How to bond two boars?

Opiggy

Opiggy

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I read the bonding information posted on the forum and I saw it said it would be hard to bond a boar that has always been alone for its whole life. He is a year old and I will be trying to get another boar around the same size and age should that be fine? I got a 12sq foot cage and put a divider in for now so that way when I get the second one they will be separate.
 
It’s not hard to bond boars - no different to bonding two other piggies - the essential part is that two piggies must be character compatible.
Boars can be bonded at any time and at age. Being alone all this time is not necessarily a barrier to him having a friend and getting him a friend is the very best thing for him.
If he learnt social skills as a youngster then hopefully he will still remember how to interact. The issue can be if he was separated and never saw another piggy again so didn’t learn. Even in that case, it doesn’t mean a bonding will fail. Even if it did, he will still benefit from having a piggy live next to him in a separate cage.

The safest way to find a new friend for him
Is with the help of a rescue centre if one is nearby to you.
If you are buying a new piggy then you need to have a plan for if the bonding to fails so they can live side by side (cage size information below but if the bonding fails a 12 sq ft cage divided in half is not big enough for two piggies to live side by side).

Age and physical size are not really relevant. What does matter is that the two of them are character compatible - they have to like each other and be able to form a functioning hierarchy with one being dominant and one being submissive. If they both want to be dominant then they will fight and the bond will fail.

It’s can be easier to bond with a younger piggy, a baby, as that baby will be much less likely to challenge for dominance during the bonding. However bonding with a baby can still fail.
If you do get a baby then the cage must not be divided at all - they need to be bonded in neutral territory on the same day that you bring the baby home. A baby is too young to be alone.
You put both piggies in a neutral territory pen (not in the normal cage your current piggy lives in). You then leave them in the bonding pen for several hours to get through the early stages of forming a relationship. After a few hours, if the bonding has gone well, you move them to a thoroughly cleaned out and also neutral cage and then leave them together permanently. No divider is ever needed in the cage. It will then take around two weeks for them to fully form their relationship.

If you get a piggy that is not a baby, then you can put them in a divided cage for a time so they get to know each other through the bars - that can be for a few days prior to bonding day. However you still then need to put them into different neutral territory pen for bonding. Same process as above - leave them in the pen for several hours while you see if they like each other. If they do then you need to clean out the cage they are to life in, remove the divider and make it also neutral. You can then move the piggies into the cage and leave them together from them on.

What you cannot do with boars is put them together and separate repeatedly. They need to be put together and left together permanently or if the bonding fails, then separated permanently.

If the bonding with any new pig fails, then the two piggies will need to live separated but side by side and not have physical contact without bars between them. This will enable interaction with each other so neither gets lonely but means they don’t have to share a territory.
In this case, the cage you have is not big enough to have a divider in it. A 12 sq ft divided in two only gives each side 6 sq ft but each single piggy needs a minimum of 8 square feet. So if the bonding fails, then you will need to make each side of the cage bigger.

The guides below explain bonding more fully

A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Moody Guinea Pigs: Depression, Bullying, Aggression, Stress, Fear and Antisocial Behaviour
 
Ok I got him He isnt seeming to want to use it water bottle yet. Also his poop color is much lighter than my current piggy is that normal?
 
Opiggy said:
Ok I got him He isnt seeming to want to use it water bottle yet. Also his poop color is much lighter than my current piggy is that normal?
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Piggies drink when they need to so give him time.
Poop colour is dependent upon diet.

Make sure you introduce veggies to him very slowly if he is a pet shop piggy and not likely to have had much in the way of veg.

How old is he?
If he is a pet shop piggy have you checked his sex yourself?
Have you started bonding if he is young?
(To add regarding bonding, don’t use hides in the bonding pen).
 
He is about 8 months and he is a boar. I checked. Also they saw each other from the different cages and started doing like a shimmy with a low rumble. Is this bad?
 
Opiggy said:
He is about 8 months and he is a boar. I checked. Also they saw each other from the different cages and started doing like a shimmy with a low rumble. Is this bad?
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That is called rumblestrutting and is a normal dominance behaviour.

Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs

As he is older, I would leave them in separate but side by side cages for a few days so they can get to know each other between the bars.

Then, in a few days time, put them in neutral territory (so not in their of their cages) and attempt to bond them as per the bonding guides
 
Good luck with the bonding I hope they want to be together. If not living as neighbours will still be good for both of them. 😃
 
So I think they have bonded. After a lot of rumble strutting and humping My first piggy as I had assumed was immediately dominate. I have moved them into their large permanent cage. However every now and then my first piggy still starts to rumble and mounts the new piggie does this mean anything?
 
He keeps going into the others hut and mounting
The other one is sooooo sweet. He has let me pet him already and is just hiding I feel bad is it sad?
 
His poops were also mooshed I think that's because he had been walking on them though
 
He wont let the other piggie eat as of right now when he tries to eat he gets humped so he runs away
 
I did bond for less time so maybe they are still continuing the process in the cage
 
Bonding does continue in the cage, in fact it takes two full weeks for the bond to be fully settled and a hierarchy secured.
You will see a dominance behaviours for those two weeks but in reality you will see it for their entire lives together.
This whole process is explained in the guides.

Do all your hides have two exits? This is important. You don’t wants hides that only have one door as the dominant piggy can trap the other inside and then that risks a fight being caused.
Make sure you have at least two of every item on the cage so they don’t have to share anything.

Make sure you keep up with the routine weight checks - you need to be sure that both piggies are growing well but that the younger piggy is allowed to eat (have several hay piles) and not being constantly chased away from hay
 
Scatter any food around the cage as the dominant can't be in 2 places at the same time. Hopefully he's just overexcited and will calm down with the humping. The rumblestrutting will probably be a feature for a lot longer. My dominant Dignified Sir George loves strutting his stuff and in the first few months of the bond some days he was almost continuous.
 
Ok. Hopefully multiple places for food will be good. often when the younger piggie finally comes out to explore he just gets chased. When will I be able to add hides with only 1 entrance?
 
Opiggy said:
Ok. Hopefully multiple places for food will be good. often when the younger piggie finally comes out to explore he just gets chased. When will I be able to add hides with only 1 entrance?
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Is he being allowed to eat at all? Is the chasing relentless every time he comes out? I ask this because constant chasing and not being allowed to eat could well mean he is potentially going to be bullied. If it doesn’t stop and goes beyond dominance and you confirm bullying, then their bond won’t work and will need to live separately.

Don’t use hides with one entrance at all. You never want to create any dead ends in the cage so only ever use two door hides. You never want to put a piggy in a position where they can be trapped by the other
If he goes into a hide and the dominant piggy blocks the door or goes into the hide as well, then it is going to cause a fight and injuries will occur.
 
He has been able to eat but sometimes he just keeps getting chased. I'm not sure because sometimes it whenever he comes out but other times they sleep near each other
 
Opiggy said:
He has been able to eat but sometimes he just keeps getting chased. I'm not sure because sometimes it whenever he comes out but other times they sleep near each other
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It’s probably just normal dominance and them still settling their relationship.

Have you got multiple hay piles all around the cage? Have you also got hay stuffed in their hides?
 
Yes I have multiple piles of hay. I will make sure to put some in their hides. Also they have been doing much better and he hadn't chased him in over a day. Today though he randomly started fighting and it was the worst of all the times only because the other one fought back. I didn't see any biting they were just on their hind legs. They are fine again and acting like nothing happened.
 
Opiggy said:
Yes I have multiple piles of hay. I will make sure to put some in their hides. Also they have been doing much better and he hadn't chased him in over a day. Today though he randomly started fighting and it was the worst of all the times only because the other one fought back. I didn't see any biting they were just on their hind legs. They are fine again and acting like nothing happened.
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If they have had an actual rolling around fight then it means they are not doing so well together and are struggling with forming a hierarchy . The advice once a fight has occurred is that they should be separated permanently.
If you are keeping them together despite a fight, then you need to watch them very carefully and prepare to separate as another fight may be likely.
Make sure you remove any hides with one door
 
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