Dealing with teenage boar testosterone spike

Cait_lin

Cait_lin

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My two boars, Moss and Pumpkin, are 6-8 months old and seem to be going through a testosterone spike. Pumpkin has always been the dominant piggy and Moss has always been very submissive so it works quite well. The boys rumblestrut and teeth chatter a lot and sometimes toss their heads at each other but it never goes beyond that. Moss stands up for himself briefly and then backs down and retreats, and Pumpkin never chases him once he's left his territory. This morning I was trying to video Moss eating some hay because he looked really cute and then Pumpkin just came up and nipped him (video down below). Since then, Pumpkin's been rumblestrutting more, following Moss at times which he doesn't usually do -- it's always Moss goes somewhere where Pumpkin doesn't want him to be, then Pumpkin rumbles at him, Moss rumbles back and then retreats and Pumpkin is happy and leaves him alone. There's been more intense head-tossing and sort of rearing up as though they're about to fight. I'm keeping an eye on them but I can't be with them all hours of the day and I'm just worried about it escalating to more aggressive behaviour or a full-on fight where someone gets injured. While typing this, Pumpkin was moving towards Moss, who was drinking at one of the water bottles (I have two specifically so they don't get territorial over one and I've never seen Pumpkin be territorial over the water bottles before), and looking like he was about to nip him again so I quickly moved which frightened them both, unfortunately. Moss ran into a hide and a few minutes later Pumpkin also ran into the hide (he wasn't scared, which is the only reason one of the boys has ever gone into the same hide as the other before now, and there was another hide nearby so there was no reason for him to go in there other than to annoy Moss) and then ran back out again, leaving Moss chattering his teeth at him.
Took a break writing this to take Moss out of the cage because he was still in the hide and very quiet. Checked on him and put him in a carrier with some hay while I weighed Pumpkin, then weighed Moss. After I put them back in the cage together Pumpkin has been a bit less aggressive and now it's completely cooled down. They were eating hay together a few minutes ago and Moss has even been popcorning. They're basically back to their normal dynamic but I don't know when to expect it to go downhill again for a bit. I've been reading the guides Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs and Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next? but I still want to ask, to anyone who has or has had boars, how do you deal with the testosterone spikes? What do you do when you have to leave them alone and don't know if there will suddenly be aggression again, and is there a point (other than a full-blown fight or bad bite where blood is drawn) where you have temporarily separated your boars for their safety? Thank you so much.
 
First, the orange fleece hide and the black fleece hide with stars should be removed. Hides with only one door should not be used for teen boars. Hides should always have two ways out, as a single exit hide runs the risk of one piggy trapping the other inside and that is when bad fights can happen inside with no way out.

Nipping is a gesture of power, it isn’t aggression as such.
While behaviours remain in the normal dominance realm, you do nothing.
If it becomes intense and goes on for a long time, aren’t calming down, looks like a fight might happen, then you can separate for a day or so to allow the spike to settle. You then have to reintroduce on neutral territory.
However this is never something to do often or to do lightly. Due to the fact they will reestablish when you put them back together you will see dominance behaviours again, and if separations are done too much they may not go back together.
It can sometimes be that they decide they preferred their time alone.

I had to separate Dexter and Popcorn once due to a hormone spike but they weren’t teens at the time - they were about 2 years old and it was spring fever. They were only apart a couple of hours actually, and it never happened again in all their six years together
 
Piggies&buns said:
First, the orange fleece hide and the black fleece hide with stars should be removed. Hides with only one door should not be used for teen boars. Hides should always have two ways out, as a single exit hide runs the risk of one piggy trapping the other inside and that is when bad fights can happen inside with no way out.

Nipping is a gesture of power, it isn’t aggression as such.
While behaviours remain in the normal dominance realm, you do nothing.
If it becomes intense and goes on for a long time, aren’t calming down, looks like a fight might happen, then you can separate for a day or so to allow the spike to settle. You then have to reintroduce on neutral territory.
However this is never something to do often or to do lightly. Due to the fact they will reestablish when you put them back together you will see dominance behaviours again, and if separations are done too much they may not go back together.
It can sometimes be that they decide they preferred their time alone.

