[Gpdd] Behavior- Behavior of two new females

[Mary Kathryn DeLodder]

Hello All,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a new piggie owner, and new to
gpdd.  I have two females that I adopted from a gp rescue, where they were
housed with a herd of females.  One is estimated to be around 3, and the
other estimated to be around 1 year old.  When we were choosing them, it was
hard to tell which ones got along best together, since they were all riled
up from us trying to hold them all at some point.  The rescuers said, based
on their past observations, they thought our two girls would get along fine.

They are now going on their second week living with us.  They have a 2 x 4
panel cube & coroplast cage with 1 igloo and one wood hidey house.  One pig
seems to have claimed the igloo and the other the hidey house.  One pig,
Canela, will go over to the other pig, Buttons, when Buttons is in the hidey
house, or sometimes when Buttons is just in the corner.  Buttons will start
to squeal and has a look on her face as if to say "leave me alone."  I'm not
sure if Canela is really doing something to Buttons to be mean or if Buttons
is just being anti-social.  This happens multiple times a day, and they
don't seem to be happy with each other when it happens.  The only time they
seem to get along is when I put veggies in their cage.  I think they both
get so caught up with eating that they forget about anything else.

The other night, my husband and I had them both on our laps while we were
sitting on the couch.  We were sitting side by side, and the pigs were doing
fine.  Canela realized that Buttons was on my husbands lap, so she walked
across to where Buttons was.  Buttons immediately got the "leave me alone"
look on her face and tried to turn away.  Canela started burying her mouth
against Buttons side and rump, and we immediately thought she was biting
her.  I don't know if she was really biting or not, but that was what it
looked like at the time.

Other times, when they are in their cage, Canela will be behind Buttons,
sort of pressing up to Buttons' rump, as if she is either trying to push her
or bite her.  I am not sure if Canela is trying to be friendly, dominant,
playful, or mean.  They don't seem to be inflicting any real harm on each
other, other than maybe annoying each other, but since I am not an
experienced gp observer, I wanted to get some input from others.  Does this
behavior sound normal or should I be worried?

Thanks,
Mary K