Is 3 a crowd?

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lizjallen

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Hi,

We have 3 boars, all around 6 months old. Two seem fine, they are quite closely bonded, but the other one seems much thinner and his fur is not in such good condition. Having watched them for a bit it looks like the other two are ganging up on him and making him miserable. Saw the vet this morning and he has treated pig for mites as he thinks this is cause of skin condition but wasn't overly helpful about the behaviour, other than suggesting that I get them all neutered at £60 each, so not keen to go down that road. Any other suggestions?
 
Neutering sadly won't change boar behaviour it just stops them reproducing. Trios rarely work out with males, especially when hormones kick in from 3-15 months. I have trios but mine are past that hormonal stage and its rare to find many who make it through sadly. Mites can come out in times of stress so if they are bullying him the it could be the cause. Personally I would watch them if you feel they are bullying him then you maybe need to think of taking him out the situation and going to a rescue and dating him with another boar to find his perfect friend. A lot of good rescues advertised on here might find someone local to you.
 
Thanks, that is what I was thinking. Would adding another pig be good, or could that make the situation worse? The ones we have belong to my 3 daughters and the little one would be heart broken if her piggy had to go! If we had two pairs would they be able to live happily all together? Or would we need separate runs, hutches etc?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm new to all this pet ownership!
 
did vet treat all three for mites and was cage cleaned thoroughly as would have thought it could reinfest . I don't know about four boars together other than they would need loads of space. If you try and keep four boys together you could risk upsetting the two bonded ones and ending up with four singles. They are all young and may change when the testosterone kicks in. I have 4 girls together and two girls together as the four are bonded (well, live together without fighting) and two of those are 4 months old so when I got my two month old girls decided it wasn't worth the risk of upsetting the four (discussed it with a more guinea pig savvy person than me as I am quite new to this). Hope this helps but more experienced people than me may know better
 
lizjallen said:
Thanks, that is what I was thinking. Would adding another pig be good, or could that make the situation worse? The ones we have belong to my 3 daughters and the little one would be heart broken if her piggy had to go! If we had two pairs would they be able to live happily all together? Or would we need separate runs, hutches etc?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm new to all this pet ownership!
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Trios or more of boars rarely make it through the hormonal stage as a group without a very large space and the right mix of characters.
If you are to find a new friend for your daughters little boy, there are rescues that do' boar dating ' to find the perfect match, but I would wait until your little ones skin condition has cleared first.
If you are going to keep them as two separate pairs you will need another cage or hutch to keep them separate.
x
 
Personally, I think you are going to end up separating your one boar, if the other two are already well bonded I think it's only a matter of time. I would ensure they are all treated for mites, find a friend for your loner ina separate cage or similar housing. £60 seems on the steep side for neutering but could differ per location. Ensure your vet has experience in exotic pets and has a good history for treating pigs, they aren't the same as rabbits.

If put your location on your details, closer piggy forum buddies can offer your more local assistance. We're a big friendly lot here.:)p
 
3 and four boars can be unstable its only in large groups were they tend to work or in pairs so I would personally get the single boar a friend from a rescue and have them as two pairs living seperate. I would wait till you have finished with the mite treatment in 3 weeks and go from there looking for a friend.
 
lil said:
Personally, I think you are going to end up separating your one boar, if the other two are already well bonded I think it's only a matter of time. I would ensure they are all treated for mites, find a friend for your loner ina separate cage or similar housing. £60 seems on the steep side for neutering but could differ per location. Ensure your vet has experience in exotic pets and has a good history for treating pigs, they aren't the same as rabbits.

If put your location on your details, closer piggy forum buddies can offer your more local assistance. We're a big friendly lot here.:)p
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If you think £60 is steep its £76 at my vets for male piggy neutering :))
 
Please be aware that neutering will not change boar behaviour unlike with rabbits; it only removes the ability to reproduce if you want to pair up a boar with a sow/sows. Three subadult boars rarely make it to adulthood together.

Your boy sounds rather like he is being systematically bullied. If you are in doubt, you can trial separate him for a night. If he perks up noticeably as soon as he is on his own, you know that he is not happy and that you will need to find an alternative solution for him; of he pines and wants to go back, then you know that he is OK.

Where are you located? Depending on the country/area, you have more options. We ask all member to please add their country, State (US) or general area (UK) to their details so we can give appropriate advice or recommendations for good vets or rescues straight away. You can do so in forum/private messages/my settings/edit profile/location.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice, I think that we will separate him for a while and see how he goes, at least while his skin clears up. The tricky decision we face is whether to rehome him where he can be happy or find him a new partner? Need to try to spare daughters feelings at same time as doing what's best for guinea.
 
You have several good rescues within easy reach, quite a few of whom offer "boar dating", i.e. bonding at the rescue under expert supervision. If you can keep him with a new friend, that would be great!

Windwhistle near Cheltenham is the biggest of the ones near you. SuzyGPR near Glynneath in South Wales offers full residential boar dating with the resulting bond as stable as a sow bond (the safest way of piggy bonding); there is often a waiting list, so that would give your boy time to clear up.
Here is the Piggy Bank map of recommended (and vetted) high standard, practice and ethics guinea pig rescues:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=209994852075231951564.0004b8fd9391b4257d8eb&msa=0

Here is the full or residential board dating blog that Suzy has kept for us for a while. Please be aware that not all rescues can afford to offer time consuming full boar dating, if that is what you want to go for in the end. Most will offer some kind of dating, so character compatibility (the key to a successful boar bond) is taken into account and any resulting bond will have a much greater chance of success, especially if the boars also have a good age gap to prevent problems during the hormonal months.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?59233-Boar-Dating-Service-Wales

Best of luck!
 
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