Newly bonded boars

[Jo83]

Hi just looking for some advice with my 2 boys (19 & 16mths old), my original boar has been ‘dating’ at a rescue & had found his match there but when I got him home and put them both in the cage Milo seemed to realise it was his territory and they had a bit of a scrap- nothing serious and after a night apart they’ve been back together & back in the cage for about 2weeks now, it’s all been looking pretty good but when we do a cage clean or there’s the slightest change Milo gets a bit macho again, lots of humping, chasing, rumble strutting & even the occasional headbutt! However it does all seem to calm down again within a couple of hours thankfully.
So I’m just wondering as I would normally give them lap time pretty much everyday but haven’t been recently while they’ve been settling, should I wait to start this again when they’re more settled & less likely to flare up again when they’re put back in the cage or could this just be the way they are & just get on with it?
Sorry for such a long post Just wanted to give a bit of background

 

[Wiebke]

Hi just looking for some advice with my 2 boys (19 & 16mths old), my original boar has been ‘dating’ at a rescue & had found his match there but when I got him home and put them both in the cage Milo seemed to realise it was his territory and they had a bit of a scrap- nothing serious and after a night apart they’ve been back together & back in the cage for about 2weeks now, it’s all been looking pretty good but when we do a cage clean or there’s the slightest change Milo gets a bit macho again, lots of humping, chasing, rumble strutting & even the occasional headbutt! However it does all seem to calm down again within a couple of hours thankfully.
So I’m just wondering as I would normally give them lap time pretty much everyday but haven’t been recently while they’ve been settling, should I wait to start this again when they’re more settled & less likely to flare up again when they’re put back in the cage or could this just be the way they are & just get on with it?
Sorry for such a long post Just wanted to give a bit of background ☺

Hi!

It takes about 2 weeks on average for a new relationship to work through the small print and settle down ('dominance phase', which also comes into play when moving to a new territory). Milo is obviously not quite comfortable in his role and is throwing his weight around at the least provocation. I hope that this is settling down more as time goes on.

I always give any rescue dates time in a bonding pen at home to settle together (if necessary overnight) before I transfer them to their cage in order to prevent the new piggy being seen as an intruder and eliciting a strong dominance reaction; especially if it was just a speed dating session and the full several hours intro part has not yet been fully worked through.
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

As long as you always feed, pick up, handle and groom Milo first (according to the hierarchy which he is rather picky about right now), you can proceed to normal life.
See chapter 3 (Dos and don'ts) in our Boar Guide: A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars

 

[Jo83]

That’s great thank you, I will resume to normal, he is getting better & thankfully settles down fairly quickly.
That’s exactly what I ended up doing in the end- settling them again in their run before moving them to the cage & was much better

 

[Siikibam]

You can also leave in some of their soiled bedding so it’s not all ‘clean’ - their scent is still in there.

 

[Jo83]

You can also leave in some of their soiled bedding so it’s not all ‘clean’ - their scent is still in there.

Yes I’ve been doing this & it does seem to be helping, thanks