I just found my boar outside of his cage in a corner and found him with an injury and it seems like it’s happened an hour or so ago. I found blood in their bowl of food and I genuinely have no idea how this has happened. I don’t think he fought with his brother because i cant see any injuries on him and they don’t seem to be fighting while eating but he does roam around the room sometimes since he broke the entrance to his cage. Is there anything I should do? Hes eating perfectly fine and seems normal
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Boar injury
- Thread starter shawn.laz
- Start date
His brother went close to him and the brother backed away as hes the most scared and the injured piggie started chattering teeth extremely fast and aggressively and hes just chattering teeth around wherever he goes
Roselina
Forum Donator 2024/25
Hello I’m so sad to read this - it’s a shock for you to find your piggy like that - I’d take him to the Vet today for a thorough check up - Hopefully he is ok - sometimes a boar bond can break down and if that’s happened they will need to live separately
I think hes just in pain because i’m sure the brother would’ve been injured too but he’s perfectly fine and they were still eating hay together. I also applied antiseptic cream on him. Is it expensive to go to the vet for you if you’ve been because I'm not sure how much i’d have to pay. Really appreciate the reply
I'm sorry to hear this.
Any severe injuries needs a vet check. If he is in any pain then he does need to be seen by a vet.
Vet fees vary so we can’t say how much it’ll cost.
There wouldn’t necessarily be any injury on the brother depending on what happened so it isn’t necessarily conclusive that there wasn’t a fight.
It does sound as if something has happened between them and their bond may be in trouble.
As you aren’t certain what happened, I would advise a separation for a few days and then in a few days time you can try a neutral territory reintroduction to allow them to decide. If they have had a fight today then it is most likely they will fight again and that means the bond is definitely over.
We do not recommend the use of food bowls due to the risk of hogging but also because eating drom a bowl doesn’t encourage foraging.
How big is their cage? I know they were in cages which were too small so Id that hasn’t been rectified then lack of space can cause tensions and fall outs.
Do they have hides with multiple exits? These kinds of injuries can occur if they feel trapped by the other piggy.
Any severe injuries needs a vet check. If he is in any pain then he does need to be seen by a vet.
Vet fees vary so we can’t say how much it’ll cost.
There wouldn’t necessarily be any injury on the brother depending on what happened so it isn’t necessarily conclusive that there wasn’t a fight.
It does sound as if something has happened between them and their bond may be in trouble.
As you aren’t certain what happened, I would advise a separation for a few days and then in a few days time you can try a neutral territory reintroduction to allow them to decide. If they have had a fight today then it is most likely they will fight again and that means the bond is definitely over.
We do not recommend the use of food bowls due to the risk of hogging but also because eating drom a bowl doesn’t encourage foraging.
How big is their cage? I know they were in cages which were too small so Id that hasn’t been rectified then lack of space can cause tensions and fall outs.
Do they have hides with multiple exits? These kinds of injuries can occur if they feel trapped by the other piggy.
They have a pretty large cage now, i’d say above average although in their cage they haven’t gotten nearly close to fighting or teeth chattering other than the occasional nips. I put them near each other and the injured one started chattering his teeth very aggressively and started shivering slightly and kept chattering 2-5 minutes after his brother was gone. It seems very one sided as the brother is simply curious to see him and he was chattering only slightly like he was responding. They’re already separated but now all four of my guinea pifs are in a separate house and I'm not sure what to do next. I had an idea of neutering both males and putting each with a female as they get along quite well but the costs of doing so is very expensive ($1000+ in aud)
Above average doesn’t actually mean much - a boar pair need a cage size of 180x60cm.
When did you move them to their larger cage?
Moving them to a larger cage needed to be done but the act of moving them meant they were having a change of environment. That change of environment will cause them to go into two weeks of reestablishing their hierarchy and relationship. Sometimes that can cause underlying issues that were present (even if you hadn’t seen anything) to come to the surface and sometimes that can break a bond. You had no choice hut to change their cage size though as their previous cage was far too small.
It may not have had anything to do with that though, it may just have been an event that occurred and now their bond has broken.
They may now be a can’t live together, can’t live apart pair sadly.
It doesn’t sound like they want to be together - one sided or not. You have to be very careful not to misinterpret behaviours between the bars - not everything is friendly, ie if they lay next to each other beside the bars, that isn’t always a friendly sign and can actually just be territory marking making sure the other doesn’t cross.
Yes neutering in other countries can be very expensive but it would be the perfect solution to get back to two pairs. You could always start saving for the surgeries. If not, then your only option is to keep four single piggies.
As they aren’t neutered and haven’t been with the females, you can’t know that they will get along well though but usually a boar/sow pair is pretty stable. They still have to have compatibility though for a bond to work and the sow has to be willing to accept the boar.
When did you move them to their larger cage?
Moving them to a larger cage needed to be done but the act of moving them meant they were having a change of environment. That change of environment will cause them to go into two weeks of reestablishing their hierarchy and relationship. Sometimes that can cause underlying issues that were present (even if you hadn’t seen anything) to come to the surface and sometimes that can break a bond. You had no choice hut to change their cage size though as their previous cage was far too small.
It may not have had anything to do with that though, it may just have been an event that occurred and now their bond has broken.
They may now be a can’t live together, can’t live apart pair sadly.
It doesn’t sound like they want to be together - one sided or not. You have to be very careful not to misinterpret behaviours between the bars - not everything is friendly, ie if they lay next to each other beside the bars, that isn’t always a friendly sign and can actually just be territory marking making sure the other doesn’t cross.
