can a trio work?

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gizmo01

gizmo01

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hello all i have 3 fantasic young boars 2 are a bonded pair aged 1 year and the other 9 months. Then we have young rocky who is 5 months ideally (haha foolish more like) i would like to get a 5 foot by 3 foot 2 level C&C cage for them but first i would like them to make friends now gizmo (the one year old and alpha male) and piglet (the 9 month old softie) get along famously as do rocky who is a recent addition and piglet. i am having issues with gizmo the grouch and rocky as although they aren't fighting yet there is alot of arguing chattering rumblestrutting and dry humping..... They have only been introduced at floor time and to be fair i have only been trying the last 3 days i am aware it can take months what i would like to know is how can i get it right I'm sure if they wanted to destroy each other they would have tried already i know they will get on as they cuddle when they think i am not look :)rolleyes please help
 
hello again some success to report i gave rocky and gizmo a bit of a break for a couple of days then let them play for half an hour in separate rooms of the house once rocky had calmed down a bit i opened the door to the rooms. rocky and gizmo acted like long lost brothers so i let them play for half an hour more before putting them back and no arguements. i can hear them calling as a write
 
gizmo01 said:
hello again some success to report i gave rocky and gizmo a bit of a break for a couple of days then let them play for half an hour in separate rooms of the house once rocky had calmed down a bit i opened the door to the rooms. rocky and gizmo acted like long lost brothers so i let them play for half an hour more before putting them back and no arguements. i can hear them calling as a write
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That is great news! I have a trio (dad and 2 sons) and they get on fine but I wondered if I was just lucky. Great when it works isn't it.
 
i think I'm just gonna take it easy with them limit them to half an hour play time with each other i am aware of their need to sort out a heirachy but I'm sure if they wanted to do any serious harm they would have done so by now I'm hoping rewarding them with veggies will train them all is good lol
 
no necessary. I had my rex with a young 10 week old boar and they were living quite happily together for a month and then the rex decided to attack him twice and now he just has pure hatred for him if he sees him through the bars.
 
They can work, but obviously it's another pig so another risk of fighting. It seems like a good few people have had trios (or more) work though.
 
Ive had 2 sets of trios but all of the pigs were very docile and I trusted them all with any pigs.
 
just had them out in totally neutral teritorry and no arguements the occasional bossy nip off gizmo directed at rocky but so far no confrontations rocky keeps backing down piglet bless him needs a referee uniform as he constantly splits them up :)
 
well all being well i plan on building a 13-15 square foot 2 level hutch for them and sell one of the hutches they are in already
 
i think they are finally accepting each other :) there is the odd wrestle but it seems good natured as they both popcorn away after :) paws crossed
 
back to square one i think giz and rocky keep chattering teeth at each other but it stops after 45 sec and they team up on wrecking the skirting boards my just be standard boar behaviour ill give them a month before i try housing them together
 
Ive never tried a trrio as my 4 boys live in pairs - however when it came to bonding each pair initially, i was given the following advice:

- DO NOT keep separating them - once you put them together if no fight break out they must stay together - once you've committed there's no going back.

Not sure if it's the same with trio's but certainly for pairs i was told that short frequent meetings do absolutely nothing for the bonding process and in fact actually hinders more so than helps. What could be a successful bonding can be ruined easily. Different to sows, with boars each meeting is like them meeting for the first time and only disrupts any relationship hierarchy. Each time you separate then put them back together they are forced to re-establish exactly who's 'boss' again.

My 4 boys used to come out altogether for floor/play time and got on like a house on fire the first 10 or so times they met. Problem was each time they did meet the two dominant males of the pairings had to keep trying to sort out who was 'top-dog', the rumbling and chasing got so bad that one day an attempted mount by one of them caused the other to see red - lucky i was always prepared and threw a towel over one of them.

I am 100% sure this is because they were put together and then separated time and time again.

Just something to consider - if you want a successful trio i would advise the stopping of short daily meetings as i don't think this is doing anything for them bonding wise. :)
 
Sodapops said:
Ive never tried a trrio as my 4 boys live in pairs - however when it came to bonding each pair initially, i was given the following advice:

- DO NOT keep separating them - once you put them together if no fight break out they must stay together - once you've committed there's no going back.

Not sure if it's the same with trio's but certainly for pairs i was told that short frequent meetings do absolutely nothing for the bonding process and in fact actually hinders more so than helps. What could be a successful bonding can be ruined easily. Different to sows, with boars each meeting is like them meeting for the first time and only disrupts any relationship hierarchy. Each time you separate then put them back together they are forced to re-establish exactly who's 'boss' again.

My 4 boys used to come out altogether for floor/play time and got on like a house on fire the first 10 or so times they met. Problem was each time they did meet the two dominant males of the pairings had to keep trying to sort out who was 'top-dog', the rumbling and chasing got so bad that one day an attempted mount by one of them caused the other to see red - lucky i was always prepared and threw a towel over one of them.

I am 100% sure this is because they were put together and then separated time and time again.

