Boar problems

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Lila

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Hi there I’m wondering if anyone has any advice for me?

My two boars Nutella and Cashew have started, I wouldn’t say it’s quite fighting it’s more like they are arguing, rumble strutting, teeth chattering etc. They have done this many times before but neither of them have ever gotten hurt and as I’ve read that one of the best things to do with boars is to leave them to it to sort out who’s boss, most of the time I’ve left them unless the one piggy was very visibly uncomfortable or I thought they were on the verge of a fight. But either way they always made up and went back to being besties. I’ve never really felt like I knew 100% who was the boss pig but for a while I thought it was Nutella, then I thought it swapped to cashew but now I have no idea! The other day cashew suddenly starting going at Nutella like they have done before, teeth chattering, mounting etc, but then Nutella finally decided he’d had enough and bit cashew right by his eye, I cleaned it and then took him to the vets, his eye healed and they seemed fine again, but last night and tonight they have just started teeth chattering and all that again and I just don’t know what it is! Anytime it’s happened before it’s returned to norma but they don’t seem to be solving it this time. the only things I can think of is, 1 could spring be messing with their hormones, 2 could it be only having 1 water bottle? They have had 2 all their lives until one broke, but then I noticed that they only seemed to use one water bottle even when they had 2 so I thought rather than buying them one they won’t use I’ll just let them keep the one.

If anyone has any ideas or advice it would be greatly appreciated :)
 
May I ask how old they are and how long they’ve been living together? How big is their cage, and do they have two of everything (except the bottle that broke recently)?
 
I am very sorry that things seem tense between your boys. Was blood drawn when Nutella bit Cashew? If so, I am afraid that the bond is broken and you must separate them permanently. How old are they? How big is their cage? Do they have two of everything bar the water bottle?
 
Siikibam said:
May I ask how old they are and how long they’ve been living together? How big is their cage, and do they have two of everything (except the bottle that broke recently)?
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They have been together since birth, they are brothers. They are 2 years and 2 months old. They are in a C&C cage, 3 by 4. They have 2 of everything except they only have one water bowl as well, but they have never been fond of it so I’ve never gotten them another.
 
Claire W said:
I am very sorry that things seem tense between your boys. Was blood drawn when Nutella bit Cashew? If so, I am afraid that the bond is broken and you must separate them permanently. How old are they? How big is their cage? .
Claire W said:
I am very sorry that things seem tense between your boys. Was blood drawn when Nutella bit Cashew? If so, I am afraid that the bond is broken and you must separate them permanently. How old are they? How big is their cage? Do they have two of everything bar the water bottle?
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There was a very small amount of blood but not much at all as the cut was tiny. They are 2 years and 2 months old. They are in a C&C cage, 3 by 4. They have 2 of everything except they only have one water bowl as well, but they have never been fond of it so I’ve never gotten them another.
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Okay. Did you separate them after the bite? If so, did you reintroduce again before putting them back in their cage? Or you just kept them together? Tensions do sound a little high with the previous underpig not accepting being mounted etc… where would you put their behaviour on the scale below?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
 
Siikibam said:
Okay. Did you separate them after the bite? If so, did you reintroduce again before putting them back in their cage? Or you just kept them together? Tensions do sound a little high with the previous underpig not accepting being mounted etc… where would you put their behaviour on the scale below?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Click to expand...
Siikibam said:
Okay. Did you separate them after the bite? If so, did you reintroduce again before putting them back in their cage? Or you just kept them together? Tensions do sound a little high with the previous underpig not accepting being mounted etc… where would you put their behaviour on the scale below?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea PigsWe kept them a
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Siikibam said:
Okay. Did you separate them after the bite? If so, did you reintroduce again before putting them back in their cage? Or you just kept them together? Tensions do sound a little high with the previous underpig not accepting being mounted etc… where would you put their behaviour on the scale below?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Click to expand...
I kept them apart for a while after the bite and then I put them back together in their run (or the whole room) and watched them for a while. They almost seemed back to normal for a bit but then a day later started acting up and this keeps repeating itself. I would say they have been in almost all those stages, it started out with stage one, Cashew going after Nutella and Nutella doing the none painful squeaking, and then it just progressed over a few weeks into the 3rd stage, apart from like in the fourth stage Nutella lunged at Cashew and that’s when he bit him but it wasn’t a vicious bite more of a warning.
 
I’m sorry to hear this,

The painful squeaking sounds to be submission squeaking - one saying to the other, I am no threat. It sounds painful to us, but is actually the correct response from the under pig.

Its always the advice to have two of every item, but I really dont think a water bottle breaking and therefore onoy having one will be the cause of problems.

The normal advice is if there are tensions, to carry out a trial separation for a few days to let things calm down. After those few days, do a neutral territory reintroduction - that is then the decider as to whether they want to and can remain together. A trial separation is not something you can do repeatedly though - you do it and then make the decision.
Although if I am reading correctly, you have already done a separation but things go downhill again. I would say this is probably the sign that things are not great between them.
It might be worth you carrying out one more trial separation for a few days and then a neutral territory reintroduction. If things go downhill again after this time, then I’m afraid that is most likely going to mean they must remain separate from then on.

Bonds In Trouble
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’m sorry to hear this,

The painful squeaking sounds to be submission squeaking - one saying to the other, I am no threat. It sounds painful to us, but is actually the correct response from the under pig.

Its always the advice to have two of every item, but I really dont think a water bottle breaking and therefore onoy having one will be the cause of problems.

The normal advice is if there are tensions, to carry out a trial separation for a few days to let things calm down. After those few days, do a neutral territory reintroduction - that is then the decider as to whether they want to and can remain together. A trial separation is not something you can do repeatedly though - you do it and then make the decision.
Although if I am reading correctly, you have already done a separation but things go downhill again. I would say this is probably the sign that things are not great between them.
It might be worth you carrying out one more trial separation for a few days and then a neutral territory reintroduction. If things go downhill again after this time, then I’m afraid that is most likely going to mean they must remain separate from then on.

Bonds In Trouble
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I split them up for the night last night so they couldn’t hurt each other whilst I was asleep but I will keep them apart and do the trial separation for a few days and then reintroduce them. I’m just glad of the advice because they kept on arguing on and off and I couldn’t tell if they were friends or not. I’ll let you know what happens with them but hopefully they will go back to normal.
 
Lila said:
I split them up for the night last night so they couldn’t hurt each other whilst I was asleep but I will keep them apart and do the trial separation for a few days and then reintroduce them. I’m just glad of the advice because they kept on arguing on and off and I couldn’t tell if they were friends or not. I’ll let you know what happens with them but hopefully they will go back to normal.
Click to expand...

Fingers crossed it was just a blip and they will go back together, but it would be best to prepare for them to have to remain apart but living side by side permanently
 
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