Introducing a 3rd Boar (In separate cage)

[boureki]

Hi this is my first post (sorry it’s a long one)

We adopted our first piggies back in Sept last year, father and son, bonded. We have now been bitten by the piggie bug and on Sunday adopted a single chap who was terribly bullied which has left him with a head tilt following a stroke whilst in rescue.

We thought it would be nice for him to be housed indoors next to our other two boys so they can interact through the cages, but obviously not physically be together. I know it is still very early days but in hindsight I am slightly concerned that the bonded pair may have their noses out of joint - Blaze (dominant dad) has been doing a large amount of bottom rubbing and he and Scampy (son) seem to be bickering a tad more (although I may be looking a bit to hard and imagining it), whilst new boy Pickle seems only occasionally interested in venturing out from his corner.

When Pickle was first ‘installed’ into his new cage, naturally there was much interest and all three piggies each trying to scale the cage for a better view of the other! However after Pickle dropped down and munched on his hay, he started what I took to be teeth clacking, but was over the far side of the cage away from the boys, and didn’t look particularly aggressive, he wasn’t rearing up etc. Blaze was making loads of interesting noises, but didn’t teeth clack. He has also started biting the cage bars. (to try and get to Pickle?)

Does anyone know if this is a meeting which has gone reasonably ok? We have no intention of mixing them in together, unless very far in the future where they may be able to share pen time but never to be housed.

I have read that 2 was the magic number for boars, but a third should be ok in a close by cage - or have we completely messed up?!

If anyone else has had this situation I would like to hear how it went.

Thanks
Julie

 

[sarahp]

Hello Julie

I think everything sounds fine (or at least I hope so because I have a similar situation!). I have 2 bonded boys (not related) and took on an older single boar back in November. The cages aren't right next to each other but they are both in the living room.

On a few occasions I have let them all out on the living room floor together and it goes pretty well. There is the usual humping and purring and the odd noisy teeth, but nothing nasty.

My bonded pair do tend to squabble a bit more than they used to. Again nothing nasty, but they just annoy each other more often and Malcolm, who was always the less dominant one, gets a bit moody sometimes. Also, Colin (the single boar) bites the bars of his cage a lot.

So I think it is fine and I see no reason to let them meet each other on neutral ground too (I found a pile of grass helps

Sarah x

 

[sarahp]

ooops forgot to say... welcome to the forum!

 

[boureki]

Thanks Sarah

Always nice to hear other experiences! Being pretty new to this we don't really have anything to compare it to, so ts all a constant learning curve!

Julie

 

[bunpig]

i have 2 pairs of adult bonded boars housed seperately but due having a shortage of runs at the moment i put them all in the same run together. there is some rumbliing bottom shuffling from george (dominant one) but other than that they get along fine which i find quite amazing really infact percy and billy (both submissive) instantly liked each other.

 

[Glynis]

You need to speak to a few of the other 'more experienced' on here, they've had gp's for ages and can advise you.
Good luck i'm sure someone will advise you a.s.a.p.

And welcome to the forum Julie i'm sure you'll meet some great people and get fab advice too, don't you just love being a piggie slave :-*

 

[boureki]

Hi Bunpig and Glynis, thanks for your replies I LOVE being a piggie slave lol, and can't imagine being without them now, in fact neither hubbie or myself can remember what it was like before!

Bunpig - thats a nice situation if they all like each other I hope we will be able to do that with our boys at some point. I don't think we will ever be able to supply a housemate for our single Pickle as they tried bonding him with other boars at the rescue and it didn't go well as they all detected his weakness. But pen time may be a realistic option in future if gradully introduced.

It's funny, I dunno if dominant Blaze was aware of Pickle's 'disability' or what the story was, but we introduced all three during pen time (through a seperated pen) and after the initial bottom rubbing they spent quite a lot of time laying close to each other stretched out apparently comfortably, nose to nose through the bars! I am hoping this is a good sign also!