Easing young boars in to new territory -might this help?

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sandraj

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Have just discovered this fantastic mine of information and hope someone might be able to help me. We have two four month old boars (Cola and Specky). Cola is obviously the dominant boar, very confident and can be quite bossy at times, pestering Specky with mounting, chattering etc. They generally get on pretty well and the rankings seemed to be accepted. However on two occassions we have had increased aggression when I have tried to introduce them to the second floor of their two-tierd hutch by opening up the ramp. Both will use the ramp (Cola was the first and most confident), but Cola gets very excited and ends up bosssing his brother around more than usual which has resulted in a couple of split second lunges. No blood has been drawn. On each occasion I have taken the decision to close up the ramp and give them space in the run. This has helped and the following day things were calmer. Now I really want to get them in the bottom half of the hutch and was wondering if I placed some of their soiled bedding down there when I try again, whether this will help? My logic tells me that the unclaimed territory may be triggering the behaviour, and that bedding smelling of both guineas may lessen any dispute. What do you think? Has anyone tried anything like this? I know these are the hormonal months and I just hope we get them through this without having to separate. Really wish I had given them full access to the hutch when I first got them now!
Thanks in advance.
sandraj
 
I have no experience with boars, so can't really help, but thats quite a good idea. It might be worth a try. Good luck with everything :)
 
I'm afraid I don't have the best advice, but basically, when I tried my two girls in a 2 tier hutch it went very wrong - Whiskey got the hang of it, Noodles didn't and nearly hurt herself quite badly :-(

My solution was um, er...to seal off the bottom layer, convert it into it's own hutch, and buy another guinea pig who is soon to be neutered and get a wifey...possibly not an option for you though!

I am very lucky that so far my two boars know the pecking order and don't have disputes at all, even when they went in the run they had never been in before yesterday they just accepted two tubes meant one each and got on with munching. In an ideal world I would suggest two ramps as I have found so far two of everything settles any disputes before they arrive, but I can see this may be logistically impossible!

Several members on here have had a lot of success with bathing the boys together so both smell the same, thus they don't realise they aren't...does that make sense? Bathing can be a bit daunting if you have never done it but there are several threads on here with good advice, the main thing is to dry them really carefully.

Your bedding suggestion also sounds a good one too.

I love the names by the way :-) pigtures would be good hehe!
 
Thanks...

..the names were chosen by my two sons who we bought them for - have to admit I am smitten though! Must get hold of some photos to post. Kept guineas as a child so knew they were good pets. I willl look into this bathing idea btw.
Sandraj
 
I have recently introduced a neutered boar to my trio of girls. Boris was initially living in a neighbouring hutch before moving with the girls in their double hutch.

I don't know if it had any effect at all, but after throughly cleaning the hutch to get rid of as many girl smells as possible, I did mix a handful of both Boris' and the girls old bedding in with the new hay.

Would putting them both down in the bottom and letting them find ther own way up be any use do you think?

p.s. The bath idea is a good one too and has been used successfully before :)
 
When we first got the guineas, we put them in just the top part of the two-tier hutch to settle. The ramp closes off with a flap of hinged wood. It has been on opening this flap up that we have had problems. I plan to read a little more about bathing, but think the bedding might be worth a try. I don't want the fur to start flying at this stage.
Thanks for trhe reply.
sandraj
 
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