Bonding a 4 month old boar

piggl

piggl

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Due to unforeseen circumstances, I am going to have to split up my 5 year old boar from my new 4 month old boar.
I plan to have my old boy by himself in a hutch a couple ft away from the main hutch.

There are no rescues near me, and the closest one is over an hour away and we would not be able to make that trip for another around 2 months, so unfortunately I do believe I will be getting a pets at home baby.
I really wouldn’t like to, but unfortunately due to the lack of rescues/options near me it is what I am left with.

I am worried about putting an excitable, quite boisterous almost teenager (4 months, 830g) with a baby. Will Reggie take it in as a “uncle” if he’s still a baby himself. As Reggie humps Winston probably around 10 times a day (every time they meet just about), will this cause issue for the baby? I really don’t want him to take advantage of the poor thing but I know he’s quite reliant on Winston and wouldn’t do well without another pig.

Has anyone else had to bond to a boar of this age?
Any advice appreciated x
 
Bonding teenage boars with another baby/soon to be teenager or teenager is going to be a risk, particularly if done on spec. Once the baby becomes hormonal as well, you’ve then got two teenagers together and nobody will know whether it’ll work until you get there. Its character of the piggies so nobody can know whether it’ll work for you.

Typically speaking bonding a teenager is best done with an older piggy (as you have already tried when bonding him with Winston) or for them to be neutered and bonded with a sow.
I know some rescues wouldn’t attempt to bond two teen boars due to the heightened hormones and risk of fall out. A teen boar in those circumstances in a rescue would most likely be neutered and bonded with a sow.
If the rescue which is an hour away from you are able to help, then the preference would be to take their assistance in finding a friend rather than risk an on spec bonding with a pet shop baby given you don’t have the space to take the risk of three single boars.
The two month wait wouldn’t be an issue if reggie and Winston can interact side by side. The issue comes that hutches dont lend themselves well to side by side living.

He may take to a new baby while he is baby but there is no telling months down the line what’ll happen when they are both hormonal. And if you get a pet shop piggy, it’s going to be around 2 months old so the start of the baby’s teens will match up with Reggie being about 6 months old and at his highest hormone output.
With any on spec bonding you have to have a back up plan for living arrangements for if the bond fails either straight away or when they are both hormonal.

I have had Dexter and popcorn who are the same age bonded as youngsters, came to me at 4 months old and happily still together five years later.
I also have Wilbur and a Hugo bonded as young babies, came to me at 9 weeks old and fell out just 9 weeks later. Theyve lived separately for 10 months now. (I knew there was a risk when taking these two on given their ages).

This is why I was trying to come up with ways such as splitting the bottom half of the hutch in half and extending it side by side so reggie and Winston could live beside each other (Potentially with no other piggy added in with Reggie).
 
I’m sorry you are having to separate your boys. I’ve bonded Percy (6 months) and Pepper (5 weeks) and then Pepper (maybe 1.5) and Pebble (5 weeks) and they were all fine. I’ve never seen any humping so I must just have very laid back boars. Good luck. It’s a risk but it could work out. But you could also end up with three separate cages.
 
weepweeps said:
I’m sorry you are having to separate your boys. I’ve bonded Percy (6 months) and Pepper (5 weeks) and then Pepper (maybe 1.5) and Pebble (5 weeks) and they were all fine. I’ve never seen any humping so I must just have very laid back boars. Good luck. It’s a risk but it could work out. But you could also end up with three separate cages.
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It’s encouraging to hear you’ve bonded boars of a similar age.

I was thinking back and I have actually bonded ages like this before with my first ever pair of guinea pig, one of my boars passed away suddenly at 6 months, which meant I was left with a 6 month old.
Everything went fine with the bonding of him and a baby, but i’ve never had a pig like Reggie, so enthusiastic and boisterous. He loves climbing, running, jumping and unfortunately humping.
 
He sounds crazy (in a good way) 🤣

Could just keep Reggie and Winston as neighbours?
 
The issue is that you just never know - every bonding is unique and it’s all down to their character.
We would love to say to you that bonding a teen with a baby always goes smoothly but the fact is, it doesn’t, there is no guarantee and any on spec bonding - even with adults - comes with a risk of failure.

As I say, I have two sets of piggies with similar ages bonded - one worked, one didn’t. It’s just the way it goes.

What will you do if bonding reggie with another fails?

Can I link this thread back into your other thread, so all the background and the discussions we had last night about the reasons behind it and the various housing solutions discussed are together or would you rather it’s kept separate?
 
