Boar advice

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Meadowlark

Meadowlark

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Hi after some advice please regarding putting boars together.
I have a Teddy boy that came in as a rescue with his brother over 18 months ago and they arrived in the same hutch and had clearly been fighting as they had wounds as had pulled alot of fur out of each other. I seperated them and they turned into two lovely friendly chaps called Bob and George. George developed breathing problems 2 months ago so i took him to my vets who diagnosed a Upper respiritory infection and also during his health check discovered he was blind in both eyes :... probably caused by the lack of care he recieved prior to coming to me. The vet also rekoned he had had a stroke! Poor George did recover from his infection but suffered another stroke and had to be PTS :(. I wonder if the boys had fought because of Georges blindness as they were brothers so should have got on?
I'm worried about Bob being lonely even though he has been living alone for a long time and have just taken in another Teddy boar "Boris" who is only 4 months old and is totally gorgeus x). He is about the same size as Bob and I'm wondering if they will live together ok if i introduce them slowly? We sat both on our laps earlier and they met for the first time with just gentle sniffing and no noise! What is the next step i should take with them?
Many thanks
 
Hi

If you have a read through the Boar Dating Service thread it should give you some ideas on how to proceed. There are a lot of dates to go through but worth seeing the good and the bad ones so you can see the varying body language and the result of the dates. The fact that they showed interest but no aggression while on your lap is very encouraging.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=59233

Suzy x
 
Hi, I just added a 9 month old boy to my almost 2 year old boy & they are getting on fine.

I did this slowly watching closely for any bad signs.

Do the reading, know what you're doing, and I don't see why you can't have a go at them meeting on neutral ground. Have them separated first so they can see/smell the other.

You have one outside of teenage & one in teenage phase like me, so providing one is dominant & the other submissive it could work xx
 
As it was such a lovely day yesterday i put both boys out together in the run for the first time. Boris the young boar couldnt have cared less and just munched away but Bob wanted to sniff and hump Boris! Boris bless him just ignored Bob and after a few minutes Bob started grazing and then at times went back to humping briefly! Is this normal? There was no fighting of grumbling at all!
 
Humping but no aggression, eating followed by only a mild interest in humping is fabulous - I wish all bondings went so smoothly.

I do hope that you did not split them up again after such a good start, once you start a bonding it's always best to let it run and get it done. The more often they go through the initial meet and greet the more likely they are to fall out during one.

Suzy x
 
Yes as suzy said once you start the meeting and bonding you really have to see it through, otherwise every time you seperate and put back together you are back at square one, so to speak, and they will need to establish territory and dominance again. What you mentioned above though sounds really encouraging! If you have seperated I would introduce them again asap on neutral ground again and if all goes well after a few hours I would intruduce them to their new home (which should be completely clean and fresh, no smells to cause arguments you see). Also, avoid having any hideys that are enclosed like pigloos, it's good for them to have somewhere to run but i use boxes with a hole in either end so no piggy can get trapped if you see what I mean :) A trapped piggy can feel threatened.
Good luck!
 
Thanks so much for the replys, after being out on the grass i put them both in the new fresh cage but Bob seemed to go into over drive and wouldnt leave Boris alone!? Boris did get a bit cross so i ended up seperating them incase they got into a fight but should i have left them to it? I think my next move will be to put them in the big indoor pen so they have plenty of space to get away from each other if they want?
 
Yes you need to let them work it out. Every time you seperate and re introduce they again have to work out who is boss. The best advice I was given was to 'commit to the situation'. Meaning you see it out unless there's blood shed. Sometimes it can look scary and worrying but remind yourself its normal to them. Humping, mild teeth chattering, chasing and nipping are all normal for them, its them working out who is eventually going to submit to being second in command. Go for it and let them work it out :)
 
If you can have them in a bonding pen that they can stay in safely for a few days, before being moved into a hutch/cage, this will help a lot. Each time they are moved it will trigger stress and dominance issues, a fall out is much more likely then.

If the intended hutch/cage is nice and big and you can observe them well in it then do the bonding in there - this way you avoid the stress of moving while the bond is still forming.

Suzy x
 
My young boy Billy humps alot, he has some days worse than others. Rodney squeels like a baby & kicks him off - but there has so far not been any aggression... it does calm down a bit, Billy has calmed down since I got him a few weeks ago and I hope as he gets older he'll calm even more.

It is difficult to get your head around I kno :{
 
Well today i "bit the bullet" and put them in to a totally new fresh cage together and left them more or less to it! After a couple of minutes of humping and chasing round all went quiet and when i looked in they were side by side happily munching the same pile offresh grass and quietly talking to each other! Now whenever one goes out of side they wheek to each other. I'm so pleased and relieved and hope the happiness lasts! Thanks so much for all the advice xx I will upload a pic when i get a minute :))
 
Here are my lovely happy boys! Bob is the brown one and Boris is the bumblebee look alike!
487626_4233610032753_562872522_n.jpg
 
I just read this thread and am very happy to here things went well! I just introduced my two boars (a first for me as well) and it got pretty scary at times. I almost had to split them up at one point because I thought they were going to start nipping too hard during a scuffle during the initial introduction.:{

They are now happy in their cage together, and it has been a few days. I hear them talking to each other all time! They also like to cuddle (run apart to keep that manly ego when I walk in though) and share their food xx>>>

I have never seen my original guinea pig Vinny this happy before! So I am so glad you were able to get a new friend for your boy xx>>>
 
Well they are still together and seem very happy! They each have their own house so they can have some alone time but most of the time they are shuffling together! xx>>>
 
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