Fighting Boars - When To Step In?

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Lisa owner of Darwin & Toby

Lisa owner of Darwin & Toby

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Hi
I have two male pigs one around 6 months and the other 11 weeks and I'm really nervous about them fighting. I have read the post on here about bonding & behaviour and they are doing the more serious teeth chattering and now diving at one another but to my knowledge they haven't bitten each other YET! I would really like to know if anyone else has had the situation because it's making me very nervous and I don't want them to get hurt. I did give them both a bath at the weekend, bathed and dried them together - this seemed to work for roughly 5 hours and then they were back fighting again.
They live in a C&C cage which is about 7FT long and have two of everything ie: food bowls and water bottles.
I would be extremely grateful for any advice please.
Thanks
Lisa
 
As soon as blood is drawn you will have to separate them - if that happens you can add another section so they can still see each other but not physically reach each other.

And at the age you have given they are going through that hormonal age.
 
jesss said:
As soon as blood is drawn you will have to separate them - if that happens you can add another section so they can still see each other but not physically reach each other.

And at the age you have given they are going through that hormonal age.
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Thanks Jesss
I had been thinking of doing that but I didn't want to do it too soon - I'm keeping everything crossed they start to get on but I gather the hormonal stage could last a while.

Lisa
 
Will point @Wiebke this way. Wiebke is wonderfully knowledgeable on bondings
 
It is an anxious time. 6 months of age is often one of the more difficult times, as the hormones seem to flare up at age again, so you may be experiencing that at the moment. I hope that as the little boy is not yet reaching his own full hormones that they can make it through this one.

Please leave them together for as long as possible. If you are very worried whether the relationship is still working, you can separate them for a night. If one of the boars is starting to really perk up, you know that he is not happy with his friend. If both want to be back together, then you also have your answer! However, you can't do this too often or it will stress and disrupt their relationship unduly. As you have seen with the bath, in the end it comes down to whether they get on or not, and there is nothing you can you more - you are giving them already the best of chances. Fingers firmly crossed!
 
Wiebke said:
It is an anxious time. 6 months of age is often one of the more difficult times, as the hormones seem to flare up at age again, so you may be experiencing that at the moment. I hope that as the little boy is not yet reaching his own full hormones that they can make it through this one.

Please leave them together for as long as possible. If you are very worried whether the relationship is still working, you can separate them for a night. If one of the boars is starting to really perk up, you know that he is not happy with his friend. If both want to be back together, then you also have your answer! However, you can't do this too often or it will stress and disrupt their relationship unduly. As you have seen with the bath, in the end it comes down to whether they get on or not, and there is nothing you can you more - you are giving them already the best of chances. Fingers firmly crossed!
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Thank you for your advice, I'm really grateful.
I will leave them together for a long as possible, it's just so horrible watching them knock 7 bells out of each other. Darwin the oldest one has started mounting the younger one Toby again. He did this when I first put them together about 5 weeks ago but hasn't done it again until today but I guess like you said the hormones are kicking in.

This may seem like a daft question but will I know for sure if one bites the other and draws blood also is it usually the facial area that gets bitten - Darwin is black and tan and Toby has really only hair, so I'm worried a bite may go unnoticed. They have fleece in their c&c cage and up to just I keep checking that and I haven't seen anything that looks like blood.

Lisa
 
Reg gave Nuggetts a nasty body wound - so it isnt just the face - they had to be separated after that and both have spayed wifepigs now - hopefully your boys will make it through.
 
Lisa James said:
Thank you for your advice, I'm really grateful.
I will leave them together for a long as possible, it's just so horrible watching them knock 7 bells out of each other. Darwin the oldest one has started mounting the younger one Toby again. He did this when I first put them together about 5 weeks ago but hasn't done it again until today but I guess like you said the hormones are kicking in.

This may seem like a daft question but will I know for sure if one bites the other and draws blood also is it usually the facial area that gets bitten - Darwin is black and tan and Toby has really only hair, so I'm worried a bite may go unnoticed. They have fleece in their c&c cage and up to just I keep checking that and I haven't seen anything that looks like blood.

Lisa
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Give them a daily check-over when you cuddle them. Problem areas are the face and ears, but also bites to the rump.
Sometimes a night or a whole day to cool off during a hormonal spike can help cool tempers. Please be mindful that you need time to watch them whan you put them back together, preferably in neutral territory to see how they get on again. Unfortunately, it is very much a tightrope walk without a script for you at the moment - you have to play it by ear and very much take your cues from the boys. :(

It would be good if you prepared for plan B in case you have to separate.