Piggies&buns said:
Bonding teenage boars with another baby/soon to be teenager or teenager is going to be a risk, particularly if done on spec. Once the baby becomes hormonal as well, you’ve then got two teenagers together and nobody will know whether it’ll work until you get there. Its character of the piggies so nobody can know whether it’ll work for you.

Typically speaking bonding a teenager is best done with an older piggy (as you have already tried when bonding him with Winston) or for them to be neutered and bonded with a sow.
I know some rescues wouldn’t attempt to bond two teen boars due to the heightened hormones and risk of fall out. A teen boar in those circumstances in a rescue would most likely be neutered and bonded with a sow.
If the rescue which is an hour away from you are able to help, then the preference would be to take their assistance in finding a friend rather than risk an on spec bonding with a pet shop baby given you don’t have the space to take the risk of three single boars.
The two month wait wouldn’t be an issue if reggie and Winston can interact side by side. The issue comes that hutches dont lend themselves well to side by side living.

He may take to a new baby while he is baby but there is no telling months down the line what’ll happen when they are both hormonal. And if you get a pet shop piggy, it’s going to be around 2 months old so the start of the baby’s teens will match up with Reggie being about 6 months old and at his highest hormone output.
With any on spec bonding you have to have a back up plan for living arrangements for if the bond fails either straight away or when they are both hormonal.

I have had Dexter and popcorn who are the same age bonded as youngsters, came to me at 4 months old and happily still together five years later.
I also have Wilbur and a Hugo bonded as young babies, came to me at 9 weeks old and fell out just 9 weeks later. Theyve lived separately for 10 months now. (I knew there was a risk when taking these two on given their ages).

This is why I was trying to come up with ways such as splitting the bottom half of the hutch in half side by side so reggie and Winston could live beside each other (Potentially with no other piggy added in with Reggie).
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I am/was wary of this, which is why I feel so hesitant. I just cant decide what to do.
Is there any chance Reggie will be calmer with the baby or will he constantly “dominate” and hump.

I am willing to take the risk of then falling out later on, as I am aware it all comes down to personality.
Thankfully we have a family holiday in dundee booked for around 2 months time, so worst case scenario I would probably take the new baby to the rescue in dundee so they could hopefully get home a new home with a new friend and perhaps even pick up an older friend to try and bond with Reggie.

Just to make it clear this baby is not easily dispensable, it’s just I wouldn’t have the ability to house three separate pigs and getting him a new friend and a new home would give him the best chance.
 
Piggies&buns said:
The issue is that you just never know - every bonding is unique and it’s all down to their character.
We would love to say to you that bonding a teen with a baby always goes smoothly but the fact is, it doesn’t, there is no guarantee and any on spec bonding - even with adults - comes with a risk of failure.

As I say, I have two sets of piggies with similar ages bonded - one worked, one didn’t. It’s just the way it goes.

What will you do if bonding reggie with another fails?

Can I link this thread back into your other thread, so all the background and the discussions we had last night about the reasons behind it and the various housing solutions discussed are together or would you rather it’s kept separate?
Click to expand...
I kept it separate as there was quite a lot of discussion in the last one and I was worried it would all get lost together, but if you think it would be better together then that’s alright.

If the bonding failed, I guess I would take the baby back to pets at home (I assume they would take the baby back) and hopefully he would find a new loving home elsewhere.
Then Reggie would be kept by himself until I could make the decision to try again with a baby, try an older male or neuter him.
 
piggl said:
I am/was wary of this, which is why I feel so hesitant. I just cant decide what to do.
Is there any chance Reggie will be calmer with the baby or will he constantly “dominate” and hump.

I am willing to take the risk of then falling out later on, as I am aware it all comes down to personality.
Thankfully we have a family holiday in dundee booked for around 2 months time, so worst case scenario I would probably take the new baby to the rescue in dundee so they could hopefully get home a new home with a new friend and perhaps even pick up an older friend to try and bond with Reggie.

Just to make it clear this baby is not easily dispensable, it’s just I wouldn’t have the ability to house three separate pigs and getting him a new friend and a new home would give him the best chance.
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No there isn’t a guaranteed chance he will be calmer. Said baby may already come with his own dominance ideas, he’s not necessarily going to be a timid baby when faced with reggie and trying to form a bond.

I understand, don’t worry. Rehoming a baby in the event of failure would have to be the steps a lot of people would need to take. Believe me, I have three cages and it’s not easy and thats even with the fact I have the space to have them like that!

piggl said:
I kept it separate as there was quite a lot of discussion in the last one and I was worried it would all get lost together, but if you think it would be better together then that’s alright.

