Bonding Neutered Boar With 3 Girls - Help Please!

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Jill1974

Jill1974

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I have three bonded girls, the dominant being my beautiful Alice. I recently was given a neutered boar (Leo), as his cage mate (boar) died and Leo-pig was very depressed!
So I read everything I could about bonding them, used the huge conservatory, large veggie buffet, lap snuggles near each other, scent swap, and Alice went for him!
Initially she chattered and rumbled her displeasure when he attempted to mount her she nipped him several times when he got too close. Leo just chattered and rumble strutted.
Alice climbed into the open hay tray with Leo? Erm, again he tried to push her dominant little head down and she flew at him. I separateď quicky using a towel - no injuries. Alice is a feisty little fur piggy. My question is, is there any hope of a happy piggy life together in the piggy palace?
Leo is the most beautiful, calm and well behaved pig. He deserves to be happy with friends. Advice please?
 
Bonding can look and sound awful, and frankly I found it terrifying, but if no blood is being drawn, then they are just 'discussing' the hierarchy in their own language.
When I bonded our current group there was lots of nipping, shrieking, chattering, and fur being yanked out, but at no stage did anyone sustain a single wound.
It took a while and nerves of steel, but now they are a very happy little group (1 neutered male and 3 sows).

I would say that if no blood is being drawn then they are still just working it out and it should be ok.
The photo threads and descriptions on here helped me enormously - maybe try having a look at those.
 
I hate bonding :( My boys are still working it out. I wish I could just tell them to suck it up and all be friends! So long as there is no blood being drawn, then let them work it out.
 
Thank you for your replies
I am going to try them again, the other two sows just accepted him after he'd humped them . Alice isn't keen on giving up her 'I'm the boss' title and although laid back, Leo wants to be king? They did nip each other and tussle, but shall try again .
 
Keep going unless there is a serious problem. Mine have been together nearly 2 weeks and they've calmed right down, but there's still teeth chattering happening. Yet other times they're right little angels!
 
Jill1974 said:
Thank you for your replies
I am going to try them again, the other two sows just accepted him after he'd humped them . Alice isn't keen on giving up her 'I'm the boss' title and although laid back, Leo wants to be king? They did nip each other and tussle, but shall try again .
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It is coming down to whether Alice and Leo will come to a settlement about who of them is boss - cross gender/group bondings can fail at this stage if that crucial decision cannot be amicably resolved. If the two end up in a tussle, then the bonding has failed.

Some laid-back guinea pigs can be very dominant - my Iola is one of them, and it has been very difficult for me to find her a new partner after Mali and Terfel passed away within 3 weeks of each other.

Dominance is the kudos a piggy carries with it to determine the standing within a hierarchy, which is at the bottom of any piggy society; laid-back is the general outlook on life and describes rather the style than the standing. ;)
 
Thank you, I suspected this to be the case. I have to hand it to her, she is less than half his size but stood her ground. I will try them together again, but I fear little miss feisty has made her decision. It's why we think the world of her!
Thank you everyone for taking the time to send helpful messages .
 
Jill1974 said:
Thank you, I suspected this to be the case. I have to hand it to her, she is less than half his size but stood her ground. I will try them together again, but I fear little miss feisty has made her decision. It's why we think the world of her!
Thank you everyone for taking the time to send helpful messages .
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Once piggies have made up their mind that somebody is not "us", then there is nothing you can do to change their mind. This is the phase when cross gender and group bondings can fail after initial acceptance has happened. Once you are past that, fall-outs are extremely rare and usually only caused by medical/medical separation issues.

I have got a number of older sows who all want to come on top instead of living peacefully together. By now, I can open a shop with the t-shirts I've got from trying to find a solution for each of them! :mal:
 
Such funny and determined little furries .
Well, back to the drawing board for me .
Thanks again everyone!
 
Good luck with Snowy, you need nerves of steele!
It could go swimmingly, just my Alice being picky
Let us know how you get on
 
I was considering adopting another female or 2 to go with my neutered boar and his wife pig but I am concerned about upsetting Their liitle relationship. Certainly food for thought but I would love to give another piggie or two a forever home.
 
karenben said:
I was considering adopting another female or 2 to go with my neutered boar and his wife pig but I am concerned about upsetting Their liitle relationship. Certainly food for thought but I would love to give another piggie or two a forever home.
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The best way is to go via a place that allows you to date your pair with the prospective piggies, so you come home only with more if they have taken to each other. As the dominance phase immediately follows initial acceptance, you will know within 30-60 minutes whether things are heading in the right direction or not.

If that is not possible, the next best way is to adopt two younger and much smaller sows that cannot challenge the existing hierarchy and that change the dynamics from a pair to small group dynamics. By adopting a pair, you can much more easily avoid any outsider situation that is such a common problem with trios and also circumvent the fact that a happily bonded cross gender pair will not necessary welcome a third one.
This is how I started to build up my Tribe initially, and it worked very well for me. I was initially very careful to only adopt either submissive sows or ones with a group background, so they would fit in without challenging the existing hierarchy. ;)

A "husboar" is part of the overall hierarchy, but not of the sow hierarchy. He just fits into the hierarchy according to his kudos; I have both dominant husboars and submissive ones, depending on whether I have to build a group around a dominant sow or husboar! Problems arise when he and the top sow both challenge for leadership of the group, as most undersows will accept their top sow's decision and will accept any husboar she is fine with.

Normally, it is the sows that associate with a boar of their choice and form a little core group to bring up any babies between them. In a pet environment, this is not possible.
 
Karenben, you need piggy dating! :nod:

A few rescue centre's offer this service, they take your piggies and try to 'match' them to rescue piggies. If it doesn't work you are not left with 2 seperate groups.
Good luck!
 
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