Desensitising boars to the scent of sows?

[danuutka]

Hi! As some of you may know, a few weeks ago I adopted 2 beautiful sows from a pet shop, and they have very quickly stolen my heart. On recommendation from the lovely people on this forum, my boars (Ozzie - 9-10 months, and Miki - 3-4 months) live in my room with me, whilst the girlies live in my sisters room down the hall!

I have been wondering if there is any way of desensitising Ozzie to the girls scent at all. We always handle the boars first, so that the girls scent isn’t on us when we interact with the boys. However, my sisters room is the boys favourite place to go around and zoomie! Since Ozzie was a baby, he would always wait by my door waiting for me to open it so that he’s could run over to my sisters room - it’s like his playground!

Since having the girls, this behaviour has increased, and Ozzie seems very fixated on the girls. He struts around “flirting” (the boys are allowed on one side of the room, whilst the girls are on the other side in a cage), with a lot of squeaking and rumbling, and trying to get to the other side. Miki isn’t at all bothered, and no aggression has occurred between the boys since I brought the girls home - just very typical dominance behaviour which was happening anyway. The girls also couldn’t care less about the presence or scent of the boys!

However, is there any way to desensitise him to the scent? Even though his behaviour hasn’t changed much (other than trying to get over to the girls and doing some major flirting), I’m worried that his fixation on the girl she is ruining his quality of life... as you can tell, self-isolation has made me into a deep over thinker

For some reason, even though the boys free roam in my room, the only time they ever feel like zooming around is in my sisters room - hence why I still allow them in there, as it lets baby Miki get all his energy out!

I’d appreciate any tips!

 

[Wiebke]

Unless boars grow up with girls, there is no way to desensitize them to female pheromones; and not even then. Especially not at this time of the year, which is when in their wild ancestors the breeding season would have started while fresh and nutritious grass would be available in abundance. Even though domestic piggies do breed year round, the old instincts are still there.

You have to live with the fact that guinea pigs have got far finer noses than ours, and that the breeding instinct in bachelor boars is very strong.

 

[danuutka]

Unless boars grow up with girls, there is no way to desensitize them to female pheromones; and not even then. Especially not at this time of the year, which is when in their wild ancestors the breeding season would have started while fresh and nutritious grass would be available in abundance. Even though domestic piggies do breed year round, the old instincts are still there.

You have to live with the fact that guinea pigs have got far finer noses than ours, and that the breeding instinct in bachelor boars is very strong.

That’s really interesting! Would I be right in thinking that Miki may not be reactive because he was born in Milhaven, and was surrounded by sows for his first 6 weeks of life?

Also, is the “flirting” at all distressing to Ozzie? Or is it more like rumble strutting and other dominance behaviours, where it’s just part of guinea pig nature and doesn’t compromise the quality of life?

 

[Wiebke]

That’s really interesting! Would I be right in thinking that Miki may not be reactive because he was born in Milhaven, and was surrounded by sows for his first 6 weeks of life?

Also, is the “flirting” at all distressing to Ozzie? Or is it more like rumble strutting and other dominance behaviours, where it’s just part of guinea pig nature and doesn’t compromise the quality of life?

Not all boars are equally aroused. As long as the sow pheromones don't lead to a fall-out between your boars you are OK - nonstop mounting etc. can lead to that, especially when one of the boys or both are teenagers.