Fighting Boars..... Advice Appreciated...

[charlotte35]

I am new to the site and thought I'd post a question as I am unsure how knowledgable my vets are on these small little creatures having read conflicting advice on the internet.

The problem...

I bought 3 boars for my 3 young sons in August. All boys are from the same breeder but they are all from different litters. 2 are peruvians and 1 is a lunkarya.

They are all a few days apart in age and are currently around 16weeks old. 1 peruvian is pretty small and very submissive and the other 2 are both dominant. I was originally concerned they were picking on the small peruvian but never witnessed any fighting.

Everything appeared to be going well up until 2 weeks ago when I discovered bite marks on the lunkarya's back. I had noticed the grinding/purring action (thought it was funny) and didn't pay much attention to it as seemed harmless. I was advised to leave them to sort it out amongst themselves and that they would hopefully figure out a "pecking" order but the bites got worse and a week ago i ended up having to separate the lunkarya (who is currently being treated with antibiotics) from the two peruvians.

The vet has advised I have all three of the boars neutered... £58 each and a risk due to their size I am not sure how I feel about doing this?! Costly, potentially life threatening and I have read on the internet it isnt likely to change anything.

I also feel mean to do this to all three of them when the poor littlest one is not causing any problems. The vet has said if I don't do all of them the littlest one may then become dominant and bull the two neutered boys!

They've been separated a week now. I tried to reintroduce them last night and it was disastrous.

I have a few options which I would appreciate opinions/advice on:

1. Getting all three neutered.... (I have read this wont change their behaviour but the vet seems adamant that it will) If I neutered them all, would it be best to get done sooner rather than later while they have only been separated a week? Would waiting until they are a bit bigger/older be better?

2. Keeping the two dominant ones separate and letting the submissive guinea pig take it in turns to keep both of them company. Would that potentially work?

3. Getting the most dominant guinea pig neutered and leaving the other 2 as they are.

4. I don't really want to introduce another pig into the mix incase I have another disaster but if its likely to help I would be open to the idea.

5. See if its a stage and hope they will grow out of it....try to reintroduce them again in the future...

Just so sad as they live in the conservatory and I had hoped to let them free to roam the downstairs for periods in the day. Would they still be able to do this if they fight? (would the extra space be a distraction?) I have plans to get an outside run in the spring...will I have to fork out for 2?!

Luckily I had bought to cages originally and joined them together!!

Pretty gutted the breeder didn't warn me when I asked to reserve them!

 

[Wiebke]

I am new to the site and thought I'd post a question as I am unsure how knowledgable my vets are on these small little creatures having read conflicting advice on the internet.

The problem...

I bought 3 boars for my 3 young sons in August. All boys are from the same breeder but they are all from different litters. 2 are peruvians and 1 is a lunkarya.

They are all a few days apart in age and are currently around 16weeks old. 1 peruvian is pretty small and very submissive and the other 2 are both dominant. I was originally concerned they were picking on the small peruvian but never witnessed any fighting.

Everything appeared to be going well up until 2 weeks ago when I discovered bite marks on the lunkarya's back. I had noticed the grinding/purring action (thought it was funny) and didn't pay much attention to it as seemed harmless. I was advised to leave them to sort it out amongst themselves and that they would hopefully figure out a "pecking" order but the bites got worse and a week ago i ended up having to separate the lunkarya (who is currently being treated with antibiotics) from the two peruvians.

The vet has advised I have all three of the boars neutered... £58 each and a risk due to their size I am not sure how I feel about doing this?! Costly, potentially life threatening and I have read on the internet it isnt likely to change anything.

I also feel mean to do this to all three of them when the poor littlest one is not causing any problems. The vet has said if I don't do all of them the littlest one may then become dominant and bull the two neutered boys!

They've been separated a week now. I tried to reintroduce them last night and it was disastrous.

I have a few options which I would appreciate opinions/advice on:

1. Getting all three neutered.... (I have read this wont change their behaviour but the vet seems adamant that it will) If I neutered them all, would it be best to get done sooner rather than later while they have only been separated a week? Would waiting until they are a bit bigger/older be better?