What options you have depend very much on where you are located, so we would be grateful if you added your country, state (US/Aus) or county/general area (UK) to your details. That way we can give you recommendations that are appropriate for your neck of the woods straight away. Simply click on your name on the top bar, then go to personal details/location.

Mounting itself is mild dominance behaviour unless it is truly relentless.
 
Wiebke said:
Give them a daily check-over when you cuddle them. Problem areas are the face and ears, but also bites to the rump.
Sometimes a night or a whole day to cool off during a hormonal spike can help cool tempers. Please be mindful that you need time to watch them whan you put them back together, preferably in neutral territory to see how they get on again. Unfortunately, it is very much a tightrope walk without a script for you at the moment - you have to play it by ear and very much take your cues from the boys. :(

It would be good if you prepared for plan B in case you have to separate.

What options you have depend very much on where you are located, so we would be grateful if you added your country, state (US/Aus) or county/general area (UK) to your details. That way we can give you recommendations that are appropriate for your neck of the woods straight away. Simply click on your name on the top bar, then go to personal details/location.

Mounting itself is mild dominance behaviour unless it is truly relentless.
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I haven't really given plan B much thought but thanks for the advice, I guess I really should get my thinking cap around that one. I have just updated my location.

The mounting doesn't bother me as much as the other stuff, it's the loud teeth chattering and the showing of the teeth then the lung towards each other. Roughly half an hour ago they really went to town on each other and I threw a spare blanket between them. They seem to have stopped now but only because I think they are worn out!

Lisa
 
It sounds like they are getting very borderline, so I am afraid that if it doesn't settle down again, you will have to separate at some point. :(
 
Wiebke said:
It sounds like they are getting very borderline, so I am afraid that if it doesn't settle down again, you will have to separate at some point. :(
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Many thanks for your comments. Darwin and Toby actually belong to my two Sons aged 12 & 9 they were really distressed last night and begged me to separate them, but we sat together and read all the comments which really helped.

The good news is they seem much better today, just a few snappy exchanges. I have everything crossed that they just have the odd day like yesterday and that they do make it. The boys love them to bits and I'm not sure what to do it we need to separate them for good.

Again thank you for the comment, I really do appreciate them.
 
Lisa owner of Darwin & Toby said:
Many thanks for your comments. Darwin and Toby actually belong to my two Sons aged 12 & 9 they were really distressed last night and begged me to separate them, but we sat together and read all the comments which really helped.

The good news is they seem much better today, just a few snappy exchanges. I have everything crossed that they just have the odd day like yesterday and that they do make it. The boys love them to bits and I'm not sure what to do it we need to separate them for good.

Again thank you for the comment, I really do appreciate them.
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Generally, you have three options with fallen-out boars - unfotunately, they all involve two cages, either next to each other or above each other. At least with a C&C you can redesign much more easily!
- re-bonding with a character compatible rescue boar at a good rescue that offers this service
- neutering and bonding with a sow each after a 6 weeks post op wait. Neutering does not change boar behaviour, it only removes the ability to make babies. Cross gender pairings are the most stable of them all, but you need access to an experienced vet in piggy neutering to minimise the risk of the operation and common post op complications (again, the rescue may be able to tell you who they use and help you with the introductions/initial acceptance if you date your boys at the rescue). Boars can be generally neutered from between 4-6 months onwards.
- keeping your two boys side by side with interaction through the bars but with their own territories. This is the least satisfactory option, but it works if necessary. Usually you find that one boar is much unhappier with this arrangement than the other.

As you are in Barnsley, you have a very good rescue local to you, Barnsley Animal Rescue Charity - they are on our list of recommended guinea pig rescues.http://barnsleyanimalrescue.org.uk/ or https://www.facebook.com/BARCrescue
 
there are a couple tricks that you can do. Mirrors in the cage also guinea pig sized toys. Likelyhood is they would just get humped but it'll help them!
 
Lisa owner of Darwin & Toby said:
OMG, do you mind if I ask how old your pigs were when that happened?
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Mine was a bit of a different situation.The pigs belonged to my daughters friend who neglected them and kept them in far too small a cage,they then came to me and I think that the change of living accommodation that also coincided with Nuggets going through his teenage stage (Reg was an older pig that had had 2 previous cage mates who died) meant a fight for top pig and dominance ensued - so it was a combination of many things in my case.
 
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