Advice on Sow and Boar bonding?

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squeakysmallpaws

squeakysmallpaws

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Hello,

So I've had my boys neutered (I would never recommend anyone do this, after what I've been through) that aside - we're approaching the time now when they can be paired with a female.

One of my lads needs to stay at home and therefore, unfortunately, that means I need to do the 'dating'. He has a heart murmur and with all the stress he has been through recently I won't be putting him in the car anytime soon.

I have a lovely girl for him who has been specially picked out by a rescue who knows my boys and thinks that she will do well with him. At the moment she's keeping him company through a seperated C&C cage.

I need advice on;

How to approach the introductions?
What to expect?
How will I know if they love each other?
How will I know if they hate each other?
How long does an introduction need to be until you place them into their 'forever pen together'? (If they appear to like each other!)

Basically any advice you have!

At the moment I'm just info gathering. I have new correx to build their forever pen - so lots of work still to do yet. Also Manny is still not 100% so this isn't something I'm planning on doing right now. But nothing like being prepared and getting lots of advice so I can be sure their 'wedding ceremony' goes as smoothly as possible, lol.

Thanks
x
 
He will love her the minute he see's her! :)) she on the other hand, may not be too impressed!

Treat it the same as you would any boar/boar bonding...you really have to leave them to it unless they spill blood. But chances are it won't come to that. He will rumble around after her, and she will squeak and run away...in extreme cases she may pee in his face, but they will settle fairly quickly in comparison to boars. And I would be very VERY surprised if they don't accept each other.

Good luck!
 
Usually there is not much of a problem with younger or non-dominant sows not accepting a boar. How enthusiastically depends a lot on where in her estrus cycle a sow is (i.e. how close to a season). The usual rules for intros apply.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562

Generally, you will know pretty quickly whether acceptance has happened (within about 15-20 minutes); most sows will let a boar mount them at least once to show acceptance, but will refuse his further advances if they are not in season; they can get quite vocal. Sows have a special whine to signal "I'm not ready - YET; go away". You can move a pair any time after acceptance has happened. I prefer to wait until the first excitement has died down and they are having a rest. Having a big, flat plate of grass or hay to meet over is usually a good ploy.

First time husboars can become a bit overenthusiastic and lose the "on" switch for their brain for a time while the testosterone is taking over. They will try to mount a sow from any angle, unless they fall asleep completely exhausted. If necessary, have humping toy ready to draw off some fire!

Things are not going so well if there is a lot of teeth chattering, stand offs, flying tackles or actual fights (i.e. high aggressive behaviour). Make sure that there are not hideys or crannies with only one entrance until things have completely settled down. A sow that has been cornered can get aggressive just for the sake of fighting free.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

From my own experiences, it is advisable to stage intros with a new boar either outdoors or in a wipeable space like a bathroom (with an open window), as they can end up in a general pee fest - and testosterone laden boar pee can be amazingly smelly for such a small animal! Boars pee on girls to mark them as "theirs" while sows pee at boys to them - literally - to p*ss off. Please don't bathe them; the shared stink will bond them and things will calm down eventually.

Best of luck!
 
Thanks, what do you do if 'acceptance' doesn't happen? Or is it guaranteed?

As far I understand; a sow that instantly goes for a boar - means it's never going to happen?

A sow who lets the boar hump her - means she's completely fine and they are bonded?

But a sow that hasn't shown acceptance, you should put them back after 20 minutes and try again? How long do you leave between tries?

xx
 
As far I understand; a sow that instantly goes for a boar - means it's never going to happen?
Click to expand...

hmmm not necessarily, she may just be a dominant sow and be pushing him around. I have a neutered boar with a herd of sows, any time I've added new sows I've just left them to it, keeping an eye on them of course. There's normally more problems between the sows than there is between the boar and sow.

I've not had any sows who wouldn't accept a boar, nor any boars who wouldn't accept a sow. But...I do know people who have had problems pairing up sows with boars, and in those cases they have generally just been hen-pecked, rather than any full blown aggression.

He will rumble around after her for a while, and she will kick him off or spin round at him and show her teeth, just because she's telling him she doesn't want to be mounted - all of this is normal, usually he will settle within a day or two, the mounting will become less often and she will get less irate with him. Personally, I would put them together and only remove one if there was blood, rather than putting them together and removing one if they start standing off...as you'll just have to go through the whole process again.
 
Should you bring the girl to the boy or the other way round?

Only, I only have one pair of hands, haha. Do I get the boar and place him in the neutral territory first, or the girl?

So it doesn't matter if there's no mounting within 20 minutes? You just leave them to it for a bit and aslong as there's no blood - you're ok? How will I know if they are ok to go back in their new pen together?

I'm confused.com......lol. I just want to be absolutely sure if I'm attempting this by myself I'm fully prepared. Fully prepared to know what acceptance looks like, and what it means if there's total rejection, and how to handle a sort of so-so response.

I don't want to be in the middle of a bonding session only to run of and start typing away at the same time here! haha.

There's so little information aswell! I'm so surprised. I've been searching around the internet, reading books - and there's barely anything! Loads on boars and boars - but nothing about the right way to introduce a male and female - and surely it must go wrong from time to time?

