Pigs Fallen Out and Separated in New Cage.

[m1nkeh]

Hi,

Late last year our older sow (3.5yr), and young boar (1yr) had a major falling out whereby a small amount of blood was drawn.. they had fallen out previously, and time had healed the wounds but this time no amount of reintroduction seemed to resolve things.

On Monday, we took delivery of a new, bigger, c&c cage.. that have now put a divider down the middle of so they each have their own area, but they can still see/hear/smell one another through the middle divider which is simply one of the grids (no plastic).

Everything's ok now, apart from one MAJOR issue.. they both will not stop chomping on the bars! They live in the lounge, and it's driving us around the bend!

We've tried ignoring it, thinking that they might be seeking attention and don't want to reinforce things.. and things somewhat quieten down at night thank god. However, once my wife or i go near them.. it's all chomp chomp chomp..

Anyone got any advice to stop this, i don't want them to damage their teeth/mouth.. but i have also read that they could really like the way it feels!

In the cage there are wooden things to chew, cardboard things to chew, hay to eat, nuggets to eat, etc. interestingly if you take one of them out the remaining pig continues to chomp.. which i guess kinda rules out them trying to get to each other?

help!

 

[Black piggies]

Not sure but one of my pigs gets anxious if she ends up left alone in the cage and does that kind of thing. That's included when separated like this.

 

[VickiA]

When I’ve had piggies divided by a grid and they were bar biting I resorted to putting up a cardboard screen attached to the bars to prevent them seeing each other so easily and also to give them something quieter to chew on first.