I’m bonding my 5.5 year old boar with a new 6 month old boar after his cage mate passed. So far, it’s going quite well. The groomed each other through the bars last night and popcorned after. The older one went to the bars this morning to look for the younger one. And the younger one was biting on the bars like he wanted to get through and join the older one. The only hesitation I have is that the younger one seems far more eager to interact. The older one does initiate interaction and look for him and respond positively, but he also tends to do his own thing more often than not. I hate to keep the little one alone when he’s so eager to be with the older one, but I also don’t want to move too quickly for the older one. Their cage has only been touching for under 24 hours. Would it be a mistake to introduce them to each other in a neutral place this evening? How long should I wait if it’s too soon?
Bonding two boars
- Thread starter Aaaaa7
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- boar bond help
You need to be guided by them - there are no rules, some need bonding sooner, some need at least a week. If they are settled then you can put them in neutral territory.
You need to have an entire day free for bonding - they could need 12 hours in the bonding pen or potentially even overnight - so I personally would not leave it until an evening to start bonding.
You need to have an entire day free for bonding - they could need 12 hours in the bonding pen or potentially even overnight - so I personally would not leave it until an evening to start bonding.
The older one did some rumbling, so I think it’s too soon.
How exactly does the bonding process go then? I read some stuff online, but then people on this forum said it was inaccurate so I’m confused on what I should be doing for the next step. I was just going to let them play for a bit in my room as it’s always been pig free and probably separate them again and keep doing that for awhile until they got used to each other.
Rumbling does not mean it is too soon - they are going to rumble all the time. Rumbling is a normal dominance behaviour - it’s a way of sizing each other up. They will do it throughout their entire lives together.
You are looking to ensure any power lie ins (laying together at the barrier - this isn’t necessarily a friendly sign and is rather a territory marking behaviour) or other guarding of the barrier have stopped. You don’t want to bind while there are any of these territorial behaviours going on or while any pig is still nervous or scared. It doesn’t sound like they are scared and hiding though. A scared pig is likely to overreact and be defensive and thus mean the bonding is tense and likely unsuccessful.
No, that isn’t how you bond. You cannot put them together to play and then separate them repeatedly. Doing that will cause a huge amount of stress and frustration. Every time you separate, you cause bonding to stop entirely. This means they have to start from the beginning next time only for it to end up being stopped again - meaning they never get far enough into the bonding process to actually bond.
Bonding is a one time event seen to conclusion, whether that is success or failure, on that one day.
You put them on neutral territory with just hay and water (no hides should be in the bonding pen) and leave them together in the pen all day and potentially overnight (this is why a pen is better than just leaving them to roam in a room) if there are any hierarchy sort outs still going on.
Their time in neutral territory needs to be at least several hours - you never want to rush this part, the longer they are in neutral the better.
If all goes well in neutral territory, you clean out the cage they are to live in together and then move them back to their cage together. You do not ever separate after successful introduction.
They will then spend the next two weeks sorting out the fine details of the hierarchy.
If it doesn’t go well in neutral territory on bonding day, then the bonding is a failure and you have to put them back in separate cages and leave them permanently separate.
