End Of Teenage Stage...

[Mamphers]

Tulio and Miguel will be coming 'of age' around Xmas/new year which I hear is around the 14 month mark.

Just wondering if any change of behaviour is pronounced? Neither of them make us worry at all, they rumble at eachother every day which we enjoy as it's funny and never escalates, except to maybe some minor butt kicks. They are free range probably 50% of the time and have plenty of places around the living room to hide/snuggle.

They are well bonded - if one is out of the cage the other wheaks and runs about looking for the other.

We are going to re-make their c and c cage soon and change the hay loft shape, as well as creating another cave at the other end of the cage so they have a bit more space to chill away from eachother. (My parents are clearing out their garage and have a whole set of grids they're giving us for free, and DH can get Correx for free from work - hooray!) In my redesigning I'm being mindful of their hormones, but don't want to base their new design around their hormonal spikes if this isn't going to happen as much post pig puberty!

Thanks in Advance!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Here is our teenage boar guide, which you may find interesting. Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

The end of the teenage hormones is an increasing absence of winding up and confrontational stuff. Boars are usually at their juiciest around 6 months and at their most obnoxious around 8-10 months. Mostly things settle down slowly after that. The majority of fights and fall-outs happen either right at the start when the testicles start descending around 4 months or at 6 months when they have fully descended and the testosterone output is at an all time high.

When you change the cage, please do it by using dirty bedding so all parts smell 'right' to them and don't trigger a hierarchy sort out. Ideally you rub everything new with a scented rag so it is clearly part of their territory. Your boys should be over the very worst by now, but changes to the layout can cause trouble and the occasional fall-out even in adult bonded pairs.

 

[Redribbon]

Really good advice there!

 

[Mamphers]

Most excellent advice as usual!

That's good to hear then. They get on pretty well as it stands so I think we are some of the lucky ones!

When changing the we would use old fleece and bedding etc. We have done before and just live with the extra stink for a while longer

Thanks again!