Mensis Cage
New Born Pup
So, we have a neutered boar and a sow who have been living side by side for close to a month now until our boar was ready after his neutering. As you'd expect they've seemed interested in each through the bars, so we had hopes they would get on well in person.
When it came to bonding day, we set up an appropriate enclosed area, and it seemed to go well. No aggression, some mild, almost half hearted, mounting from our boy (Chestnut) and lots of rumbling. Our girl (Kinder) enjoyed following him around and seemed to respond well to the rumbling.
After a few hours we decided to try them in their cage which we set up to accommodate them. Initially it seemed fine, they appeared to enjoy having a huge cage to explore, and generally tolerated each other, and even slept near each other at one point. After having their veg for dinner however we started to notice some chattering from our girl, or at least we thought it was her who initiated it. After backing off a couple of times, this escalated with our girl lunging at him, followed by more aggravated chattering. Not too long after it happened again. At this point we decided to separate them again as we were concerned it was going to become violent.
The next day we gave them a full run on the living room floor. They were out for 2 hours and there appeared to be no issues.
The following day we re-tried the initial bonding routine from the first day in a separate, cleaned area. As is usual it began with popcorning from them both, rumbling from boar, with her following after him when he was doing it, and a small amount of mounting from Chestnut, which again seemed half hearted. They ate together for a small while, but within perhaps half an hour or so, he seemed to get annoyed at her sniffing his backside, and seemed to mill about eating, and eventually nibbling the bars to get out. She seemed to want to get under his chin and on a couple of occasions she was allowed to nibble his ear for a little bit. After though it eventually fell into the pattern of him making irritated sounding whines when she was too close, and both chattering when they came face to face.
After a short break to relieve tensions we put them both back in together. It was mostly the same pattern but happening quicker. She did lie down next to him at one point in the corner, and while he looked a bit scared and bemused, he actually lied down next to her for 5 minutes or so.
Anyway, fast forward, after about 3 hours of this pattern and not much progress, she eventually lunged at him, and this time she appeared to have some of his fur in her mouth. He didn't seem especially traumatised by this, however we agreed to end the session and put them back in their cage separately.
From observation it just appears our boy isn't interested in our girl. He'll tolerate her as long as she's not got her nose in his bottom or her face close to his, and his annoyance or fear will eventually lead her to lunge at him. She appears to like him a lot though which is a shame. When we took him out for a break she was running around looking for him and squeaking, so she appeared to want him back. It's possible we're just not understanding the behaviours and the issue isn't with him but with her, but we don't know how to proceed now.
As it's a long post I'll bullet point the key elements.
Chestnut:
- Rumbles and struts around, though generally not in sow's direction. This happens less frequently as more time spent together, and often involves him rumbling toward the bars and biting them as though he wants to leave the enclosure.
- Only mounts 2 or 3 times on initially being put together, but he doesn't appear very committed to it.
- Generally does not appear to want to interact with her. May follow her if she wanders off somewhere.
- However, when separated by bars in their cage he does not leave her side, though I suppose this could be territorial behaviour.
- Eventually starts making high pitched whines when she is too close to his face or if she is sniffing his bottom.
- Has allowed her to groom him and nibble his ear on two or three occasions.
- Has laid down next to her when she laid down next to him (after about 5 minutes of looking bemused).
- May be worth mentioning that his neutering left him in noticeable pain for a few days, I don't know if that could be related to the sensitivity around his back end.
Kinder:
- Will follow him around, sniff his backside and try to get under his chin. Has groomed and nibbled his ear on occasion which was allowed.
- Will allow herself to be mounted, but the event is so short it's hard to know how she would react if he actually commited to it.
- Eventually lunges after Chestnut becomes scared / annoyed and is chattery / whiney.
- We think she may have become withdrawn in her side of the cage lately, as she seems to have lost some weight. Though she seems somewhat better the last 24 hours after the last bonding attempt and we swapped the sides of the cage they're on. This may not last though.
It's such a shame as we got him neutered so he could have a happy and easy life with lots of girls, but at this rate we're not sure if he'll even accept a girl. He was originally paired with a 4 year old boy when he was about 6 weeks old, but unfortunately he died during surgery not too long ago, so Chestnut was on his own briefly before being put in a separated cage with Kinder. He never seemed especially bonded with our older pig but there wasn't any overt problems.
Kinder seems a bit more withdrawn on her side lately, she's lost some weight and squeaks less often when we give them hay, although she seems somewhat better after we swapped their sides. For this reason however, we are considering getting her a baby girl as a friend, as we're not sure she can be bonded with Chestnut. Chestnut seems quite happy having his own side and is still gaining weight, but we don't want to consign him to a life in his own so we're at a loss as to what's best.