Just something to consider - if you want a successful trio i would advise the stopping of short daily meetings as i don't think this is doing anything for them bonding wise. :)
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i can see your point but the reason i split them outside of floortime is supervision its just easer to watch them when they are out
 
When i paired up my boys i did it in the morning so that i had all day to supervise them.

It's entirely up to you how you play it and only you know your boys - but i really do think the short meetings are more of a hindrance than a help in the long term. Maybe i'm completely wrong and things are different when it comes to bonding trio's, but the advice not to keep giving them short meetings was done so by the very people on this forum who's advice has been 100% accurate. I'm pretty sure the rescue's do it this way too...

Short meetings do nothing in the long term for boars - like others have already stated with trio's problems occur weeks/months down the line if they are ever going to happen.

Good luck - i hope it works out for you :)
 
Sodapops said:
When i paired up my boys i did it in the morning so that i had all day to supervise them.

It's entirely up to you how you play it and only you know your boys - but i really do think the short meetings are more of a hindrance than a help in the long term. Maybe i'm completely wrong and things are different when it comes to bonding trio's, but the advice not to keep giving them short meetings was done so by the very people on this forum who's advice has been 100% accurate. I'm pretty sure the rescue's do it this way too...

Short meetings do nothing in the long term for boars - like others have already stated with trio's problems occur weeks/months down the line if they are ever going to happen.

Good luck - i hope it works out for you :)
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i also need to get a hutch suitable for 3 as its only big enough for 2 so rocky is in one on his own aswell they do call for each other and we have 3 of everything
 
gizmo01 said:
i also need to get a hutch suitable for 3 as its only big enough for 2 so rocky is in one on his own aswell they do call for each other and we have 3 of everything
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If you don't have a cage/hutch big enough to put all three in anyways then i would hold off on any more 'meetings' until you can do it properly and commit to it fully. I know every pig is different, but in my experience of offering boars short frequent meetings, i now have 4 boys that wont play nice even for 10mins!!

I really hope it all works out for you, and your boys can become a happy trio ;)
 
thanks for all your help the 'meetings' tend to be floor time of around 3-4 hours 5 if they r really hyper
 
Like i said, when you separate boars then re-introduce them daily, each time they meet is like them starting at stage one all over again (pretty much like they've never met before) - you are not allowing them to establish and sort out their dominance as each time they are taken away and put back together they have to do it all over again.

You obviously know what you are doing - i wish you luck with your trio :)

I know what happened with my four boys - and that was just them attempting to share floor time! I never had any intentions of ever having them live together...
 
they live in cages on top of each other * can't remove one the crying from all of them gets unbearable
 
If they are crying when you separate them, then that is a good sign :) I would take it as a hint they they all want to be together - it's for that reason that if you want them to establish a solid relationship then the best thing you can do right now is wait until you have a home big enough for all 3 to share...

When you have a cage/hutch big enough for all three then start the bonding process by putting all 3 together in neutral territory and observe for a few hours from a distance. If no fights break out, then put all three in to their new home and continue to observe. If you can commit to the bonding process first thing in the morning then you will have all day to supervise and check everything is ok.

All three in the meantime can still share floor time - but i would be inclined to do it in a way that they can still see/touch one another but they are separate - is there any way you can separate their run/area during floor time.?
 
yeah keep gizmo and piglet in the lounge and rocky in the kitchen with a chicken wire divide we tried this and the noise was making me feel guilty :S
 
You sure you have 3 boys? Only reason why i ask is because when i didn't know better and didn't know how to sex a guinea pig i was mis-sold a boy whom i put with my first boar - and he went crazy screaming for him when i separated them (before coming on here and finding the proper procedure for bonding) - turns out 5wks down the line my second guinea pig was in fact a girl - hence the crying for her when i took her away!

Could you be mistaking their crying for them actually talking to one another? I know i much rather hear them wheeking than chattering their teeth.....

I'm no expert and the advice i'm giving you is what i was given when i joined this forum - it's what i've also seen advised to many others who are trying to bond boars - maybe it's a completely different procedure for trio's?

Keep us updated on how things are going - fingers crossed your method works out - it's always nice to hear of a happy ending :)
 
Sodapops said:
You sure you have 3 boys? Only reason why i ask is because when i didn't know better and didn't know how to sex a guinea pig i was mis-sold a boy whom i put with my first boar - and he went crazy screaming for him when i separated them (before coming on here and finding the proper procedure for bonding) - turns out 5wks down the line my second guinea pig was in fact a girl - hence the crying for her when i took her away!

Could you be mistaking their crying for them actually talking to one another? I know i much rather hear them wheeking than chattering their teeth.....

I'm no expert and the advice i'm giving you is what i was given when i joined this forum - it's what i've also seen advised to many others who are trying to bond boars - maybe it's a completely different procedure for trio's?

Keep us updated on how things are going - fingers crossed your method works out - it's always nice to hear of a happy ending :)
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we did think gizmo was a girl before we had rocky as he/she/it put on 3/4 of a pound in just 10 days there has been no weight change since then surely if gizmo was a girly then piglet and rocky would be at each other ?
 
all 3 boyos in 13 square foot cage now they cant seem to be without each other arguements are getting less rocky is getting calmer and the teeth chattering as virtually stopped they must be up to something...............
 
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