Another Bonding Boars Question....

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lindsecm

lindsecm

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We've got two fairly young boars one 3 months and the other is 5 weeks old. We'd like to bond them together, and my mom asked the vet about it and she said that "supervised play time" for a few weeks and then let them live together.

We let them play together yesterday on the floor with towels and a water bottle ready and it went fairly well - a lot of low rumbling, attempts to mount, but all in all they seemed to get along. There was no biting or lunging. They both seemed to "popcorn" but I wasn't sure if this is what Julie referred to in the Sticky as some sort of "kicking out"?

Concerns

#1 - Are their ages too close together to have a bond?
#2 - The 5 girls live in a separate room, so is that a problem?
#3 - Is taking them apart and putting them together (aka "supervised play time") detrimental to their potential bonding? (as I am suspecting)
 
I'm not great with bonding advice but from my experience i feel its best to put them together and if all if going well then keep them together. I dont personally feel play time help, i feel if they get on leave them to see what happens. The age i cannot see a problem with at all and the girls in seprate room shouldnt cause any bother. My girls are in the same room as my boars and its never caused an argument. x
 
Would say leave them together all the time as long as they have lots of space and a couple of hidey holes. Keep separating them means a new start really, so as long as they are not really cross with each other keep them together .One will be more dominant but they should sort it out between them.
 
That is what I thought...that every time we took them apart, it would be like starting all over again!

I think we're going to attempt later on to put them together again.

How long should we do the "introduction" before settling in a cage?
 
Just until your confertable really. When i introduced Lincoln and Kenickie i let them play for about and hour to tire them out then put them in a clean cage. Make sure you have two of everything though as the moment they find theres one of somthing they will fight over it and its will become bother there favourite lol. Good luck x
 
Thanks! We've got two of everything already as they have been living separately.

Yesterday they both got tired I guess and layed down next to each other. And I don't know if they were spraying each other or what, but I wanted to gag. :red :))
 
lol i had the same problem. They stunk when i introduced them. Does take a few days to get rid of. What i did when i introduced them is i bathed them together. That way they kind of protect eachother as there both in a not so great situation and also both smell better lol. worked for my piggies x
 
I've read that 5 weeks is too young to give a bath, so I'm not sure if that is an option for me. :{ Believe me, I wanted to throw him in the tub yesterday! :))
 
Welcome to the world of unmitigated testosterone! If you hadn't smelled it, you wouldn't believe how much one little bundle can produce!

It usually settles down when they settle together (at least that is what a neutered boar in girlie paradise does). Most of it is in the pee, which they spray liberally around. If it gets too much for you, give Rory a bath with just a very little shampoo.

But from what you are describing, they seem to get along really fine, so I don't think a neutralising bath will be necessary for them to accept each other. It's more for your long suffering nostrils! Don't forget that for guinea pigs, smell is a much more important sense and that you are eradicating vital information/bonding info. Stinking together is a tribal "we"!
 
Thanks Wiebke! I am literally cracking up at the fact that you knew it was little Rory I was referring to! :p :))

He was happy to have contact with another piggy, I think. They have both been in the TV room talking to each other ever since Rory was separated from Molly (so 4 weeks now!). He doesn't smell as bad today at all, but I imagine that'll change when they get back together later (if we're able to get to it today). I have to wait for my Mom to come over so I can have another set of hands and eyes to make sure everything is going well.
 
I wish you the best of luck - and get some nose plugs!

It was not that hard a guess for me, was it? Keep us posted!
 
No, I guess not! But its still funny! :))

I'm really hoping it works out. Oh boy this is going to be fun for a few days! rolleyes

The funny thing is that they are both asleep in their respective cages and neither of them is in a hut...they're sleeping in paper bags! Silly boys!
 
My MInx slept on top of the hut at first, and it took two weeks before Mischief was allowed up there! Hilarious to watch!

I still love little Rory; he's such a character and must be so desparate for a friend!
 
