Help With 2 Boars

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Malyssaasaurus

Malyssaasaurus

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About 2 months ago my sow passed away and I found my boar a little buddy. He's about 6 months old and my boar is 3 years old. They have been getting along fantastically up until this past week. My poor 3 year old, Rufio, keeps getting chased around the cage. Little guy, Rocky, will do the rumble strutting and teeth chattering at him. He pushes Rufio around a lot these days. Rufio doesn't challenge Rocky or anything. He lets him do whatever he wants. But it doesn't seem to make a difference because he keeps pushing Rufio around. They got in a fight earlier today and Rufio walked away with a patch of fur missing. They yell at each other and run around. They're separated now. I don't know what's going on or what to do.

I'm moving soon and will be putting them in the living room. I'm going to make the cage bigger. Right now it's 2x4 with a second level. I'm kinda hoping more space will help them. I don't know. I need help. :/
 
I'm sorry this is happening to you, unfortuatly this will happen sometimes especially since it seems that lil rocky has come of age and feels he needs to assert his dominance over rufio most likely it's just a passing phase you might just have to let it happen or you could get them neutered
 
I hope it passes. I can't afford to get them neutered. I don't know how much it costs for you guys but here in Washington it's over $300 a pig. I can't afford $600 :(
 
Unfortunately some boar bondings just don't work out :(

Do you have two of everything in their cage? That way they can get away from each other when they start to get irritated.
 
Sorry you're having problems! As Caviequeen said, Rocky has most likely got to the age where his big man-pig hormones have kicked in and there is bound to be a fresh power struggle.

Neutering won't change this at all, so please don't rush into making that decision! The only benefit that it would have would be if you decided to separate the boys and keep then with a girl each for company.

Has there been bloodshed?
 
Have you ever thought about separate cages but like a split c and c cage right down the middle that way they can still see each other but they can't kill eachother this worked for my two boars Gilbert And Hodgins
 
Before I introduced another boar I made sure I had 2 of everything and put it on either ends of cage so they could escape if needed. They've been sharing stuff from the start until now. No bloodshed yet. Just a a few tufts of hair missing from Rufio. He is such a laid back pig so it's sad to see him get pushed around.

I would much rather make the cage larger and split in the middle so that they have company but don't get in more tussles.
 
It sounds like the big teenage hormones have hit; 6 months is one of tricky times when often another spike of testosterone hits.

Unless there have been bites, you can try a re-introduction on neutral ground after a day or two, ideally after a bath with the same shampoo for both boys in order to remove any tesosterone stink. Also clean the whole cage (including hideys and walls) very carefully. See how things are going. it is a bit of a toss up whether Rufio will want to have Rocky back or not. if not, I would recommend to keep them alongside each other with interaction through the bars.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/faq-introducing-and-re-introducing-guinea-pigs.38562/

We only recommend neutering if a boar is live with a sow after a full 6 weeks safety wait. You need to find a good vet for the op to minimise the risk of post op complications.
 
Thank for the help everyone. I have them separated for the time being. Makes me nervous keeping them together right now. I move on Thursday and will take that opportunity to clean EVERYTHING and make the cage a bit bigger. It'll be a new apartment so it'll be neutral.
 
Good luck. It's upsetting for you to see your piggies not getting on. Mine went through a phase like that when I added their new extension onto their existing cage. They have since settled down and become friends again Fudge is the boss pig and Alby has accepted this. They were bickering and lots of mounting and chasing, rumbling and wiggling for nearly 2 weeks but I followed the advice that I should leave them unless there was any blood shed. And luckily there wasn't. :tu:
 
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