Fighting post reintroduction

[Jae]

Hi all, I hope you and yours are all keeping well.

I have two (intact) boars. They were previously well bonded, had the odd bicker and chase, but nothing serious.

One of them had to have surgery in June. The recovery was quite prolonged, and he spent this recovery time in a travel carrier within the main pen, where his friend remained. So the were both in their normal pen, but one of them was confined to a crate. They were as unseparated as was possible, and at all times could see, smell, and talk to each other.

A week or so ago, we finally got him healed enough to be set free in the pen.

In the week since they've been arguing, cutting, chasing, and this has been leading to physical fights. The chasing is largely initiated by the guinea pig that was confined.

This morning, they had a fight that lead to one of them having a rather deep bite in his cheek.
They've settled down for the moment, but they've been having these fights every other day and the teeth chattering is consistent.

What I wanted input on is if there was anything I could do or try before resorting to separating their pen. They have two or more of everything in a good sized pen. I realise the separating then now would be permanent and I'm devastated at the thought.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[fluffysal]

Welcome to the forum, did the boy with the bite need treatment? I'm not one of the experts but it does sound like a permanent split is needed. I know how you feel as my boys are recently separated. On one level I hate seeing it but it's clear that Dignified Sir George, who was the dominant, is much happier now he's not being challenged constantly.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome the forum and I'm sorry to hear of their fight.

When you say 'setting him free in the pen', do you mean you opened up his crate and let him go straight into their normal cage together?
During their separation, each of the spaces they were kept in became their own territories. Consequently opening a door and allowing the other to wander into the space would have been seen as a territory invasion. Reintroduction must always be done on totally neutral territory - you put the piggies somewhere neither of them see as their space to avoid territorial disputes, let them try to rebond for several hours and then clean out their cage and move them back to it if all goes well in neutral territory.
Alongside that, medical separation has the potential to break a bond (even if they are kept side by side and reintroduction is done properly) and this is why they aren't recommended unless absolutely essential (you haven't gone into detail about the surgery, recovery time or reason for separation so we can't comment much on that). Sadly we see vets recommending separation following surgery without consideration for their high companionship aspect. Piggies should be ideally reunited straight away or within a matter of a couple of days following surgery. Generally speaking, most reintroductions can be done immediately or certainly within 24 hours.
Whether it is territorial, the medical separation ending their bond or a combination of both, sadly now an injury causing fight has occurred, there is nothing you can do - you can't repair a broken bond and sadly their separation will need to be permanent.

If the injury to the cheek is severe, please see a vet today.
One of my boar pairs had a fight when they hit their teens, and the injuries meant they needed antibiotics for a few days.

I'm sorry this has happened.