Are my boars losing their bond?

D

DebbieT

New Born Pup
Joined
Feb 28, 2025
Messages
3
Reaction score
1
Points
30
Location
Bromsgrove
Hi everyone, I'm really hoping your collective wisdom can help me out.

I adopted a couple of bonded boars from a guinea pig rescue at the start of January. They are approx 2 years old but no definite date of birth for either, nor do I know if they are related.

They were fine for the first week but after that we started to notice more dominant behaviour from the smallest of the two. For a couple of days we had lots of humping, chasing and teeth chattering but never a full fight. The submissive boy didn't lunge back and only squealed and ran away. Watching them together since I've not been 100% convinced they have a happy pairing.

I've been reading all the threads on here that deal with guinea pig behaviours and bonding etc. I've rearranged their cage, there is 2 of everything, they get floor time in a bigger run each day. They seemed to settle down again but last night they had a sudden flair up which ended up with the dominant piggy getting a bleeding cut on his ear. I separated them for 24 hours but kept them near each other.

I've now been trying to rebond them in a neutral pen but I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is positive or negative. There is lots of teeth chattering and hair standing on end (both) and rumble strutting (dominant piggy) and occasional humping. They are both eating the hay but it doesn't seem to have progressed past this. They haven't yet had a sleep and it's been 3 hours now. They will occasionally sniff at each other but then start chattering teeth at each other again and having chin ups. The submissive one puts up with the humping and chasing for a bit then lunges back to put a stop to it alongside lots of squealing.

I don't feel comfortable putting them in their cage together but I also don't want to destabilise their bond further by re-separating.

I don't have the option to have two separate cages next to each other and I hate the thought of having to return them to a rescue if this really is a failed bond. 😢
 
I just went through this with my 2 boars not very long ago. Here are a couple of things I did to try to discourage fighting and encourage peace: First, I used their regular pen, but removed everything, including hay racks, hideys, and all bedding, I stood right by the pen the entire time and every time they would start getting too aggressive ( but before an actual fight), I did something to distract them. I would make a loud noise, toss a small fleece pad toward them, or throw in some of their favorite veggies. I just refused to let them be overly aggressive with each other. I did have a pile of hay in the pen also, so I would rustle that to catch their attention as well. It did take hours. But eventually, they quieted down and started lying down. At that point, I put the fleece liners back in the pen, and their hideys, food bowls, hay racks, and water bottles... two of everything. I stayed close by, but not right by the pen, so I could keep a watch. It seemed to work so I went to bed and first thing in the morning I checked them for bite wounds but there weren't any. It's been a few weeks since and although they irritate each other sometimes, they are basically living peaceable. I hope maybe some of these ideas are helpful... if you haven’t already done all of it. This was my first attempt at bonding any piggies. I am very thankful it turned out well and hope yours does too.
 
@DebbieT.
As it has now been several hours, what did you end up doing?

When piggies move to a new home, they have to reestablish their bond (even if they have always been together). This takes around two weeks. Mostly the go through the dominance and all is well. However in some cases, this period can bring any old or underlying tensions to the surface and cause a bond to potentially become dysfunctional.
The recommendation about that to do on a potential dysfunctional bond is for them to be apart (but side by side) for several days to allow them to settle down.
You then need to reintroduce them somewhere totally neutral - You cannot use their cage.
Their time apart and then Being in neutral territory allows them to make up their minds about each and often their answer once they are in neutral becomes clear. It either goes well (there will still be normal dominance) and after several hours they can go back to their joint cage (once it has been thoroughly cleaned out); or there is still tensions (potential fights) and sadly their bond is over and they have to go back to separate cages permanently.
Dominance does have a scale from mild and normal to warning signs. I have added some guides in below which explain everything further and to allow you to assess what behaviours you are seeing and where things are on that scale.

A successful bond comes down to character compatibility. You can’t make piggies have it and you cannot stop a bond breaking down or fight due to incompatibility occurring.
@CavyMom58 - your piggies bond worked out because they wanted it to.
Dominance is something all piggies have to go through to have and maintain a functioning hierarchy.
You should not distract them from dominance as it is an essential part of how their society functions and will always see dominance throughout life.
If aggression is going to occur then it will and that is a clear sign they do not have compatibility and a functioning bond. Distracting them from fighting (of course I don’t mean you actually want a fight) but if there is such tension between piggies that they are on the edge of a fight then those piggies shouldn’t be together.