2. Keeping the two dominant ones separate and letting the submissive guinea pig take it in turns to keep both of them company. Would that potentially work?

3. Getting the most dominant guinea pig neutered and leaving the other 2 as they are.

4. I don't really want to introduce another pig into the mix incase I have another disaster but if its likely to help I would be open to the idea.

5. See if its a stage and hope they will grow out of it....try to reintroduce them again in the future...

Just so sad as they live in the conservatory and I had hoped to let them free to roam the downstairs for periods in the day. Would they still be able to do this if they fight? (would the extra space be a distraction?) I have plans to get an outside run in the spring...will I have to fork out for 2?!

Luckily I had bought to cages originally and joined them together!

Pretty gutted the breeder didn't warn me when I asked to reserve them!

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View attachment 74545

Hi and welcome

Your boys are very cute indeed!

Yet another victim of the boar trio money making... whether that is shops or breeders!

Your three boys are now at the age when their testicles start descending and they stop being cute baby boys.
Please be aware that neutering doesn't change social behaviour or personality and neither does it prevent the boys going through their teenage months with the attendant behaviour; all it does is taking away the ability to make babies.

Your best solution would be to split off the boy that is at odds with the others and find him a new companion, ideally of his own choice at a good rescue that offers this service. Using one of our recommended good standard rescues, you are assured that you come home with a new friend only of acceptance has happened and you have the backing of the rescue for the life time of any of their adopted piggies. Like with breeders, anybody can call themselves a rescue without licensing or control, and the results can be accordingly.
Alternatively you can consider having him neutered by a knowledgeable vet to cut on down on the risk of post-op complications, so he can live with a sow after a full 6 weeks post-op wait in the long term (however not next to the other boys).
What you can't do is share the third boy between the others. That is a recipe for disaster!

Please take the time to read this guide here. You may find it very helpful as it takes you through all the aspects in detail with all the pros and cons. It also contains links to recommended rescues and vets in several countries.
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

You can find lots more information for new owners in this guide collection here: New Owners' Problem Solver And Information Collection

Since we have members and enquiries from all over the world, you can help us tailoring any advice to what is relevant and available where you are straight away by adding your country, state/province or UK county to your details. click on your username on the top, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. This makes it appear with every post you make. What option you ultimately go for with your boys often depends on what is accessible where you are.
Thank you!

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Welcome to the forum! I'm so sorry you're going through all of this Unfortunatley breeders are more interested in making a sale than giving good piggy advice.

Once there has been bites you cannot put them back together again sadly, so your only option is to keep the pair that are working together and find a new friend for you little boy, probably an older, submissive boar or maybe you could get him neutered and find him a girlfriend but you would have to house them away from your intact boars.

Neutering won't do a thing for your situation, it will only stop them reproducing. I would definitely advise looking for a better vet, it sounds like he's either inexperienced or looking to make some money

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news! Hope you're doing okay amongst all the chaos!

 

[charlotte35]

Thank you so much! I’m so grateful for your fast responses!

How would life outside the cage work with the “fighters” would they have to be let out to play separately or would they be ok loose in the living room or in an outside pen with lots of grass to nibble?

The rescue idea is something I will definitely look into! Thank you!

I will look into updating my details now

 

[Swissgreys]

Thank you so much! I’m so grateful for your fast responses!

How would life outside the cage work with the “fighters” would they have to be let out to play separately or would they be ok loose in the living room or in an outside pen with lots of grass to nibble?

The rescue idea is something I will definitely look into! Thank you!

I will look into updating my details now

Welcome to the Forum.

You have had some good advice from others, who have lots of experience with the same problem.
If you do a quick search you will see you are not the only one who has had this exact problem.

The issue with guinea pigs having 'playtime' together is that they view every encounter as a 'bonding' and will start to 'discuss' the hierarchy of their new group.
They can't enjoy each others company until they have a pecking order in place, so every new meeting is starting from scratch and very stressful.
This means that if you have 2 groups of piggies they need to be kept separate and can't be allowed to free range together.
I also have one group of four which ended up split into two groups of two, and although they have cages next to each other and can 'chat' through the bars, they never have floor time together as that would be too stressful, and put them at risk from injury if a fight broke out.
Sorry.