New boar pair - dominance behaviour

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tayla83

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Hi everyone 😊

Two days ago we adopted a boar pair who are a few months old in age, their names are Biscuit and Crumble ☺️. They have a cage bigger than 180x60cm, and I have placed two of everything in the cage - water bottles, food bowls, treats- to prevent any fighting over that. They also have their own separate hide spaces.

I have noticed that there seems to be dominance behaviour, however I am unsure of whether it is just dominance behaviour or whether it is unsafe to keep the two together? Biscuit, who I believe is the more dominant piggie, tends to rumblestrut very frequently, chases Crumble from time to time and, what I have noticed today, is that Biscuit keeps mounting Crumble, as poor Crumble had what I think is boar glue on his lower back and I had to spend ages getting it off his fur! When this happens, Crumble makes a high pitched squeak and it really hurts my heart as it sounds terrifying but I don’t know whether it is submission squeaking or fear/pain. Crumble also tends to squeak whenever Biscuit is near him and I don’t know whether this is out of fear or not. Should I intervene or let this behaviour happen?

I have previously had two female piggies for 10 years, and they never exhibited behaviour like this, so I am worried incase this is not normal dominance behaviour, or if I am doing anything wrong? If this is just dominance behaviour, will it settle? I feel I am constantly worried about them and have to keep an eye on them all the time incase anything serious breaks out because I am not used to seeing this sort of behaviour.

Any help or advice would be super appreciated! ☺️
 
Hello and welcome to the world of boars, there are many boar fans on here. It sounds very normal to me as it will take about two weeks to settle into a new home. The submission squealing can be horrendous, especially if you have a particularly dramatic little one. It's fantastic that they have so much space and two of everything. It's recommended to not have any single exit hides and most of us scatter feed instead of using bowls as it provides enrichment as well as preventing any food hogging.
Someone less of a dinosaur will be along to link some extremely useful guides soon.
 
Welcome to the forum

I completely agree with fluffysal.
They will be in a two week period of establishing their bond. This happens in every new environment.

Plus, as young teens, this kind of behaviour is very normal and you will see it beyond the two weeks establishing period while hormones rise. They are teens until 14 months of age but these behaviours will continue for many years as they continue to manage their relationship.

The high pitched submission is a good thing! They know their place in their hierarchy!

With boars you don’t intervene unless there is a fight.

I also agree about not using food bowls.

These are the guides which will help you

Wiebke

Thread 'A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars'

1 Common myths and misconceptions
2 The different ages (including teenage)
- Important biological facts
- The formative 'School Weeks' (3 weeks - ca. 4 months)
- The Teenage Months (ca. 4-14 months)
- The Adult Years (ca. 15 months - ca. 4-5 years)
- The Golden Age (ca. 4-5 years until end of life)
3 What do boars need? (List of boar dos and don'ts)
- Space, space and more space!
- Respecting the hierarchy
- The 'one for each...
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Wiebke

Thread 'Reacting to group or territorial changes: Dominance and group establishment/re-establishment'

- What can trigger a new hierarchy sort-out?
- What can I do to mitigate the impact?

With an average life span of only around 3 years and a hostile environment, wild guinea pig social life is much more fluid and eventful, whether that is losses, births, regular leadership changes, new boars being accepted or changes to the territory due to climate extremes, infectious illnesses, predation and the waxing and waning of group fortunes and the amount of territory they can claim around their denning areas.


What can trigger...
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boureki

Thread 'Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs'

1 List of dominance behaviours in ascending order of aggression
2 What may cause this type of behaviour in boars?
3 When do you see these behaviours in sows?
4 What can trigger fall-outs?
5 Further helpful guide links


I thought it may be handy to have a sticky on typical dominance behaviours for a reference - hopefully it may help humans understand guinea pigs and their behaviour a bit more and hopefully prevent some avoidable problems!


1 List of dominance behaviours...
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Welcome to the joy of boars! As the others have said, it sounds like perfectly normal dominance. It can be unnerving if you’re not used to it - my first pair of boars were four months old when I adopted them and I saw them through their teens with the guides and advice from this forum. They would have one or two dominance days every month or so and then mellowed out as they got older

Two-exit hideys, scatter feeding, plenty of hay to keep them occupied, and they’ll be just fine. Your cage size means they have tons of space to get away from each other if they need it

Boars can be nerve wracking when they’re squeaking and chasing and humping, but they’re also amazing personalities. Watching them come out of their shell and exhibit their daft antics is the best!
 
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