Do also note that we do not recommend the use of food bowls or hay racks due to their use removing natural foraging and mental stimulation.

Wiebke

Thread 'Bonds In Trouble'

1 Causes for bonds to fall apart
2 Bonds in Crisis
- What are the signs of a dysfunctional bond?
- Bullying
- How can I test whether a bond is no longer working?
3 Failed bonds and what next?
- What to do if my piggies have had a major fight?
- When rebonding doesn't work out


1 Causes for bonds to fall apart

Every fall-out has of course its own...
  • Like
boureki

Thread 'Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs'

1 List of dominance behaviours in ascending order of aggression
2 What may cause this type of behaviour in boars?
3 When do you see these behaviours in sows?
4 What can trigger fall-outs?
5 Further helpful guide links


I thought it may be handy to have a sticky on typical dominance behaviours for a reference - hopefully it may help humans understand guinea pigs and their behaviour a bit more and hopefully prevent some avoidable problems!


1 List of dominance behaviours...
  • Like
Wiebke

Thread 'Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?'

1 The hormonal teenage months
- What are the most difficult times?
- What are your boars' chances of making it together?
- What can help to boost your boys' chances?
- What does NOT work?
2 Fighting, bullying and when to separate
- What are the signs of a dysfunctional bond?
- How can I test whether a bond is no longer working?
- What to do if your boars had a bloody fight?
3 Life after...
  • Like
 
Thank you for your replies. I've read through those threads multiple times in the past 8 weeks as I've been seeing a lot of this dominance behaviour and trying to reassure myself that all was well but I'm starting to feel that this is not the case.

They had spent 4 hours in the bonding pen in a neutral area and some of the behaviour had begun to settle so I put them back into their clean cage overnight but without their usual hideys as they only have one exit. They had some tunnels and bridges and plenty of hay. They went back to constant teeth chattering and chasing. The dominant tends to keep the submissive one confined to a certain corner. They did eventually settle down for a nap and by 11:30pm I was needing to go to bed. I didn't hear any fights overnight but when I reappeared in the morning they were back to teeth chattering, fluffed up fur and the dominant one was chasing the other around the cage. They have settled again now I've scattered their food and topped up their hay. I can't see any injuries but I'll check them thoroughly went I get them out for floor time.

My question is, should that be in two side by side pens rather than one larger one and should I give them a longer cooling off period?..... As I was typing this they went back to teeth chattering etc and then into a fur ball fight after lunging at each other so I've put them in seperate pens. I can't see any injuries thankfully.

Should I get either of them checked by a vet incase this aggression is caused by something else? They've both been putting weight on and no signs of pain but I'd have thought 8 weeks in a new home we'd hopefully have seen them become more settled after they reworked out their hierarchy? Or do I need to accept this is a failed bond? I'm just not sure how much I should persist in getting this bond to work.
 
I'm sorry to hear this.
From the first part of your reply above, I was leaning towards it being an unhappy bond (as I says it takes just two weeks for them to reestablish in a new home so if it continues longer than that then it is evidence that there is dysfunction) but now you said they have had a fight I'm afraid it is conclusive. A fight is clear evidence that they do not get on and cannot be in the same cage together anymore.
Their cages will need to be side by side permanently with each cage being a minimum of 120x60cm.
This also means things like floor time must also be separate.

I have a pair who also fell out (one was bonded with one of my other pigs until his death a couple of months ago). It is sad when a bond doesn’t work but equally they are now much happier being side by side and just interacting between bars
 
I have been back in touch with the rescue I got them from and she is willing to take them back to do some guinea pig dating to see if we can get them both into a better bond. I'm going to think about it over the weekend and make my decision on Monday. The submissive guinea pig is looking much happier apart and I have seen him popcorning again so clearly he is more relaxed.

My girls are heartbroken broken at the thought of having to say goodbye to one of them though. 😭😭 I just haven't got the space to do two 120x60cm cages side by side or in an L shape.
 
I’m sorry to hear that. Sadly the submissive looking happier is a clear sign they don’t want to be together
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top