Boars becoming aggressive

Emmalou46

Emmalou46

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone,
I lost one of my piggies about a month ago and after leaving my remaining piggie for 2 weeks on his own we decided to get him a friend, his friend was actually one of his brothers and on initial contact they were great, got them home, lots of normal dominance behaviour, rumbling, chasing, mounting. It was clear that my piggie Coco was going to be the big boss however this week things have taken a bit of a turn and their behaviour has become more aggressive as it seems Oreo the new piggie is challenging Coco. No blood has been drawn but there’s been a lot of loud chattering and I noticed Coco had a bit of Oreos fur in his mouth. Where would you go from here? They seem ok in the evening after I put them back into their cage at around 11pm but I can time it, at around 3.30-4pm the aggressive behaviour starts so I’ve been getting them out of their cage into their big run to give them more room thinking that might be the issue but it the behaviour continues in their run. It’s not constant but is getting to the point were I'm getting increasingly concerned. Any help, advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated, thank you 🤍
 
I forgot to mention they are both going through the teenage time. They are approx 10-12 months old
 
Emmalou46 said:
I forgot to mention they are both going through the teenage time. They are approx 10-12 months old
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Hi

Please don't do mini-separations all the time. It destabilises the bond further. You have to either sit it out or do a two day separation to allow the hormone spike to die down and then do a formal re-intro.
Generally, at that age, the relationship can be right up at the limit for a few weeks but full-on fights and fall-outs are fairly rare at this late stage.

You can find more detailed practical information on how the teenage months run, what you can do and on how to evaluate the bond as to wether it is still viable or whether your boys are no longer getting along on the bottom line in this guide link here. I cannot repeat the whole information in this post; it has taken me several days to write the guide and make sure that it is comprehensive and clear: Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
 
Moving them backwards and forwards into their run may be making the behaviour worse, although I can understand your thinking for wanting to give them more room. Each time they move from the cage to the run and back again they are having to sort out their hierarchy in a new territory, it will be confusing for them. I would leave them alone and let them sort it out, as long as their cage is big enough for a pair of boars. Boars need at least 150 x 70 cm.
 
I have done the 2 day separation and currently doing the formal re-introduction. Neutral ground with fresh fleece. Not going well. Neither seems to want to back down :( both now resting not far from one another but no hierarchy has been established yet. Do I keep going or is that video a sign that things aren’t going to work. The video was longer and showed the loud teeth chattering from both sides but it was too large to upload
 
Emmalou46 said:
Oh ok,
Here’s the YouTube link, hope it works
24 March 2023
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I am not an expert, so please wait for someone more experienced to come along, but based on the short clip I have seen I would say that the signs don't look good.
It might be best to prepare to separate again and I wouldn't leave them alone if they are still lunging like in the video in case it does end in a fight.
Sorry
 
This is the current situation. They’ve been together now for around 2 hours, I’ve added food bowls and water. No more lunging since what happened on that little video but I don’t feel any hierarchy has been determined yet. Oreo (black and white one) keeps running away from Coco (brown one who lunged) but Oreo keeps rumble strutting which makes coco angry and Oreo won’t let coco hump him, he just runs away and then chatters his teeth
 

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That looks very tense and borderline. Are they still together or did you separate?
 
I ended up separating, things stayed tense and neither looked happy. There was then another lunge so I drew the line and stopped it there :(
 
Sorry it hasn’t worked out. Sometimes neither wants to back down. Please try not to be disheartened. Living as neighbours is the next best thing and they’ll still have the interaction they need.
 
Hi everyone, me again! I wanted to update you all and get some advice from you again :) So after all this happened the sanctuary I got them from said she would have them back to try and re-bond or find other piggies for them. Coco the piggie I’ve had longest who was lunging in the video was tried with multiple males and didn’t get on with any, she then tried putting Oreo back with him and they seemed to get on ok! She kept them and tried them in different cages/environments and they were together with her for around 2 weeks. I’ve then brought them home, washed absolutely everything so that their cage was like brand new and to my complete surprise it now seems like Oreo is the dominant piggie. He is the one rumblestrutting and Coco is the one submissively squeaking and running away. Since I got them back on Sunday I’ve just left them in their cage, when do you think would be best to get them out for a run and lap time etc. I don’t want to rush and ruin any dominance activity that’s going on at the moment as I know when you change their environment it can all kick off again. I’m not completely settled at the moment as Oreo is doing a lot of rumblestrutting still and there is a lot of yawning and teeth chattering. Thank you as always for any advice and help x
 
I’m glad things seem to be better between them.
I would not get them out of the cage for at least two weeks and by that I mean assess at two weeks and see where things are at.
How big is their cage?
 
Ok that’s great thank you, their cage is an L shape. It’s like a 4 x 2 but with an extra 1 x 2 added on to make an L if that makes sense. If it was all straight it would be a 5 x 2
 
I would definitely leave them for a while as said above.

As for the dominance behaviours, it is true boars are sometimes stubborn about getting along, but i have two inseparable boys who rumble strut and teeth chatter at least a couple times a day. With that being said it only lasts a short amount of time and they always end up snuggled together.

It sounds like you have a good grasp on what to do, what to look out for and how your boys are getting along. I’ve got my fingers crossed all stays well.
 
pigmotherof6 said:
I would definitely leave them for a while as said above.

As for the dominance behaviours, it is true boars are sometimes stubborn about getting along, but i have two inseparable boys who rumble strut and teeth chatter at least a couple times a day. With that being said it only lasts a short amount of time and they always end up snuggled together.

It sounds like you have a good grasp on what to do, what to look out for and how your boys are getting along. I’ve got my fingers crossed all stays well.
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Aww how lovely! I wish my two would be like this. Maybe one day 🤞🏻
Thank you so much, I think it’s going to take a while with them, trying to stay positive ❤️
 
You mentioned bowls earlier… I did away with bowls and just scatter pellets and veggies. My dominant boar will always go to the spot my sub is foraging and chase him away but there is always different places available with food so it isn’t a big deal and everyone gets to eat. (My dominant will then give a little popcorn because he is so satisfied with his stature.)

My guys also gave me a scare about this age (although not to this extent) I got lucky and they have made it to 2 and a half years without any more incidents. Knocking on wood!
 
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