[Gpdd] [BEHAVIOUR] Non-wheeking piggies!

Debbie Jones pals4pets at cheerful.com
Mon Nov 24 04:05:14 EST 2008


Trying to cut a long story short, I acquired Scoot about 18 months ago as
a companion for Zebra, but Scoot bullied Zebra so they were separated.
Then in the summer I acquired Soturi as a companion for Scoot, but Scoot
bullied Soturi so they were separated, and later in the summer I aquired
Minstrel as a companion for Soturi, but Soturi ran for his life whenever
Minstrel approached him, then when I brought them in for the winter there
were several real fights and Soturi got bitten several times, so they
were separated! So now their 3 cages are all up against one another, so
they can touch noses but not bite one another. They seem to communicate
amongst themselves, a lot of rumblestrutting but also some chatter (not
of teeth!) and nose touching. BUT ... they never wheek at me when I enter
the room!! Until Scrabble went to the Bridge, they had always been within
sight and sound of a wheeking piggie - first Zebra, then Scrabble. These
two, like my 5 remaining SCAMP girls, always wheeked when anyone entered
their room, just in case there was food involved! Actually, the girls
wheek even if someone, or another animal, goes near the door of their
room, or if they hear my voice, or a voice on the TV that sounds like
me!! And in spite of what they may tell you, they are well fed piggies,
with salad morning and evening and a permanent supply of hay and mixed
pellets (all colouring-free, and there is some Cavies Cuisine mixed in
there, although I can't afford to feed this exclusively, as it is very
expensive to import to France). In the past, I have found that, whenever
a "chief wheeker" from a group went to The Bridge, another piggie would
take up that responsibility. But the 3 boys - no, not a sound. In fact,
Minstrel and Scoot dive for cover as soon as I enter the room, even at
mealtimes, and I am loathe to remove their little houses, although I have
seen this advised. In the wild piggies live in burrows, I would consider
it cruel to make them completely exposed in their cages, especially as
there are cats wandering in and out of their room. The cats are not the
problem though - they were wandering in and out when Fidget, Scrabble and
Zebra were in there and it never stopped them wheeking. I have tried
hand-feeding the boys one at a time to "bond" with them better, either on
my lap or through the bars of their cages. They accept this, albeit the
lap bit somewhat reluctantly, but even when they see one of them being
fed before them on my lap, the other two don't wheek! Has anyone else had
piggies that don't wheek? It bothers me, because to me it means they
don't recognise me as their slave, they still view me as a predator! And
as we all know here, that is NOT the natural order of things for
gpdd-ers!! How can I make these 3 lads understand the hierarchy? Debbie,
slave to 8 Dolly Mixtures

"We patronize them for their incompleteness, 
for their tragic fate of having taken a form so far below ourselves. 
And therein we err, and greatly err. 
For the animal shall not be measured by man. 
In a world older and more complete than ours 
they move finished and complete, gifted 
with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, 
living by voices we shall never hear. 
They are not brethren, they are not underlings; 
they are other nations, caught with ourselves 
in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners 
of the splendour and travail of the earth". 
Henry Beston

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