Yes neutering in other countries can be very expensive but it would be the perfect solution to get back to two pairs. You could always start saving for the surgeries. If not, then your only option is to keep four single piggies.
As they aren’t neutered and haven’t been with the females, you can’t know that they will get along well though but usually a boar/sow pair is pretty stable. They still have to have compatibility though for a bond to work and the sow has to be willing to accept the boar.
I changed their cage over a month or so ago so that shouldn't have been the problem, and also the fact that they were not having any more conflicts that I could see and seemed to get along better.
I think it may have been because the injured one is the dominant one and always shows the submissive one who's boss and he may have felt vulnerable near his brother hence causing the chattering but thats only a thought.
I put them together and there was a lot of teeth chattering and huffing also being mostly one sided.
Ive put the injured one (cleo) with his aunt and they seem to get along great. They love sniffing eachother and just being around each other after cleo does his stinky rumbling and attempted mounting. His brother (Leo) was really attached to his mother and I'm yet to see weather they are good with each other yet but I have high hopes.
I'm getting a summer job in December and I'm going to work as much as possible to afford the $1000 sterilisation for both boys.
Also I'm just curious have your piggies had bond breaking fights and had to be separated? If so what did you do from there?
I think it may have been because the injured one is the dominant one and always shows the submissive one who's boss and he may have felt vulnerable near his brother hence causing the chattering but thats only a thought.
I put them together and there was a lot of teeth chattering and huffing also being mostly one sided.
Ive put the injured one (cleo) with his aunt and they seem to get along great. They love sniffing eachother and just being around each other after cleo does his stinky rumbling and attempted mounting. His brother (Leo) was really attached to his mother and I'm yet to see weather they are good with each other yet but I have high hopes.
I'm getting a summer job in December and I'm going to work as much as possible to afford the $1000 sterilisation for both boys.
Also I'm just curious have your piggies had bond breaking fights and had to be separated? If so what did you do from there?
Is Cleo in the cage with his aunt now?
Please do not put your unneutered boars in with your sows at all. You are/will be risking the sows getting pregnant - mounting and mating takes seconds and you wouldn’t be able to stop it from happening.
If your boars have been in with and mounted your sows, then you need to put the sows on 10 weeks pregnancy watch. Depending on how close a sow is to coming into season, they can go spontaneously into it within the presence of a boar so it may already be too late.
Plus you can’t put piggies together unless you can see the bonding through properly on that day - which you can’t given they aren’t neutered. Putting them together and then having to separate them because they cannot remain together and therefore cannot see the whole process through is very stressful for them.
You can only guess what had occurred given you didn’t see it. Often where a submissive injures a dominant then it is because either the submissive felt trapped and defended himself.
The other reasons a submissive fights back is that: bullying had been occurring and the submissive had had enough; Or that it was a hostile takeover of the hierarchy and that is now why one seems to be reacting badly (he has lost his place) and the other reacting calmly (he got what he wanted).
If you are going to try to reintroduce them then you need to leave them apart for a few days and then try the reintroduction on neutral territory. If they free roam the room you cannot carry out any reintroduction in that room and you’d need to take them somewhere else.
However as you seem to have tried it already and it doesn’t sound to have gone well, it would seem likely the conclusion is that the bond bas failed and they cannot go together again.
Yes I have had a pair of boars fall out.
The failed pair lived separately but side by side for 18 months following their fight. Then one of my other boars (who was in the bonded pair) passed away thereby his cagemate alone. So I had three single boars, all dominant in their previous pairings. I decided to take the plunge and try bonding my bereaved boar with one of the fallen out boars and all worked out well. I’m now back to having a pair of boars in one cage and the single in another cage living beside them.
Please do not put your unneutered boars in with your sows at all. You are/will be risking the sows getting pregnant - mounting and mating takes seconds and you wouldn’t be able to stop it from happening.
If your boars have been in with and mounted your sows, then you need to put the sows on 10 weeks pregnancy watch. Depending on how close a sow is to coming into season, they can go spontaneously into it within the presence of a boar so it may already be too late.
Plus you can’t put piggies together unless you can see the bonding through properly on that day - which you can’t given they aren’t neutered. Putting them together and then having to separate them because they cannot remain together and therefore cannot see the whole process through is very stressful for them.
You can only guess what had occurred given you didn’t see it. Often where a submissive injures a dominant then it is because either the submissive felt trapped and defended himself.
The other reasons a submissive fights back is that: bullying had been occurring and the submissive had had enough; Or that it was a hostile takeover of the hierarchy and that is now why one seems to be reacting badly (he has lost his place) and the other reacting calmly (he got what he wanted).
If you are going to try to reintroduce them then you need to leave them apart for a few days and then try the reintroduction on neutral territory. If they free roam the room you cannot carry out any reintroduction in that room and you’d need to take them somewhere else.
However as you seem to have tried it already and it doesn’t sound to have gone well, it would seem likely the conclusion is that the bond bas failed and they cannot go together again.
Yes I have had a pair of boars fall out.
The failed pair lived separately but side by side for 18 months following their fight. Then one of my other boars (who was in the bonded pair) passed away thereby his cagemate alone. So I had three single boars, all dominant in their previous pairings. I decided to take the plunge and try bonding my bereaved boar with one of the fallen out boars and all worked out well. I’m now back to having a pair of boars in one cage and the single in another cage living beside them.
Regarding cage sizing now they are separate - each boar needs 120x60cm as a minimum.