JamesC
New Born Pup
Hi there
I've been reading all the advice and threads about fighting boars but just wanted to get some advice on our specific situation.
So, we got two litter mate boars back in May. They were good buddies but despite our best efforts one of them was very susceptible to illness and died in December.
We spoke to our local breeder and took another from her, only about 12 weeks old, she said he'd been with older boars so was confident it would be ok. We introduced them slowly and they have been getting on fine for a couple of weeks. We are trying so hard to give them a nice life but it doesn't quite seem to be working out!
But over the last week we've started noticing scratches on Monty, the older one, and then what looks like a bite on Joey's (the younger one) nose. It also looked like Joey's ear was a little scuffed up. I'd read they can have disagreements as they establish dominance etc so have been hoping they'd sort it but having witnessed a bit of a scrap tonight in their run which resulted in both of them having small clumps of each others hair and Monty doing the teeth chattering thing, I'm thinking I need to separate them.
I've only read on here tonight that we should've given them two food bowls and water bottles, and perhaps 2 x the little hidey house they both like so much. I'm just wondering if it's worth trying that first, or having gotten to this point do I really need to get them apart immediately if they're scratching/biting each other.
I think I know the answer (i.e. the latter) but just want to be sure I'm not overreacting and separating them unnecessarily.
I've been reading all the advice and threads about fighting boars but just wanted to get some advice on our specific situation.
So, we got two litter mate boars back in May. They were good buddies but despite our best efforts one of them was very susceptible to illness and died in December.
We spoke to our local breeder and took another from her, only about 12 weeks old, she said he'd been with older boars so was confident it would be ok. We introduced them slowly and they have been getting on fine for a couple of weeks. We are trying so hard to give them a nice life but it doesn't quite seem to be working out!
But over the last week we've started noticing scratches on Monty, the older one, and then what looks like a bite on Joey's (the younger one) nose. It also looked like Joey's ear was a little scuffed up. I'd read they can have disagreements as they establish dominance etc so have been hoping they'd sort it but having witnessed a bit of a scrap tonight in their run which resulted in both of them having small clumps of each others hair and Monty doing the teeth chattering thing, I'm thinking I need to separate them.
I've only read on here tonight that we should've given them two food bowls and water bottles, and perhaps 2 x the little hidey house they both like so much. I'm just wondering if it's worth trying that first, or having gotten to this point do I really need to get them apart immediately if they're scratching/biting each other.
I think I know the answer (i.e. the latter) but just want to be sure I'm not overreacting and separating them unnecessarily.