Please help - fighting?

[catnicki]

Hi

Sadly we lost one of our pigs last week, Roony (died in my arms on the way to the vets 8...) so we then went out that very afternoon to get Rex a friend as I've always been told Piggies don't like to be alone.

We came home with a lovely 4 month old Boar (Rex is 2 and half) and after a while put them together in the run.

Everything seemed fine, so put them together in the cage at bedtime but decided not to cover them up til last thing so we could keep an eye on them.

At one point I did notice they were tearing around the hutch but there was no noise and no injuries. I set my alarm for 5am to uncover and check on them and all seemed fine.

The next day I noticed a couple of scratches on Rex (the eldest one) and then the next day noticed that Henry (new baby) had a very swollen eye which I have been bathing and put it down to the fact I had to wipe a bit of shavings from it the day before.

Yesterday we got them out and Rex's ear had literally been split in two with lots of blood, we cleaned it up and put Rex in the run on his own for most of the day as we are worried Henry is bullying him.

The ear does seem to be healing and Henry's eye looks better but I'm worried they aren't happy. Rex is hiding away in the log cabin in the main part of the cage and Henry is hiding in the igloo in the bedroom and I've not seen him eating at all.

I'm sorry to waffle but I'm so worried, is this all normal, how long do I leave it like this and what should I do?

Any advice at all would be great.

Thanks

Nicki x

 

[Nemo]

I'm not really well up on the bonding process so can't really give much advice what to do next I'm afraid. I think maybe you did put them together a little early before they had got used to each other properly. If it was me I would seperate them because I would be too scared of more injuries occuring and wouldn't want them both to be scared. Hopefully somebody will be along with some good advice soon.

 

[moonie8404]

i bonded a couple of boars a couple of weeks ago. It is always best to introduce piggys on a netral ground, such a the living room floor or such places that they both arent used to - i dont know if this could have been the problem, but I'm not expert so cannot comment

this is a good site, see section on bonding.

 

[linz]

I'm just bonding my boars , (only today) and it was on neutral territory. I'm going to leave them for a few days with more introductions before I put them in a hutch together and am also going to get a new hutch so it will be new to them both and not just star invading freddy home . I hope all works out for you xx

 

[moonie8404]

yes i had a new cage for them both, everything was really new bar the litter tray.

Linz, i hope your bonding goes well, mine has been fine. I left them on the floor for bout 2 hours, then put them in the cage, they were fine!

 

[Poison]

I would say seperate them until they've healed. Once they've healed bath them so they don't smell of anything and then try introduction process again on neutral territory. I'm bonding boars too lol (3 year old and 6 week old), and I plan to give them about an hour together every day for about a week and once I'm sure they'll be okay I'll try them in the hutch or cage together.

Hopefully they will settle down, I think at around 4 months old is piggie puberty, thats when a pair of my boars fell out and had to be seperated so I think it is, not sure though, that might be why their being a bit difficult to bond, one minute they'll be friends the next minute they'll be at each others throats. Your younger one is just being a teenager, this is the stage at which lost of bonded boars fall out.

Good luck, hope it all works out