If the bonding failed, I guess I would take the baby back to pets at home (do they take babies back) and hopefully he would find a new loving home elsewhere.
Then Reggie would be kept by himself until I could make the decision to try again with a baby, try an older male or neuter him.
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Yes, that’s fine. We can leave it separate. There was a lot of discussion on there but it also explains the issues and why you can’t have them side by side now.

I think if you tried to return him to pets at home, he may go into their ‘adoption’ section.

As long as you’ve got a plan and are prepared for things to not necessarily go smoothly, then that is all you can do
 
I’ve measured the table across from them and it’s only 60x120 so I don’t think it will fit either of the hutches (the 4ft or the 5ft).
(please excuse the image, the garage isn’t the nicest to look at)

I could put him underneath the table, probably with some sort of wood/pallet underneath him to get the bottom of the hutch off the concrete.
You can see it is a decent bit away but hopefully he will be able to smell/hear them and then I will probably run share them like what betsy does with her girls, so every second day he will be right up against their hutch and get a chance to stretch his legs.

A good thing is the run covers up about 3/4 of that black mat on the ground so during the day if Winston is on the floor they may be able to see each other or atleast be able to smell and hear each other better. Worst case scenario I move Winstons hutch towards the run on Reggie and friends day to be in it.

Edit - I forgot most hutches come with legs anyway, so he will probably be equal to the hutch, a bit higher than the run and quite easy to move back and forth.
 

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I wouldn’t think the hutch would fit underneath the table, unless I’m misunderstanding what you mean.

The hutch with roof overhang comes to bigger than 120 so it wouldn’t fit between the legs even if it fit underneath height wise
 
In all honesty i’m not very good at imagining the size of things without seeing them firsthand, so i’m really struggling to gage how/where it would fit.

Would a 60x120 table be able to support a 73x122 hutch? I guess not really.

Perhaps my best bet would be the 5ft one at 65x154, as at least it’s mostly supported by the table width wise.
 
piggl said:
In all honesty i’m not very good at imagining the size of things without seeing them firsthand, so i’m really struggling to gage how/where it would fit.

Would a 60x120 table be able to support a 73x122 hutch? I guess not really.

Perhaps my best bet would be the 5ft one at 65x154, as at least it’s mostly supported by the table width wise.
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You couldn’t put either the 4 or 5ft hutches on the table. It wouldn’t be safe or secure. The table will have to be removed for the hutch to fit in that gap (the hutch needs to go directly on the floor).
 
Last question, I promise 😂

Does the depth of the 4ft one make up for the length. I cant figure out if the almost 10m extra of width makes up the length.
4ft - 73x122
5ft - 65x154
 
The 4ft hutch is not 73cm deep. It’s 65cm, as they all are regardless of their length. (external measurements)
The 4ft hutch is considered minimum space for a single piggy so it is fine. A 5ft is better if you can fit that in though.
 
I’ve spoken to my mum and she won’t allow me to spend that much on a new hutch unfortunately, even if it is my money.

She has found an old bluebell hutch for £70 on facebook that she has inquired about.
I plan to remove the ramp and just have Winston on the bottom and storage on the top. Is that acceptable, space wise?

Obviously this means I can’t move it closer to the run if and when I want but he will still have his time in the run every second day which should hopefully help.
 
piggl said:
I’ve spoken to my mum and she won’t allow me to spend that much on a new hutch unfortunately, even if it is my money.

She has found an old bluebell hutch for £70 on facebook that she has inquired about.
I plan to remove the ramp and just have Winston on the bottom and storage on the top. Is that acceptable, space wise?

Obviously this means I can’t move it closer to the run if and when I want but he will still have his time in the run every second day which should hopefully help.
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Yes it’s absolutely fine. A bluebell is 5 foot so no different to the Chartwell you were looking at.
 
Great!

I do have a new question, now I know this is going forward. Is there any advice you could give me on making this change.

Is there anyway I can get them to say “goodbye”? Is there an amount of time I have to wait from removing them from each other to having Reggie meet his new potential friend.
I’m just wondering if it’s best to introduce him to his new friend straight away say a hour or two after separation or do they both need time to settle down.

Something i’m really worried about is when I separate them but they are still able to hear each other, Reggie will get all nervous and they’ll end up running around trying to find each other, as they aren’t able to see one another through the bars but can still smell and hear each other.
 
piggl said:
Great!

I do have a new question, now I know this is going forward. Is there any advice you could give me on making this change.

Is there anyway I can get them to say “goodbye”? Is there an amount of time I have to wait from removing them from each other to having Reggie meet his new potential friend.
I’m just wondering if it’s best to introduce him to his new friend straight away say a hour or two after separation or do they both need time to settle down.

