Bonding advice?!

[MerryPip]

Just wondered if what is happening with my boys is the norm...

Merry lost his brother earlier this year and a few weeks ago we got him a mate, Suilven who is now 5 1/2 weeks old, after some boar dating with Helen at The Potteries.

They were inseperable to start with and ate together, slept together and Suilven followed Merry everywhere. Merry was really protective and was really miffed if you took Suilven out of his sight.

Suilven's been with us two weeks now and he's starting to turnm into a real cocky chap. He bosses Merry around like mad, steals his toys and the past few days he has been humping Merry all the time. The thing is Merry is getting quieter and quieter and seems to have given up telling the baby off about most things. He even kicks him out of his own house.

I don't want to have to re-home Suilven again but I need Merry to be happy. We only got him a friend as he was struggling on his own. It looks like Suilven will be dominant pig but we can't have him being bullied.

Any advice about whether this is normal or how to sort them out?

 

[Wiebke]

It is not unnormal and can happen. How old is Suilven? He sounds like he's hit the hormones. Please remember that when dominance changes, it is most extreme at first during what I call the "assertion" phase; usually it settles down again afterwards when the dominance issues has been sorted; that take up to two weeks.

Best make sure that you have got everything in twos - hideys, bowls etc. all well spaced apart from the other item. See whether that helps.

If things escalate further, I would separate them for a short time. The acid test is usually when the bullied piggy perks up when he is alone; if both want to be back together then you know that everything is still OK.

 

[MerryPip]

Suilven's only 5 and a half weeks old but he's growing into a big lad at a rate of nots. They are still keen to be together like lap time etc. so we will see what happens.

My partner is just worried it's not the best for Merry.

 

[x-vic-x]

I guess Suilven is starting to feel more confident in his new home and with Merry. I wouldn't have thought he would have hit the hormonal stage yet, but all piggies are different.

Hope they can sort it out.

 

[Wiebke]

Suilven's only 5 and a half weeks old but he's growing into a big lad at a rate of nots. They are still keen to be together like lap time etc. so we will see what happens.

My partner is just worried it's not the best for Merry.

If they still want to be with each other then it is just a matter of letting them sort out their relationship; let them get on with that - boars often take much longer than girls. So far, it doesn't sound like it has gone any further than normal dominance behaviour from the little one, who seems to be testing how far he can push Merry. Merry will hopefully put his foot down when he's had enough and that will be it.

Here is more about boar behaviour and a list of which behaviours show aggression: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

 

[MerryPip]

Thanks for the info. That thread on boar behaviour is really interesting. I recognise the descriptions of behaviour in past groups of boars and nothing particularly heated has happened. More like Merry getting a bit hacked off with Suilven sometimes.

Suilven just has so much energy. They are tolerating cuddles apart more now so we are trying to give them time out that way and maybe some seperate floortime for Suilven to run off some energy would be good as Merry can't be bothered running lots these days.

I will think about making tehm a bigger space too even if it's just temporary so that they can have their own space more often.