A New Pig For The Herd

[Kathryne]

Hi all!

I have two wonderful 2 year old bonded boars, but for the last few months they’ve become very inactive and lazy. They have a 2x4 c&c cage, and have daily floor time, so plenty of room to run around if they wanted to. I’ve tried new toys and things to chew on, but it doesn’t seem to work.

I’ve been thinking about adopting a younger pig, in the hopes that this will liven them up again and make them more active and excitable, but am unsure as to which gender would be best. I would love to have two sows, but as I don’t have room to extend the cage right now, it’s only suited to one more piggie. If I adopt a sow (both boars are neutered), would this cause friction between the boys? If I adopt another boar, I’d be concerned about dominance issues down the line.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about which gender you think would be best - or any advice to make them more active again!

Thanks!

 

[Reenie]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you can't really expand on a pair of boars. Another boar will cause serious dominance issues and almost guaranteed serious fall out, and even one female would cause them to fight over her. If they're elderly gentlemen, they are probably just taking their lives slowly now, or you could get them checked in case they have arthritis or some other age related condition which is making moving about painful or uncomfortable. It can be addressed with painkillers which may make life easier for them if this is an issue. Since they are both the same though, I would suspect that they are just slowing down. Another forum member had a single older female after her cagemate passed, and paired her with a young sow. When they posted pics you could clearly see the difference in how quickly the young one moved, while the older piggy toddled along trying to keep up.

 

[piggieminder]

It does sound like your boars have gone past the excitable teenage young adult stage and are chilling more. I have a pairs of 3.5 year olds, 18 months and 10 months, 6 months and 3 months and the differences in activity in each cage are very noticeable. The 3.5 year olds just eat and sleep.

 

[Reenie]

Actually yes. That is so noticeable. I've even commented on it on my signature - Groucho, Chicco and Little Dude (around 1 year) I commented - Nutters Three, and Bobby and Bailey (no idea of their age, but they are quite bony across the shoulders so I think they are a good age) - We're Sleeping.

 

[Kathryne]

Thank you both! It’s good to know this is normal - these are my first piggies so I thought it would take a little while longer for them to reach the lazy stage. I won’t bother them by adding another pig as they are really content with each other