Do you think there's any chance of them becoming bonded, or is it time we gave up and looked for other solutions?
When it came to bonding day, we set up an appropriate enclosed area, and it seemed to go well. No aggression, some mild, almost half hearted, mounting from our boy (Chestnut) and lots of rumbling. Our girl (Kinder) enjoyed following him around and seemed to respond well to the rumbling.
After a few hours we decided to try them in their cage which we set up to accommodate them. Initially it seemed fine, they appeared to enjoy having a huge cage to explore, and generally tolerated each other, and even slept near each other at one point. After having their veg for dinner however we started to notice some chattering from our girl, or at least we thought it was her who initiated it. After backing off a couple of times, this escalated with our girl lunging at him, followed by more aggravated chattering. Not too long after it happened again. At this point we decided to separate them again as we were concerned it was going to become violent.
The next day we gave them a full run on the living room floor. They were out for 2 hours and there appeared to be no issues.
The following day we re-tried the initial bonding routine from the first day in a separate, cleaned area. As is usual it began with popcorning from them both, rumbling from boar, with her following after him when he was doing it, and a small amount of mounting from Chestnut, which again seemed half hearted. They ate together for a small while, but within perhaps half an hour or so, he seemed to get annoyed at her sniffing his backside, and seemed to mill about eating, and eventually nibbling the bars to get out. She seemed to want to get under his chin and on a couple of occasions she was allowed to nibble his ear for a little bit. After though it eventually fell into the pattern of him making irritated sounding whines when she was too close, and both chattering when they came face to face.
After a short break to relieve tensions we put them both back in together. It was mostly the same pattern but happening quicker. She did lie down next to him at one point in the corner, and while he looked a bit scared and bemused, he actually lied down next to her for 5 minutes or so.
Anyway, fast forward, after about 3 hours of this pattern and not much progress, she eventually lunged at him, and this time she appeared to have some of his fur in her mouth. He didn't seem especially traumatised by this, however we agreed to end the session and put them back in their cage separately.
From observation it just appears our boy isn't interested in our girl. He'll tolerate her as long as she's not got her nose in his bottom or her face close to his, and his annoyance or fear will eventually lead her to lunge at him. She appears to like him a lot though which is a shame. When we took him out for a break she was running around looking for him and squeaking, so she appeared to want him back. It's possible we're just not understanding the behaviours and the issue isn't with him but with her, but we don't know how to proceed now.
As it's a long post I'll bullet point the key elements.
Chestnut:
- Rumbles and struts around, though generally not in sow's direction. This happens less frequently as more time spent together, and often involves him rumbling toward the bars and biting them as though he wants to leave the enclosure.
- Only mounts 2 or 3 times on initially being put together, but he doesn't appear very committed to it.
- Generally does not appear to want to interact with her. May follow her if she wanders off somewhere.
- However, when separated by bars in their cage he does not leave her side, though I suppose this could be territorial behaviour.
- Eventually starts making high pitched whines when she is too close to his face or if she is sniffing his bottom.
- Has allowed her to groom him and nibble his ear on two or three occasions.
- Has laid down next to her when she laid down next to him (after about 5 minutes of looking bemused).
- May be worth mentioning that his neutering left him in noticeable pain for a few days, I don't know if that could be related to the sensitivity around his back end.
Kinder:
- Will follow him around, sniff his backside and try to get under his chin. Has groomed and nibbled his ear on occasion which was allowed.
- Will allow herself to be mounted, but the event is so short it's hard to know how she would react if he actually commited to it.
- Eventually lunges after Chestnut becomes scared / annoyed and is chattery / whiney.
- We think she may have become withdrawn in her side of the cage lately, as she seems to have lost some weight. Though she seems somewhat better the last 24 hours after the last bonding attempt and we swapped the sides of the cage they're on. This may not last though.
It's such a shame as we got him neutered so he could have a happy and easy life with lots of girls, but at this rate we're not sure if he'll even accept a girl. He was originally paired with a 4 year old boy when he was about 6 weeks old, but unfortunately he died during surgery not too long ago, so Chestnut was on his own briefly before being put in a separated cage with Kinder. He never seemed especially bonded with our older pig but there wasn't any overt problems.
Kinder seems a bit more withdrawn on her side lately, she's lost some weight and squeaks less often when we give them hay, although she seems somewhat better after we swapped their sides. For this reason however, we are considering getting her a baby girl as a friend, as we're not sure she can be bonded with Chestnut. Chestnut seems quite happy having his own side and is still gaining weight, but we don't want to consign him to a life in his own so we're at a loss as to what's best.
Do you think there's any chance of them becoming bonded, or is it time we gave up and looked for other solutions?
The girls are happy together playing Merry Widows!