It's so funny when they find other uses for items that what they are intended for! I can't believe Minx would sleep on top of a hut :)) must've been very crafty with keeping from falling off! :))

Rory talks to me ALL night! :)) I bring him into my room at night so he won't make as much ruckus (for my neighbor's sake) so he chats away to me, wanting food of course. :))
 
Minx settled for the night. I've seen her sleeping sideways, but she was about three months old then and we've had her for only a couple of weeks.

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Misuse of toy: Mischief at the same time (ca. two months old, but a lot smaller then yours!)

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(Sorry for taking over your thread, but I thought you might enjoy them!)
 
You're not taking over, don't worry! :))

That is HILARIOUS, especially Mischief! Maybe they get bored of using them so many times the proper way! :p Creative little piggies!
 
#1 - Are their ages too close together to have a bond?
No, although they may challenge each other later on, but then again, they may not! It's so hard to tell and all pigpairs are different! As Lincolnsmommy pointed out, give them two of everything with as much space as possible and that will go a long way to help keep them together.

#2 - The 5 girls live in a separate room, so is that a problem?
Some boar pairs I know of live quite happily close to girls, many don't. I took in a pair last June which had reached adolescence and had fallen out spectacularly once their previous owner bought some females and put them close to the boys. (One year on they are nearly re-bonded!) Again, it depends on the pigs.

#3 - Is taking them apart and putting them together (aka "supervised play time") detrimental to their potential bonding? (as I am suspecting)
A lot of people recommend this, however when I tried it this way with Boomer and Xander they got on fabulously at once. We left them for an hour then put them back in their separate C&Cs (next to each other with a mesh divide). When we tried putting them together again next time, all hell broke loose! As long as you make all intros neutral and then move them into a neutral home, you should stand a better chance :)

These answers are purely based on my own experiences, we've only ever had boars.

It sounds like your boys are doing beautifully with whatever you are doing at the moment, the chasing and mounting will die down but may take days, weeks or even longer if you are really unlucky! Poor you, all that boar smell :)>>>
 
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Thank you so much! Your sticky on boars really got me through it, or I probably would have flipped out!

Waiting on my Mom, may be tomorrow before we get them back together. I don't really feel comfortable trying to do it again on my own! :... Sneaky little Rory figured out how to escape so, yeah! :))
 
You're welcome, I'm just glad it helped!

It's not law though, just my own personal experience of the wonderful and wacky world of boypigs!
Good luck with the bonding.
 
*update*

We put the fellas together on newspaper and just using our bodies and some older fleece blankets as barriers to keep them contained.

There was no humping today. More spraying of the urine (but it wasn't nearly as gag-inducing as before!). A lot of one-sided rumbling from Shotzie (the older boar), a lot of nose touching, a lot of "popcorning".

Toward the end when they began settling down, Shotzie started grooming Rory. They found some folds in the old fleece and made a little pouch/cave and made themselves at home. We put them back into a clean cage with two water bottles, two food bowls, two huts, two bendy log things and some lettuce.

Since putting them back in there has been minimal rumbling from Shotzie and I suspect they may be cuddled up together later (but not holding my breath on that :p ).
 
That sounds really promising and incredibly cute! I love watching them groom each others ears, it's a lovely process.
 
I can't find my camera at the moment! I wanted to get a few snapshots to put up! :0 :))

They have been sleeping in the bigger of the two huts together and rumbling back and forth at each other, but no physical aggressiveness. I did notice earlier that Shotzie, the older one was chasing little Rory around and then Rory would turn around and tell him off, then they would carry on like normal piggies.

I guess I should expect a lot of that the next few days or so....?

I do have them in my room so I can keep an eye on them at night.
 
'Fraid so, it can go on for what seems forever! Nah, it will settle down, it varies with how long though, could be days or weeks!
 
It takes as long as it takes - but I suspect your bonding to be one of the shorter ones, as they're already quite affectionate with each other.
 
They woke me up this morning at 4AM and again at 6AM (when I decided to get on the couch!) Shotzie was rumbling and chasing Rory. Then Rory would try to mount Shotz rolleyes . Seems like they're fine until one of them realizes they kind of like each other and then its on again! :)) But still no real agressiveness, so thank goodness for that!
 
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