boars?

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guineakins

guineakins

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Hi,

I really hope someone can help me with this one!

I've currently got 3 boars living together and they've been absolutely fine together no fighting - nothing! However, yesterday they all came out for play time and 2 of them suddenly decided that they didn't like the other one. I'm not entirely sure if they are picking on him or if they're playing.

There is no teeth chattering, but a lot of running around and a bit of rumbling from all 3 boys.

The other problem I have at the minute is that the youngest one keeps biting me! No matter what i'm doing - picking him up, putting him in his run. It's not a nip either :(

Does anyone have any suggestions? I really don't want to have to get rid of any of them.

xx
 
How old are your boys?

Generally speaking 3 boars living together doesn't tend to work as someone always comes of worst (been there done that!)

If they are young it may be they have been fine so far but are now hitting pubberty and their hormones are kicking in making fighting for dominance, chattering, nipping etc a lot more common.

If your piggy is nipping you too it's a fairly sure sign he's stressed out as usually piggies are very gentle.

It might be best to seperate them but it can be difficult to work out who would work well in a pair and who would be better off being re-paired with someone else.

Where are you as there may be a good rescue in the area who can help you figure out who works best together and who doesn't.

There's a great sticky in the behaviour section about Boar dominance etc what will help you make sense of what they are doing but I would advise thinking about splitting them before you end up with 3 piggies with bite wounds or who won't live together at all.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!
 
Hello and welcome to the forum and a big welcome to boar ownership.

Can i ask you a few questions on the boys:
How old are the boys?
How long have you had them for? / How long have they been together?
Cage Size?

:)
 
thanks for your reply!

Gizmo is 7 weeks, Gadget is 8 weeks and Rupert is 4 months.

They've been completely fine with each other, sleeping together and playing. I got Gadget and Gizmo together and introduced them to Rupert.

:( I thought it might be bad news!
 
AudioHeart said:
Hello and welcome to the forum and a big welcome to boar ownership.

Can i ask you a few questions on the boys:
How old are the boys?
How long have you had them for? / How long have they been together?
Cage Size?

:)
Click to expand...

7 weeks, 8 weeks & 4 months.

They've been happily together for a couple of weeks.

They have quite a large cage (not sure on the actual size) and a run attached to it
 
I have 3 boars and have experienced exactly the same as you.

Firstly, (easy as it may sound) try not to panic. They do and will go through different stages of behaviour, its all part of them growing up.

Several aspects I found which helped were:

Id bath them all together and this would (I know it sounds a bit wrong :red) scare them into all being friends again. (This was a tip I picked up in one of my guinea pig books and tend to find it works quite well).

Stop them eating Muesli (doest have to be forever or all the time, but I found once I took this away from them, not only did they stop selective feeding but their behaviour also improved. Bit like giving a 7 year old Skittles then watching them go hyperactive for half an hour. Lols.)

In worse case scenario I have had to split them up, but once I reintroduce them and after they have had a lot of discussions between themselves, they soon sort all of their problems out.

Another factor I found which altered their behaviour (daft as it may sound) was if they were running low on their nuggetts or hay! Once id top these up, they would be fine again.

Also one last thing to mention, if their cage needed cleaning, this could also set them off.

I find if I go through the list above, this helps considerably in improving their behaviour. They will probably have some little arguments every now and again, mine do, I just think its part of their hormones and growing up. Bit like stroppy teenagers. Lols.

Good luck and I'm sure theyll all work out their differences amongst each other. ;)
 
Hi Dawny!

Thanks for your advice! I had read on the forum and my books to try giving them a bath.. So i'll try that tomorrow! :)

Ours have pellets, so i don't think they have skittle syndrome! :))

I'll keep my eye on them and make sure they have lots of food and hay to keep them happy to see if this helps the situation!

How long have yours been together?
 
Hello Guineakins.

Youre welcome :))

My 3 boars have been together for 7 months now.

George and Bungle are 2 years old and have been together since I got them. I then introduced Geoffrey to them 7 months ago and so far, apart from a few teething problems (which is probably to be expected really) things have been ok.

It wasnt my original intention to have 3 boars, I was only ever going to have 2, but when I went to P@H and saw this 1 little baby piggy all by himself up for adoption, I had to get him. I considered all of the options available to me and thought, well even if it means getting him a companion at a later date, if he doesnt get on with the other 2 boars, rescuing him was a must. Fortunately, everything worked out ;)
 
George, Bungle & Jeffery are such cool names!

We weren't really thinking about getting another (I already had 4!) but I saw Rupert in P@H and I just fell in love with him so I had to bring him home. I'm hoping that everything settles down and they all become friends again, but i just don't want it to stress them out!

If not I'll have to look into other options - Another cage isn't really an option (My poor OH already thinks I'm crazy!) :)) but i'm hoping I'll be able to win him round...
 
What i would say, is the youngest two **** havnt reached their hormones, so its not REALLY surprising that they are fine. Hormones can start from 3 months onwards, so just keep an eye out and please make sure you have the means to seperate at the spur of the moment, as if they do fight, it could be very .. agressive.

However, i really hope they work as a trio and stay lovely and calm.
 
Hi Connie, Thanks for your advise.

I have a spare cage in the shed just incase anything does happen.

I'm just hoping that the hormones won't cause too much trouble! :)
 
Wishing you the best of luck! In the end, it all depends very much on whether you have got exactly the right character combination - and that is something very difficult to predict!

The vast majority of successful boar trios usually comprise quite an age difference as well as the right mix of alid back and dominant characters.
 
guineakins said:
George, Bungle & Jeffery are such cool names!

We weren't really thinking about getting another (I already had 4!) but I saw Rupert in P@H and I just fell in love with him so I had to bring him home. I'm hoping that everything settles down and they all become friends again, but i just don't want it to stress them out!

If not I'll have to look into other options - Another cage isn't really an option (My poor OH already thinks I'm crazy!) :)) but i'm hoping I'll be able to win him round...
Click to expand...

Lols, thank you (I think it would have been more appropriate though to have called Bungle, Zippy as he chats all day).

I know what you mean about how you didnt intend on getting another GP, and then you do. Haha. Its as if we both have "The guinea pig - bug" :))

Like you, I'd love to have more GPs, but my OH thinks I'm going OTT. If I won the lottery, Id open a huge guinea pig home/hotel :))
 
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