things seemed to be going really 
poorly. It took a couple of weeks to get them to be civil. Finally it worked: I 
had the time to sit about 8 hours with them and finally they cosiied up 
together. When I put them back in the cage (a totally "new" cage - revamped, etc) I 
still left one grid going down the center as a partial petition and I put piles 
of hay all around it. They each had a tent, a food dish and their own water 
bottle(they actually still have all this - just makes for less competition)  - 
after a while I didnt need the partition anymore. The secret I think is to do 
the introduction slowly and always have lots of hay around as a distraction. If 
they are busy munching and popcorning they will be less inclined to get 
annoyed with one another. Also it is very important that they have a large space 
and that each pig has a place it can go to get time away from the other pig. 
Good luck to you.