Should I Give Up?

[ColoradoCavvies]

Hello everyone, I'm a fairly new GP owner and I have a question about my two boars I have tried to introduce. First of all, I have had my pig 'Cheesy' (haha, my daughter named him) since October and he is now about 9 months old. We recently got another pig from a shelter, named Leroy who is about 2 years old. He had been quarantined for 2 weeks and I decided to try to introduce the two pigs yesterday. I bought a brand new fleece and brand new play pen to put them in so that there was definitely no scent from either pig. I put them in together with plenty of hay and they behaved normally from what I've read. Plenty of chasing, some teeth chattering, some rumblestrutting, etc. They nipped at each other a few times, but didn't fight. I left them in there for about 3 hours and by that time they were just munching on hay and ignoring each other. So I completely cleaned out the cage they are going to live in, I had just Cheesy in there before (it's 2ft x 6ft). I set up the cage with two of everything, two hides/water bottles/hay bins, etc. And transferred the pigs to the new set up. They of course had to do the dominance routine again, but this time I noticed Leroy was being more aggressive toward Cheesy. It started with excessive teeth chattering and chasing, then Leroy bullied Cheesy out of his evening carrot (Leroy is a faster eater and had already finished his). Then I saw Leroy trying to keep Cheesy away from the hay and water bottles, even though there are 2 of each. Now this morning Leroy bullied Cheesy out of his bell pepper and was doing the same thing with the hay. The two got into a bit more serious scuffle this morning, but no blood drawn. Leroy has also chased Cheesy out of his igloo. Cheesy has been submissive, but Leroy won't stop chasing him and chattering his teeth. Cheesy was just sitting in a corner looking depressed for awhile while Leroy ate hay. It didn't appear that Cheesy was eating or drinking, so I just decided to put a divider panel in the cage to separate them. Cheesy is looking a bit more lively now and has eaten a bit. Leroy digs at the divider aggressively while rumbling and chattering.
Is this normal? Or is Leroy being a giant bully? They have only been together for 24 hours but I'm thinking they are not compatible. Luckily, I got Leroy from a shelter (with a no-kill policy) which would take him back and let me try a new match (I chose Leroy in the first place because I was told he had been submissive to other pigs). Would you throw in the towel here, or keep trying? If not, would you try a different match for Cheesy? I don't want him to be lonely. Thanks for reading!

 

[LisaAli]

Hi to the forum..

Unfortunately it doesnt sound too hopeful, but sometimes living next to each other can defuse the situation allowing a more gentle introduction. We had 2 boars who fell out big style but were happy enough living next to each other. We will tag @Wiebke for you who has a huge amount of experience with guinea pig pairing and we're sure she will give you some further pointers on what to do next.

Lisa & Ali

 

[Sue G]

If you do have to take Leroy back to the shelter, would they allow you to take Cheesy along so he could choose his own friend? We call it "boar dating" and it can be quite successful.

 

[Wiebke]

It doesn't sound promising, to be honest. The key to any successful boar bond is mutual liking and character compatibility.
You can find tips on what you can do in this link here (with further links): Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

If it is a non-kill shelter, then it may be worth to speak to them whether you could try another boar, otherwise, I would recommend to consider keeping them as next door neighbours with interaction through the bars.

The "boar haka" (which is my nickname for the territory marking and display through the bars) should get less intense over time, but even that is regular stimulation for them!

 

[ColoradoCavvies]

Thanks for your reply! I haven't introduced boars before, so I wasn't sure if I was giving up too fast. I will give the shelter a call!

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks for your reply! I haven't introduced boars before, so I wasn't sure if I was giving up too fast. I will give the shelter a call!

Please be aware that when you introduce boars, you can't do short meetings. Once committed, you have to ride the tiger and sit it out until they settle down or seriously fight or hump so constantly that one of them is not able to eat, drink and sleep in peace.

So far, your boys have not gone right up to the line yet, so you can still give it another go without any interruption from you, unless they really get into a fight.

Please carefully read the link I have given you. it also contains links to guides on how to introduce properly and how to grade dominance behaviours. However, the constant separations are very frustrating for any boars because they have to start right back in square one, and that can be very counterproductive, so by now, I can't say whether they will settle together or not.

 

[ColoradoCavvies]

I read the link before I posted, as well as many other resources. I understand very well that I cannot separate and reintroduce them over and over again. If I have the barrier between them, should I just remove it, or take them out of the cage and back to a neutral area? As far as I can tell, Cheesy still hasn't eaten any hay today and has hardly left his hide out of fear. This is very worrisome to me.

 

[ColoradoCavvies]

Hi to the forum..

Unfortunately it doesnt sound too hopeful, but sometimes living next to each other can defuse the situation allowing a more gentle introduction. We had 2 boars who fell out big style but were happy enough living next to each other. We will tag @Wiebke for you who has a huge amount of experience with guinea pig pairing and we're sure she will give you some further pointers on what to do next.

Lisa & Ali

Ok for some reason, my tablet didn't show the replies from lisaali and sue g until now! Thanks for replying! Sue, I will ask if Cheesy could meet a boar at the shelter before bringing one home if I decide to take Leroy back!

 

[ColoradoCavvies]

Alright, after doing some thinking I have a plan, let me know if it's acceptable. Right now, my pigs are in their cage with the divider in so they can see each other. Cheesy has been out and about more and seems less afraid to eat and drink. Leroy is still digging at the divider and biting it now. I'm thinking I leave it this way for a few days, watching to be sure that Cheesy is eating. Then I start over again with the two on neutral territory and leave them there for the entire day, only intervening if it comes down to a serious battle. If successful, I clean the entire cage again and try to place them in, again only intervening if it comes down to serious battling. I understand that I may have to wait out some bullying. If unsuccessful, I will leave them separated permanently and not stress them out again by trying to get them together. Please be patient with me, understand that I have done a lot of reading on guinea pigs (countless hours, it's addicting ) but this is my first experience so I have to learn as I go. I have a lot of experience with other animals, but never had intros go so roughly. If I had a dog bullying another out of food, I would have zero tolerance for such behavior. So it goes against all my instincts to allow this to happen. One question I do have: how long do I tolerate the bullying before I call it unsuccessful? I certainly don't want one pig to lose weight and become unhealthy due to being bullied out of his food. Thanks again!