I also remember reading somewhere ages ago - I think it was something Peter Gurney wrote that boars simply won't attack sows, unless I suppose they are defending themselves? So really it's about watching the sows behaviour, and basically any flying lunges is not good - but other than that leave them to it?

I'm thinking I might just drag my boyfriend down the park, with a pen and do the bonding there, as the piggies have had lots of free range time around my flat - and the places they haven't visited aren't safe, which is why it's out of bounds.

I'm writing a have to hand document for when the time comes 8:) lol
x
 
the post important thing I will say is please don't get yourself worked up and stressed (easy to say I know), the piggies will pick up on it and they will be stressed before you even start.

As for putting them in together I would start with a pen as large as possible, obviously it needs to be neutral but you can do that with white vinegar solution. Put a pile of hay and a pile of veggies in. I would have one piggie in a carrier by the side of the pen and the other in my hands so I can literally put them in a few seconds apart and then just watch and see what happens.

what I will say is splitting them to early and asking for advise is better than splitting them too late and having a fight on your hands. Also it may to be an instant bond but that doesn't mean things won't work.

I am happy to speak to you about it at the weekend.
 
Hi Katherine,

I had a fair few issues when I first bonded Fin with Mabel & Dottie, it might be useful to go through my old threads - most of their story is in one place. Also, there are lots of videos showing their behavior, also the more hairy episodes where a fight may have broken out!

To cut a long story short everything appeared fine to begin with but when I put them in their cage together all hell broke loose. Tufts of hair went flying and Mabel ended up with a cut lip and chin :(

Jenny from Crawley was fantastic and watched my videos and felt it could work so she came down to help me with the bonding...she has some brilliant tips! Firstly, don't put any toys/cosies/tunnels in - the pigs were trying to be territorial over them and they were causing fights. Scatter 3 piles of hay and lots of veg around the pen and keep it neutral - new blankets. Put the pigs in as close together as you can and then have a dustpan to hand! :)) When there are hairy moments (ie, aggressive behaviour escalating) use the dustpan to distract them, they forget what they were doing and start sniffing it and if they continue to be aggressive you can use the dustpan to block them from each other to stop any harm. I did several bonding sessions over months - each time I added them in the pen the behaviour got better quicker and then once they were fine together I slowly started to add cosies etc. This did make their behaviour escalate again but it calmed down quickly as they had already sorted out the pecking order! Then I had to add them to their cage (with no toys) once they were fine in there (over a period of time) I added the toys! It took a long time but it was worth it, they are now a fully bonded trio and Mabel and Fin love each other rolleyes - piggies eh?!

I learnt a ton from this bonding experience and also learnt a lot about my pigs! Mabel is one tough cookie and very highly strung! She still puts Fin in his place every now and again :))

I am more than happy to come and help you with their bonding - I am no expert by far but I think I will be able to tell what is good/bad etc and it's always nice having someone else there to reassure you! Bonding piggies is not for the faint hearted! Plus, I owe you a favour after you bringing home little Rubix ;) x
 
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It doesn't matter which piggy to put in the neutral space first.

Most sows will accept a boar. As long as there are no fights, you leave them be and if necessary give them more time to get to know each other through the bars. Some piggies can take a bit of time to acknowledge the other.
 
I think sometimes we have a tendency to over think and complicated things :) - As long as you're ready to take one of them out (whichever you know best and know wouldn't bite you) and have everything at hand incase of an injury or you need to split them up, then everything will be fine :)

Boar/Sow is much easier than boar/boar, so if you understand boar/boar behaviour - which you must to a certain extent with 2 boars - then you will be fine :)
 
Oh...I also think you'll have it easier than Guinea Pigs <3 - as you're not trying to bond two sows with a boar...the sows already had their hierarchy sorted out (sorry if I've got this the wrong way round)...but that was adding a 3rd into an already organised herd.

With you just adding a sow to a boar, only those two need to sort out dominance, and she should accept him as being in charge...unless she's a particularly dominant sow. He'll be eager for the company :)
 
Ahh that's brilliant everyone, thank you so much. I know the sow I have, Eve, is very very placid and was kept with other piggies without any fuss whatsoever at the rescue. I absolutely implicitly trust the rescue where Eve came from. They know Manny, and me, and my set up. There's no way I would have been given a difficult girlie, and she absolutely isn't, she's just a lovely, purring, big bottomed eating machine! :)) Who is keeping the boys firmly entertained with her antiques of rolling around in her cosie tunnel!

I have been de-briefed and I'm sure there will be no issue at all. But it's fantastic to hear all your feedback and shared experiences. The video's will be awesome too - just gotta find my headset to watch (has anyone else accidentally played a guinea pig video - only to have their piggies set about wheeking like crazy trying to speak to the video piggies?! haha)

All that's left to do, is get in some new fleeces, arrange the kitchen, put a call in to the rescue to verify everything I need to be doing again and make sure I have a dustpan and brush to hand! As luck will have it we have the lovely long Easter weekend - which is the planned date for the intro's. Let's hope love is in the air x)

I shall keep you all posted! Any other advice though post away! It's all helping me increase my knowledge 8:)

x
 
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