How far do you let it go......one boar harassing another.

[Teejay]

Hi all, I know there are a thousand threads on here about boars fighting and being aggressive with each other, but I just wanted to run a couple of specific questions past all you very clever people.

My two boars, Squeak & Pudding, are about 4 months old (maybe a little bit older). They were bought together from the same pet shop (mentioning no names), and have lived together ever since, mostly without incident apart from normal adolesent boar stuff.....rumblestrutting, occasional mounting, squabbles over the comfiest beds and general annoyance with each other. Pudding seems to be the dominant of the two.

I have noticed that the mounting especially seems to get worse when they're out of the cage having floor time. Normally, though, when they're back in the cage, it all settles down immediately and they get straight down to happily munching side-by-side.

Tonight, though, the mounting just got worse and worse......Pudding wouldn't leave poor Squeak alone for a moment, he was harassing him constantly, mounting his head, his back, anywhere he could mount, to be honest. He wouldn't let him escape at all, he chased him up and down the ramp, chased him out of every hidey, tunnel and chube......Squeak was really getting worn down by this, his squeaking was pitiful.

This went on for about half an hour, with me watching them very closely, but the teeth chattering was getting worse and worse, there was yawning and they both got up on their back legs a couple of times, so we decided to intervene. Pudding is now separated, in a very large cat carrier with a fleece and some food/drink, to give them time to cool down.

When we took Pud out, poor Squeak literally just flopped down on the floor, laid flat out, he looked absolutely exhausted....he didn't even move when I put some watermelon in for him, and he loves that normally. He's up and about now though, and seems fine.

So, where to go from here? The cage is 150cm long, so they have plenty of space. Shall we keep them apart now for good? Shall we try to put them back in together when they've cooled off? Should we be considering neutering? Can we have one of them neutered, or do they both need to be neutered? It seems a shame to put Squeak through an operation when he's never displayed this kind of behaviour.

Help! :{

Tracey

 

[PopcornPigs]

Hi, was this mounting in the run or in the cage? The dominance behaviour will probably be worse in the run as it's a new environment and they need to 'declare it as theirs'.
I'm not sure on putting them back together, hopefully somebody will be able to advise but most say to only separate if blood is drawn or if the behaviour is preventing one of the pigs from eating/living comfortably.
Also - when you refer to neutering do you mean so they could both find girlfriends and live in separate cages? Or so they can live together again? If it's the second then I would say not to bother as neutering a guinea pig does not influence his behaviour so he would still show dominant behaviour etc.

 

[Wiebke]

The behaviour is normal for that age when the big hormones are starting to wake and - sorry to say so - is still on the mild side. Incessant mounting is only a cause when the mounted boar is clearly affected by it (signs of depression, food and sleep deprivation) after a few days of it.

Neutering guinea pig boars is only of use if you want to keep them with sows; it does NOT change their behaviour, temperament or instincts in the least.

Unfortunately, you have to sit it out over the coming months until their hormones settle down somewhat when they reach full adulthood between 12-15 months old; hopefully, your boys can make it without a major fall out.

New territory like the run will spark a spat of dominance behaviour which is perfectly normal.

 

[Teejay]

Hi everyone, thanks for that.

Unfortunately, I've just checked the cage out and there is quite a lot of blood on the fleece......sigh......I've checked them both over and can find absolutely no sign of a cut or bleeding on either of them, so lord knows where that came from, but it's defintely quite a lot of blood.

To PopcornPigs, this behaviour started while they were on the floor having some free-range time, but got worse when they went back into the cage. They have floor time every day, about an hour normally, and I've observed that the mounting is always worse when they're on the floor, but, it always stops the instant they're back in the cage.

There is no way that poor Squeak could put up with that 24/7....his life wouldn't be worth living!

To Wiebke.....I've been keeping my eye on the boar-ish behaviour for the past few weeks, but it's never really caused me a major concern til now....it's gone too far now. I suspect that Squeak would become very depressed if that carried on for long.

I didn't realise that about neutering; i assumed it changed their behaviour as well.

Anyway, that may all be academic.....now that blood has been drawn, I assume we need to do something and do it quickly......

Tracey

 

[PopcornPigs]

Seems that way
Possible options could be to separate and wait until they're adults to find them another boar friend OR find a cavy savvy vet and get them both neutered to find lady friends.

 

[Teejay]

This leaves us with big problems.......we only have one indoor cage......we have a hutch which we could bring indoors to tide us over. We do have a large puppy pen (we bought it to provide an indoors run the boys could use while we were out at work), which was (by a big stroke of luck) delivered today, so I think one of them will have to go in there til we can sort out something more permanent.

The best outcome would be to get them both neutered, and get them both a girlfriend to live with, but we just don't have the space for four pigs........or two 'separate' pigs for that matter....it's not the pigs, it's the cages!

So, we'd then be faced with the prospect of rehoming one of the boys and getting a girlfriend for the other. How can we do that, how can we make that choice.....

I'm not a happy Tracey this evening

 

[kimberlie]

can you not stack cages of top of each other if you don't have the space?
It is so very hard when this happens.

I started with one boar, then it went to 3, and now I have 5 all due to problems with bonding, though I will eventually have 6 once I get my single boar who is living a lone a friend. (I currently have 3 cages).

I didn't want to give one of mine up either.

Could you possibly also try maybe getting a large two tired cage? and blocking off the ramp so that it is too seperate cages on top of one another?

 

[kimberlie]

maybe something like this

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/hutches_cages/guinea_pig_cages/120_cm_cages/137393

 

[Wiebke]

So sorry about your boys. Keep checking their whole bodies regularly for a couple of weeks for any signs of infections or swellings; abscesses are a possibility.

I agree - you could try and stack the cages somehow - perhaps have the higher one on a table or shelf, so they are not sitting directly on top of each other?

Some members have gone down the route of having their fallen out boars neutered and living with a girl each with great success.

 

[Teejay]

Hi kimberlie, I would if I could......but, since having the piggies (at Xmas), I've spent well in excess of £200 on cages, runs and hutches........I've only had their current cage for a couple of weeks, I really can't justify changing again, nor can i afford it.

Not to mention that I have two neuterings to pay for.......

My plan is to leave Squeak in the cage and put Pudding into the puppy play pen. That'll work fine while we're out at work, but when we're home, we won't be able to get into our lounge for cages and runs! :{

I'll call the vet tomorrow to sort out a neutering. Then I'll either try to rehome Pudding (Squeak's my baby) and get Squeak a girlfriend, or I'll try to sweet talk hubby into coming up with a plan to keep them both, each with their own girlfriend.......my first step is to get them both neutered though.

Tracey

 

[Teejay]

Hi Wiebke, would you believe I only sold our old indoor cage about 2 weeks ago.......so I don't have a spare at all. We only have the one huge cage now, and a two-story outdoor hutch (which is in the garden).

We also have a metal run (5ft x 4ft) which we bought for use in the garden in the summer. I wonder if there would be a way of splitting that in half, so they could live side by side for a while? At least until we've had chance to decide what to do.

What a nightmare......