Boars

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jess_2745

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My baby Charlie is due to be taken away from mum next Sunday but i'm not sure what to do. I spoke to the vet today about neutering. She said they only take about 10 minutes and stitch the muscle to stop them getting a hernia.

My choices are to get him neutered and put him in with the females or get him a boar friend. However, he will be on his own for a few months but i would bring him inside to keep him company.

In peoples experience how do two unrelated boars get on? Should i get an older one or one around the same age?
 
I don't think getting a boar is the best idea. The best one would be to get him neutered. Getting an older boar means the older one may bully him but getting one the same age doesn'thelp because they will probably fall out anyway and sqobble!



Does this help?
 
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Whilst I would agree that boars can fall out and squabble, I have to say that I definately would NOT neuter before trying your baby boy with another boar. Besides, it would be inadvisable to neuter until around at least 6 months old, meaning that your boar will be living on his todd if you decide to go down the neutering route.

Are you near a rescue? If you are not sure, ask away on the boards and someone may be able to help you locate one. Why not have a chat with them to see if they have any single boars who you can pair your boy with? Some rescues will even let you take him along to let him choose your own friend, but not all like to do this. The beauty with rescues is that most good ones tend to get to know the pigs before they rehome them so they can advise on personalities etc.

Yes, it's true that baby boars can reach a teen stage and get a bit stroppy, this stage can occur anytime between about 3 months to up to 15 months or so. However it is not a certainty that boars will fall out! It's because of this view that so many single boars end up in rescue. Most teen boars will test the partnerships but many get past it, some don't, it all depends on the pigs. The key to boars is as much space as you can give them and two of everything!

Edit - I see you are in Cornwall - Little Brambles GP Rescue in is Devon and are a mine of information and advice on things like this. The website is http://www.lbgpr.co.uk/
 
I think getting an older boar would be best, ann older boar will usually accept a younger one with no problems. Bullying generally isn't a problem, when you introduce them you will see dominant behaviour, and you will probably see it afterwards as well, but its not bullying. I have a three year old (Spike) and an eight week old (Chewie) living together quite happily, no bullying, in fact I think Chewie bullies Spike, at dinner time he refuses to eat unless Spiek takes the food out of the bowl for him lol. If you get an older boar from a rescue they may let you take the younger one with you and so you can let him pick otu his new friend.

I personally think neutering is a big risk to take unless you are absolutely sure that your vet knows what their doing. Before we got Chewie I did consider getting Spiek neutered, but I chickened out, I didn't want to risk anything happening to him.
 
Boars can live happily together, and in my experience it has been an older boar with a young boar that has been the best match. When you have two young boars hitting puberty both at the same time - hormones and dominance will be raging! rolleyes

If you have an older, mature boar, he will be past all that and will, in effect, be masterful over the younger boar.

But it does depend on personalities, of course.

I had a great mix of father and son, although they had been apart. But I had a disaster of litter brothers when they reached puberty!

Rescues are great at matching piggies ... keep us posted!
 
I agree with most of the above posts,I have always kept boars in pairs and as yet have had no problems at all. It really pains me to think of all the lonely boars out there whose owners have heard horror stories about fighting etc and opted out of bonding them through fear. I'm not saying fights and the like don't happen but boars really can live very happily together
 
All my boars are very happily paired with another boar and I also have a group of three. I've never really had a problem with my boys, generally they get on with their cage mate fine. Not quite the same story with the girls though! So please don't dismiss the idea of getting him a male friend to live with. It can, and does work very well.
 
I've never had much luck bonding any pigs, boar or sow but i did have a very successful bonding with a 1yr old boar & a 3wk old boar :)
 
I have paired up all types of boars and the best pairs seem to be 2 juveniles.a bab and an adult may still fall out once the baby matures.However the best buddies here at the refuge are a 2 year old boar who has mated before and a 4mth old boar and they live right by sows! they are inseperable and if i seperate them they wheeek non stop for hours and stress like crazy
 
I think i will look for a rescue boar first then. It isn't too much hassle as i have another hutch and i can get my dad to rustle up another run for me. I just need to find a rescue near me. I know little brambles is in devon but only rehomes if they're kept inside in the winter. I'm nearly 18 so still live with my parents and they have a terrier that would kill the pigs if they were inside. When i move out they will definately be inside for the winter lol.
 
I had 2 boars that had lived together however one of them developed an abcess on his throat andhad to be put to sleep :( This left my solo boar all lonely and sad. Rather than risk neutering him we bought a new baby boar (the older one was 4 months old at the time). Before we introduced them we rubbed the new pig with the other one's bedding ( as advised) so that he would have his scent on him and we then introduced them on neutral ground outside of the cage. 9 months have since passed and they get on fine together and there have been no fights at all between them. They will occasionally rattle and weave at each other but thats it. The older pig is the boss of the pair and perhaps the match has worked because he is a very mellow pig generally whilst the other one is a little live wire! Anyway hope this helps! :))
 
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