I posted this in the "Boars! Simple Dominance Displays or Fighting?" thread simply because one of the posts described exactly what I'm seeing this evening...but I've realised this is a more appropriate place for it.
This is what I posted:
Outstanding post. Our boars had gone through what I thought was a bit of squabbling last week, but this evening they've really turned the dial up to 11.
They've been doing precisely what you describe above, i.e., chasing, mounting & teeth chattering. There's also been a bit of what I think is either a "keep away" or an "ooh la la" murmuring. Due to the mounting I suspect it's the former rather than the latter...or perhaps a bit of both, one form each piggie.
Bill is the older and larger pig...about 10-12 months old. Eric is the smaller pig, about 10-11 weeks old. Bill is clearly the aggressor and is chasing Eric all 'round the cage.
I've scooped Eric out and set him in his pigloo outside the cage, but Bill is tearing the cage apart as if he's looking for him.
Also, despite their cage being cleaned out only yesterday, there's a strong smell coming from the cage which I've never noticed before. We clean the cage every three days...
I've taken a video of the action and posted it below. I don't want to separate too early, and yet I don't want to really wait for blood to be drawn before I act.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQTdVQx8WFc[/ame]
It's also worth noting that when Eric dashed into a hide to get away from Bill, and I put a wadded towel in the doorway to prevent Bill following, Bill paid no attention to the fact I was there and kept trying to get past the towel to get to Eric.
This is an interesting point because we've only had the piggies for just over 2.5 weeks (three weeks on Saturday) and they're still quite timid around us. Bill couldn't have cared less how close he was getting to my hands...so long as he could get to Eric. Very unusual behaviour for our new piggies.