I had to separate Dexter and Popcorn once due to a hormone spike but they weren’t teens at the time - they were about 2 years old and it was spring fever. They were only apart a couple of hours actually, and it never happened again in all their six years together
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Oh my gosh, I didn't even consider that, thank you so much! I've removed both those hides and after reading what you said and reading through the guides again I've changed the layout of the cage to give each boy their own mini territory, with the hay box in the middle of the cage instead of at one end. I will also move the right-hand water bottle along two grids when I put fresh water in in a little bit, and probably move some things over slightly to avoid leaving areas where one pig could corner the other.
Ok, that's good to know. Some of Pumpkin's behaviour, like the running into the hide when Moss was in there, did seem like him reminding Moss that he's in charge, rather than him trying to hurt Moss, but the more aggressive behaviour does scare me a little. I think I just need to calm down a little, stop freaking out and just let them work things out on their own unless it gets too intense.
Hopefully with the new layout Pumpkin will be happier to have his own clear territory, and Moss will have more space to run away when Pumpkin gets in his face. Oh, I've never heard of spring fever, I should definitely read up on that. Aw I'm glad they didn't have to be apart for long! Popcorn is a perfect guinea pig name ⭐
Thank you so much again for your help!
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It looked like a move along nose but with teeth contact but not an actual bite. Moss seems happy to give way, but you do want to avoid corners where he could get stuck and panic. Perhaps spread the hay flat in various places so there is easy access to it without the risk of being nipped or nose butted. Scattering pellets, if you use them, is also better than having bowls. And hand feeding greens. It is a worry when you are away, in case they fight. I find my piggies are quite active early in the morning and more sleepy later in the day, but Truffle my dominant piggy was still chasing Polo constantly, really non stop, all day. I put up a divider for my peace of mind as I have to go to work. I put pieces of cardboard against it to stop them bar chewing, but later got a few perspex panels so that they can see each other. Acrylic sheet works well apparently. You just need to make sure they can't chew the edges in case they damage their teeth or mouth on the acrylic / perspex. C and C type cages make it fairly easy to divide the cage. It depends on how risky you think it is to keep them together. The only person who can make that decision is you. There are some good You Tube channels I found helpful for advice, but you need to weigh matters yourself when making that decision, taking your personal needs and situation into account. Good luck with your beautiful piggies. I hope they settle down again.
 
Truffolo said:
It looked like a move along nose but with teeth contact but not an actual bite. Moss seems happy to give way, but you do want to avoid corners where he could get stuck and panic. Perhaps spread the hay flat in various places so there is easy access to it without the risk of being nipped or nose butted. Scattering pellets, if you use them, is also better than having bowls. And hand feeding greens. It is a worry when you are away, in case they fight. I find my piggies are quite active early in the morning and more sleepy later in the day, but Truffle my dominant piggy was still chasing Polo constantly, really non stop, all day. I put up a divider for my peace of mind as I have to go to work. I put pieces of cardboard against it to stop them bar chewing, but later got a few perspex panels so that they can see each other. Acrylic sheet works well apparently. You just need to make sure they can't chew the edges in case they damage their teeth or mouth on the acrylic / perspex. C and C type cages make it fairly easy to divide the cage. It depends on how risky you think it is to keep them together. The only person who can make that decision is you. There are some good You Tube channels I found helpful for advice, but you need to weigh matters yourself when making that decision, taking your personal needs and situation into account. Good luck with your beautiful piggies. I hope they settle down again.
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That's reassuring, it looked so vicious that I was worried but at least Moss didn't seem physically hurt, just sad. Definitely, I've moved the cuddle cups slightly further away from the sides of the cage just in case. I may try that, I'll see how things go. I'm just worried about hay going bad and me not seeing it if it's on the floor, whereas if it's in something I can see and empty out the soiled hay more easily. Plus, the love jumping in and out of the hay "box" (just a plastic litter tray). Aww little early birds! Poor Polo, that must have been stressful for him :(
I will keep an eye on the situation and try to make the best decision for them if it does get to a point where things need to change. At the moment I think they're safe together for now but I will monitor it, especially in the next month or so while their testosterone levels go down, before the next spike.
Thank you so much! I hope so too, they seem like their normal selves at the moment ⭐
 
Nipping lets the piggy feel the teeth but it not a bite.

Spreading things out and ensuring there are at least two hay piles so they don’t ever have to share anything if they don’t want to

There is no risk in keeping them together while it is just dominance. It can look quite rough to us but is normal to them and intervening and separating when there is no need to do so can cause more problems than it solves.
 
Truffolo said:
It looked like a move along nose but with teeth contact but not an actual bite. Moss seems happy to give way, but you do want to avoid cornersPerhaps spread the hay flat in various places so there is easy access to it without the risk of being nipped or nose butted. Scattering pellets, if you use them, is also better than having bowls. And hand feeding greens. It is a worry when you are away, in case they fight. I find my piggies are quite active early in the morning and more sleepy later in the day, but Truffle my dominant piggy was still chasing Polo constantly, really non stop, all day. I put up a divider for my peace of mind as I have to go to work. I put pieces of cardboard against it to stop them bar chewing, but later got a few perspex panels so that they can see each other. Acrylic sheet works well apparently. You just need to make sure they can't chew the edges in case they damage their teeth or mouth on the acrylic / perspex. C and C type cages make it fairly easy to divide the cage. It depends on how risky you think it is to keep them together. The only person who can make that decision is you. There are some good You Tube channels I found helpful for advice, but you need to weigh matters yourself when making that decision, taking your personal needs and situation into account. Good luck with
Cait_lin said:
That's reassuring, it looked so vicious that I was worried but at least Moss didn't seem physically hurt, just sad. Definitely, I've moved the cuddle cups slightly further away from the sides of th. I'm just worried about hay going bad and me not seeing it if it's on the floor, whereas if it's in something I can see and empty out the soiled hay more easily. Plus, the love jumping in and out of the hay "box" (just a plastic litter tray). Aww little early birds! Poor Polo, that must have been stressful for him :(
I get you with the hay, using a tray is nice and a very popular way of feeding.
Polo: yes, he was very stressed. I'd never heard him rumbling before, he has quite a deep tone when he rumbles. They are both so relaxed right now, it is wonderful.
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