newly paired boars and their dominance displays

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Mel105

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Hey I read the dominance behaviour sticky on the top of the page and I was just wondering how long on average does it take for boars to sort out dominancy issues and calm down and settle? I have just paired my two boys oreo and rolo for the first time and they show mild dominance displays and then go quiet and calm down then they go back to dominance again ! So I'm just wondering whether it will last a day or a week as an estimate (: thanks ! x
 
I think it's one of those 'it depends' things. If there's no real fighting within the first day then you're off to a promising start but I would say it generally takes a couple of weeks for them to truly settle with each other though low level dominance displays will continue indefinitely, particularly if there's something worth arguing over (even if you provide two of everything). My boars have been together happily for nearly a year and a half and Blondie still gets somewhat, erm, "rambunctious", shall we say, and tries to mount Hermes and they'll have a little nose off and rumblestrut at each other but then they popcorn everywhere. They also like to argue over the stool which is their favourite hidey, again, usually it's Blondie being the antagonistic one.

There is also the factor of age, between 4-14months or thereabouts is the major hormonal phase during which you can expect more displays of dominance behaviour and it's the most likely period for fallouts to occur even in previously stable bonds.

But as I said I think it depends on the individuals, I'd imagine some pair up quickly and some take a little longer to settle their differences as reflected in the different bonds they have. I've read and seen pics on here of boars cuddled up together and ones that will groom each other. My two will sit next to each other in the hidey but don't tend to cuddle up and I've only seen them groom each other once (quite recently) however if I take Hermes out the cage without Blondie then Blondie stands and the bars wheeking for him and they seek each other out when they're frightened.
 
Sounds as though they are pretty much settled but keep a close eye on them still for a bit longer.
I've not bonded boars but our girls ended up in a full blown battle when we tried them together, both wanted 'top piggy' spot so knew after 10 minutes, it wasn't happening :(
Very scary, heart stopping time - Hermes has given some great advice.
If one is happy to be submissive, there will be little issues but any signs of serious aggression, puffing up, raising up on hind legs and a hissing noise etc. be ready to split ( a thick towel or dustpan is useful to keep close by to separate brawling piggies as they have powerful bites as I discovered ! )
Good luck :)
 
Our boys have been together for a week now (Bertie 5 months & Horatio 11 weeks). Bertie was pretty cross for a day or so & spent a lot of time rumbling but has now calmed down a lot. He still tells Horatio off a bit sometimes but Horatio mostly ignores him! They have been sleeping not snuggled up but very near to each other under the towel drape at one end of the cage. What will happen as Horation grows & gets his own hormones kicking in is anybody's guess though especially as Horatio is highly likely to end up bigger than Bertie...

This is the 2nd boar pairing we have done not counting our first pair of boars who came to us as baby brothers. The previous pairing between our almost 4 year old boar & a 7 week old baby was the easiest - just a bit of licking & sniffing, no rumbling at all.
 
awesome thank you all, well its been almost two and a half days since I put them in together, just mild dominance displays that seemed to have died down now, still going on but much less. At the moment they are both next to eachother eating out of the same hay tray xD they seem to be alright so far but I have still got my eye on them ! they also sleep near eachother they live in a 4x2 C&C and I think Oreo is around 2 months older than rolo (when we got him his exact age was unknown, I'm just going off his size xD) Rolo is about 6 months old so that would make Oreo around 8 months ! is this age pairing ok ? because most age pairings I have seen have been an adult with a baby.
Thank again for the comments! it has been very nerve wrecking!
 
Introducing two males, 4 and 3 months old I think. Gone OK, early days. One thing I haven't seen anyone mention is scent marking. My oldest boar seemed to unleash a beastly stink when he met the new guy, not urine that's for sure. Lucky the other didn't reciprocate, I don't need a stank off!
 
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