• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

fighting boars

  • Thread starter Thread starter gracie1
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

gracie1

hi can someone help us please.we have two three and a half month boars fighting for dominanceone is very aggressive and has just discovered what his private parts are for. is threr anything we can do to lessen the outbursts and how long does this usually last
we would be gratefull for any advise
gracie1
 
Cage/hutch size can play a part for hormonal boys - the bigger the space the better. Also to have 2 of everything (bottles, bowls, pigloos) less reasons to argue :(|)
Mounting is perfectly normal as is chasing & even nipping. If they rumblestrut (the shifting/swaying of weight from one back leg to another) & chatter try to distract them. For some boars this can mean business, others it's just a warning. If you see them open their mouths really wide & rumblestrut keep a very close eye on them as this can signal a full on fight is imminent. The usual rule is if blood is drawn then separate.

If your boys do fight, throw a towel over them & separate, piggy teeth are extremely sharp & fingers are easily & mistakenly bitten :)

I have 4 boys & all live alone because 1 has bullied his partner, however, i am in the minority - there are many members on here who have boys paired happily & some have trios. It all depends on the personalities of the 2 piggies.
 
thanks for the advice nikki.we also received advice from our local petshop, they suggested that spike(our frisky boar) should pay a visit to the vets
for an operation to "calm hom down".

I thought this was a bit harsh - any advice would be welcomed.
thanks
 
Hi, welcome to the forum:)

I would just echo everything Niki said to be honest, two of everything and loads of space! Unfortunately boars tend to get dominant around this time until about a year or so, so you have another few months to look forward to!

As Niki said, it's quite normal to have bouts of chasing, mounting, rumblestrutting, humping, and the particularly unlovely facehumping, but you will be able to tell if it looks like it's going to get nasty - they can teeth clatter really loudly, rather than a usual mild "annoyed" chatter and snort as well if about to go for each other. Our bonded pair always fall out after bathtime, even though they smell the same as we use the same shampoo, something obviously shifts between them and they start going for dominance, and we usually have to end up seperating them temporarily, but they usually sort themselves out after a few hours with a mesh divider between them! I often put a drop of Bach's Rescue Remedy behind their ears too to help calm them.

I wouldn't recommend neutering as many people say it doesn't alter male behaviour in piggies, although lots of vets appear to think it does just to confuse us all... personally I wouldn't neuter unless it was for putting with a female. If you do decide to get them "done" make sure you find a really good guinea-savvy vet who is happy and willing to do it, many are not and they tend to charge a lot more as they don't like to do it.

Good luck!
 
I agree with Julie about neutering having had 2 neutered boars. 1 was a softie with his wives but the other one would have a go at other girls in the run (not his wife).
The only thing neutering affects is the boars ability to father young. They may be a little less feisty but then why have 2 neutered boars together when they could live with a girl each; a reward for going through the op :)
 
the op would be a very very very last resort. We have started to put out two lots of food, got an extra igloo,have 3 points for watering but this hasn't made it any easier for chocolate(boar on receiving end of trouble from spike).
the behaviour described on this thread has been happening. but we have noticed that if they are seperated, for instance chocolate is being groomed etc, spike will run around squeeking and shouting for him(this is only our interpretation of spikes behaviour)

They have a 4ft hutch and a 4' x 4' run which is grassed, both run and hutch are open and accessible all day, at night they go into the hutch with some food and extra hay.do you think this is big enough for 2 piggies?

How could we seperate them- would they need seperate hutches, runs etc

thanks
 
4ft x 2ft is the minimum recommended size for a pair of piggies. Their run size is fine :)
To separate them it'd be 2 separate hutches or a mesh divider in the hutch you have now. They may still have run-time together if they will tolerate one another or you could split their run in 2 with mesh but hopefully it won't come to that. :)
 
thanks for the advice.
i'm going to sign off for tonight and tackle again tomorrow.

thanks again
 
I had a problem with boars that fought and in the end I had to separate them because nothing I tried made any difference. In the end the one boar was too scared to go back in the cage which is why they had to be separated.
 
I have 2 boars, they are 15 and 11 weeks old. There was some mounting in the beginning, and they still have the odd tiff, usaually over food, ( their boys, no suprises there then, lol!) But over the past 5 weeks, things have settled down alot, and they are great friends!

I hope everything works out xx-c
 
I have 2 boars. A farther and son and they do have their odd differances and at one point i was worried, but i think it was when the little one was reaching maturity. I still keep an eye on them to make sure he lets him feed and things but at the mo they seem ok.:)
Good luck and i know how stressfull it is when your standing there and not knowing when to draw the line!:{
 
I have had one pair of boars properly fight, that was that. I successfully bonded one with another boar and they are very happy and the other boar bullied his new mate too so now lives alone but next to other pigs and is perfectly content!

I had his cagemate neutered and he happily lives with the girls now.

Two of my other boar pairing occasionally have a good chase and chatter session but it usually settles down. Once it was getting a bit serious so I bathed them both and they have been fine ever since.

The tricky age is about 3-4 months to a year...they seem to settle after this but if the personalities clash, they may never get on.

Try to relax about it though, if youre stressed I think they sense it :))
 
Pretty much ditto ing above posts, but want to stress that the only real reason to ever neuter a boar is to pair him with sows it is not likely to calm him the way it would a rabbit. My boars have two of everything and this helps and there's nothing like a bath to humble my guys
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top