RachelLaura2012
New Born Pup
Hi,
We got our first boar Dwight in Autumn 2019 - he was recommended to be homed individually because he was apparently bullied and when we got him, he had a couple of recovering cuts on his face. We kept him alone until January to see how he developed and he was doing well. He was lively and healthy, but we were concerned that he could be happier and therefore adopted a younger male, Jimmy.
We kept them separately for a couple of weeks but made sure they could smell each other, before moving them closer so they could see each other. Upon trying to bond them in neutral territory (our bathroom) they seemed to be doing ok, so we moved them in together. After moving in together, they started fighting quite badly and ended up separating them again when they both ended up with small cuts. They now live in adjoining cages so they can communicate and be near each other without being able to physically hurt each other.
Dwight seems to be the obvious dominant - he’s much larger than Jimmy, he’s older by about 3 months, and he rumblestruts a lot. Jimmy, on the other hand, squeaks a lot but does not seem to challenge his dominance (emphasis on ‘seem’!). That being said, Dwight rumblestruts a LOT - every time he sees Jimmy, when he first wakes up, or just when he feels like it. They both also bite their shared bars a LOT.
It’s hard to say obviously, but I feel as though they want to be around each other (hence the biting), but we seem unsure that, after the scale of their previous fighting, that they’ll ever bond successfully.
Does anyone have any tips about how to bond tricky males, or any opinion on whether you think they will eventually bond? How much violence is tolerable before you give up trying to bond? We want them both to be happy ultimately, whether that be together or separately - that is the priority!
Thanks in advance!
I’ve also attached a picture of Dwight (bottom) and Jimmy (top).
We got our first boar Dwight in Autumn 2019 - he was recommended to be homed individually because he was apparently bullied and when we got him, he had a couple of recovering cuts on his face. We kept him alone until January to see how he developed and he was doing well. He was lively and healthy, but we were concerned that he could be happier and therefore adopted a younger male, Jimmy.
We kept them separately for a couple of weeks but made sure they could smell each other, before moving them closer so they could see each other. Upon trying to bond them in neutral territory (our bathroom) they seemed to be doing ok, so we moved them in together. After moving in together, they started fighting quite badly and ended up separating them again when they both ended up with small cuts. They now live in adjoining cages so they can communicate and be near each other without being able to physically hurt each other.
Dwight seems to be the obvious dominant - he’s much larger than Jimmy, he’s older by about 3 months, and he rumblestruts a lot. Jimmy, on the other hand, squeaks a lot but does not seem to challenge his dominance (emphasis on ‘seem’!). That being said, Dwight rumblestruts a LOT - every time he sees Jimmy, when he first wakes up, or just when he feels like it. They both also bite their shared bars a LOT.
It’s hard to say obviously, but I feel as though they want to be around each other (hence the biting), but we seem unsure that, after the scale of their previous fighting, that they’ll ever bond successfully.
Does anyone have any tips about how to bond tricky males, or any opinion on whether you think they will eventually bond? How much violence is tolerable before you give up trying to bond? We want them both to be happy ultimately, whether that be together or separately - that is the priority!
Thanks in advance!
I’ve also attached a picture of Dwight (bottom) and Jimmy (top).
to the forum! Hope you find it friendly and useful
Have a read of the threads I’ve linked below.
. During their initial bonding session, Dwight rumblestrutted constantly and tried to hump Jimmy. He did indeed make high pitched submissive squeaks, but really didn’t like being humped. When Dwight backed off (mostly when he was eating... he’s very greedy), they seemed to get along better. I’ll attach a photo of them during this session at their best - we took a triumphant photo thinking that they had made friends, silly us 
Jimmy nearly tore a chunk out of Dwight and Dwight spent an hour or so recovering on my knee in a towel feeling sorry for himself, despite them both being physically fine. I guess they will remain neighbours and not housemates! Typically though, as soon as they moved in and got comfy in their new pens, they spent the night crying at each other before falling asleep next to each other though the cage bars - you’d think they were so badly done to 