Something i’m really worried about is when I separate them but they are still able to hear each other, Reggie will get all nervous and they’ll end up running around trying to find each other, as they aren’t able to see one another through the bars but can still smell and hear each other.
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You can’t make them say goodbye - they have no idea what is happening.

You’ll have to see how reggie is coping, whether he needs another friend immediately or whether it can wait is going to depend on him.
They are going to be running about trying to find each other - it’s going to be a change for them, you need to expect that.
 
Piggies&buns said:
You can’t make them say goodbye - they have no idea what is happening.

You’ll have to see how reggie is coping, whether he needs another friend immediately or whether it can wait is going to depend on him.
They are going to be running about trying to find each other - it’s going to be a change for them, you need to expect that.
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Okay thanks.
I wasn’t sure if there was a ‘chain of events’ I should be following, but obviously every pig is different and it will be a big change.

Last question/s (for now😂), would it be helpful for winston to have something that smells of Reggie in his cage or distressing?

Also I do have extra grids that I could make a temporary set-up alongside the run, so perhaps even on days when reggie and friend have the run Winston can go alongside them for an hour or two?
I’m just not sure of the difference between fun meeting time and upsetting/confusing action by being near Reggie and friend for a bit and then moved back to his own area?

Thanks again, I cant say it enough. You’ve really helped in this situation and Winston would have probably ended up alone in my bedroom without your input.
 
piggl said:
Okay thanks.
I wasn’t sure if there was a ‘chain of events’ I should be following, but obviously every pig is different and it will be a big change.

Last question/s (for now😂), would it be helpful for winston to have something that smells of Reggie in his cage or distressing?

Also I do have extra grids that I could make a temporary set-up alongside the run, so perhaps even on days when reggie and friend have the run Winston can go alongside them for an hour or two?
I’m just not sure of the difference between fun meeting time and upsetting/confusing action by being near Reggie and friend for a bit and then moved back to his own area?

Thanks again, I cant say it enough. You’ve really helped in this situation and Winston would have probably ended up alone in my bedroom without your input.
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I'm happy to help you!

To be honest, I’d not put anything in winston’s cage that smells of Reggie.

Yes winston absolutely can and should be alongside Reggie and friend as much as possible. If you can use grids to do it then definitely go ahead. It will not upset him and having as much side by side interaction as possible is only ever a good thing.
 
Would you pick a chartwell 5ft or a bluebell hutch. We messaged someone about a bluebell hutch this morning but they have not got back yet and a listing has just came up for a 5ft chartwell thats already insulated for £80. I kind of had my heart set on the matching bluebells but I can not be sure if/when the people will get back to me on the bluebell as the listing was posted over 2 months ago.
 
piggl said:
Would you pick a chartwell 5ft or a bluebell hutch. We messaged someone about a bluebell hutch this morning but they have not got back yet and a listing has just came up for a 5ft chartwell thats already insulated for £80. I kind of had my heart set on the matching bluebells but I can not be sure if/when the people will get back to me on the bluebell as the listing was posted over 2 months ago.
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In your situation where the hutch isn’t outside, I think I’d probably go for the bluebell. It’s cheaper, saves you getting covers etc if it’s already insulated etc

Size wise the Chartwell is probably slightly larger internally and is better built but it doesn’t make a huge difference all things considered with them being in your garage etc
 
The chartwell is the insulated one. I just cant make my mind up but we haven’t heard back from neither yet so i’m probably going to wait and make a decision tomorrow.

The bluebell gives me more options for storage and fills in the space better, and it would also look cute being symmetrical with my other one but the chartwell is more sturdy and has a foil wrapping around it already (even though it would be easy to get insulation), and i’m hoping we are more likely to get a reply (for the chartwell) as it was only just posted whereas the bluebell listing is months old.

The struggle of it all 😆
 
piggl said:
The chartwell is the insulated one. I just cant make my mind up but we haven’t heard back from neither yet so i’m probably going to wait and make a decision tomorrow.

The bluebell gives me more options for storage and fills in the space better, and it would also look cute being symmetrical with my other one but the chartwell is more sturdy and has a foil wrapping around it already (even though it would be easy to get insulation), and i’m hoping we are more likely to get a reply (for the chartwell) as it was only just posted whereas the bluebell listing is months old.

The struggle of it all 😆
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Oh sorry, I read it correctly and then posted incorrectly!
It doesn’t matter really which one you get. It would be nice if they match but chartwells are nice hutches and as I say probably a bit bigger internally
 
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