Advice on aggressive behaviour

[npw1982]

Hi guys,

Back in July we got a 7 month old boar from an animal sanctuary, he had arrived at the sanctuary with 7 or so sows (most of whom were pregnant!). We had intended to get him a companion and the sanctuary advised that we wait until some of the females had given birth and then have one of the babies to introduce with him. He was quite quiet at first but settled in ok, we went back about 8 weeks ago to pick up the second boar (his son), who was 7/8 weeks old at that point. We introduced them and it all went very well, they got along swimmingly and the older boar came out of his shell a lot more with the younger pig around, he rumbles at him occasionally and butts him out of the way sometimes but nothing I wouldn't describe as normal behavior. They live together indoors and have a hutch and a large-ish (1m x 1m) space to run around in that they can access whenever they like.

However over the weekend the older boar has started acting a lot more aggressively to the younger one, the rumbling is a lot louder and has some teeth chattering added to it (he sounds more aggressive), plus he has started chasing him round to try and get at him (presumably for a bit of a scrap!).

As such we have separated them (but kept them both in their little compound still, where they can see each other) and have only let them in together whilst supervised. The younger boar isn't scared and still tries to play with the older one, but we are a bit worried about having them back in together as the older one seems to go for him a bit when unattended.

So I have a few questions...

A) Is it best to leave them separated for the time being?

B) I'm guessing that it may be something to do with the younger one getting older/bigger and maybe the older one reasserting his dominance. Is this likely to pass at all?

C) Any ideas on how to proceed? As I say, up until this point they've been getting on really well.

Sorry about the rambling explanation, and apologies if this has already been covered on lots of occasions. Thanks for reading!

 

[Connie]

The general rule with boars is do not seperate untill there is blood. This is because every time you reintroduce they have to establish dominance again, but you wernt to know.

The younger one will now be reaching his hormonal stage, so the older one no longer views him as a baby and needs to make sure little one knows hes the boss.

The behaviour you are witnessing looks awfull to us, but it is perfectly normal for guinea pigs and is absolutly nothing to worry about. Its likely the older one is chasing to attempt to hump the younger one. This is fine. Unless they bite eachother, or the younger piggie is being denied food etc, there is no need to seperate. To make things go smoothly, try to reintroduce after a bath (using the same shampoo on both piggies) and introduce in neuteral terratory. Then clean the cage thoroughly before replacing them. That way nobodys smell is dominant.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949 Here is a thread on boar behaviour to help decide what is normal and what isnt.

HTH

 

[npw1982]

Brilliant, thank you very, very much, will report back on how it goes!

 

[npw1982]

Hi guys,

Thanks again for the advice, we shampooed both of them and thoroughly cleaned out their area with pig disinfectant. Reintroduced them and they were fine together whilst we were around, so we left them alone for a while and about half an hour later heard an unholy racket! The big one had got a tuft of hair out the little one and cut him a bit on his rump. Again we got them out together and they were fine, little one not scared of him or anything, put them back in and same thing happened again, another tuft! Really tried to let them get on with it but didn't want to risk leaving them over night when he had cut him once. So shut the big one in the hutch with the little one outside, probably the wrong thing to have done i'm guessing?

 

[Connie]

Unfortunatly once blood has been drawn it is very unlikely they will go back together happily. If I could just ask a few questions,

What size is the hutch they share?

Where abouts in the uk are you?

Are you piggies outside?

These will help me and others advise further.

Do you perhaps have a cat carrier or similar to pop the little on in for now? Just its awfull cold (if they are outside)

 

[npw1982]

Hi Connie,

No they are both inside the house (indoor pigs!), they have a hutch which i'd guess is about 40/50cm x 90/100cm, but the hutch is in an enclosed area (again indoors) with lots of toys and other houses and things. The hutch is left open so they can get into that area whenever they like. That space is about 1m x 1m.

All that we have done to keep them apart at the moment is shut the hutch door (with the big one inside), they are still in the same area and can see/chat to each other. The little one is just living in one of the houses in the open bit.

We live in Birmingham, had kind of thought that they might not be able to go back together, at least if they are living close to each other they can still have some company, and play together a bit whilst supervised.

After reading the article about boars behavior, the noises were definitely tending towards those described in the yellow/red sections, lots of loud chattering. Not just the usual warning rumble.

Thanks again!

 

[Connie]

Thats ok. Always happy to help.

I just asked because pet shops are notorious for selling cages/hutches that are too small. The area they were sharing is plenty big enough as long as they are never shut only in the hutch.

What I will suggest, is that you perhaps look into C&C grids. If you could build something big enough with these you could take your boys to a reputable rescue and have them "boar date" (Simply because if divided as it is at the moment, the hutch is not big enough for two male piggies- fine for one though)

Boar dating is a process whereby your male piggy, gets to meet other male piggies to see how they get along. This would mean that you would only have to take home a friend they really liked, and if they stopped getting along the new boy would go back to the rescue. For now, seeing eachother is absolutly fine, however longer term you might want to see about getting them a friend each.