So fed up with my boys.

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slackalice2k

slackalice2k

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Well Woody and Spike (both around 6/7 months old) have been seperated, and I feel so down about it. I have tried everything and thought we were finally getting somewhere until the weekend, then all hell let loose and Spike is sporting a thick lip and a nasty scratch across his face, he's lost a bit of weight as well. After our 4th trip to the vets in 4 weeks, 3 weeks mite treatment first, and now this I have finally admitted defeat.

Spike was the dominant one but the tables turned and bless him he's not taken it well, so he's now inside, I knew the right decision had been made when he did a little popcorn earlier.

I feel so bad for separating them, I don't want to have them neutered so will give them chance to settle down and might consider introducing them to baby boys in the future. I'm playing it a day at a time. My other pairs of boys are older/younger mixes and they all get along fine.

I'm going to go have a cuddle with my poorly boy, it might make me feel better.
 
Poor you - your boys are at the worst stage right now; and you have been trying to do your best!

Looking for a new companion is one possibility. But don't think about your options tonight while you're still so down and upset!

BIG HUG
 
Thats a shame they didnt bond. I have tried to bond my two boys many times, but all I got for my troubles was several very nasty bites whilst seperating them. Its mainly Mimsi who wont accept Montgomery. Montgomery is so good natured but Mimsi isnt having it. They live in seperate cages in the same room and Mimsis cage is right next to the girls so he can kiss them through the bars. Hope the poorly wee man is ok. Sending pick me up hugs to you from my gang..
 
I got the four boys right now, 2 live together, we thought, after two blissful days of having our new guy in with the other two all would be well...until I came home and found Max bloodied...so now Hawk is back in the penthouse (upper portion with the ramp, but it's been blocked so no one can get in or out). We are working on a master plan to get each of them their own space, with ramps, so they can all visit but not harm each other, should be an interesting setup, but I can't risk anymore of them getting hurt because I want to see them snuggle one another, we will just work around them until they settle down...hopefully someday!
 
Woa, woa, woa there, hold the bus.

First, neutering boars won't affect how much of a jerk they'll be to other boars when they're feeling hormonal. Besides making them feel off for a few days, the only thing you gain from neutering a boar is a sterile boar.

Second, a massive fight is something I would completely expect from two 6 month boars housed in a cage together. Hierarchy is important in guinea pigs and seems to be more explosive with boars than girls since boars have this need to establish territory hidden deep in the back of their brains. Boars hit adolescence at around 6 months and at that time, in younger-to-older-boar pairings, the adolescent boars have a tendency to need hierarchy re-established until their hormones settle down and they stop being jerks.

Here you have two boars who have hit their hormonal hellish stage at the same time. They're going to want to establish a hierarchy but because they're both still hormonal they're going to want to establish that hierarchy and remind each other of that hierarchy again and again. In younger-to-older boar pairings that hierarchy would be consistently re-established by an older boar who would remind the younger boar that he's boss, but with your two they're doing the dominance dance.

Wait until the pair of them have realised that not everything is powered by hormones (actually, everything is powered by wheeking) and try again. Alternatively, you can house these YOUNGER boars with an older boar, it will save you having to wait for two younger boys to creep up -- unless you have your heart set on mini peegs.

Also: I hope the injured piggie gets better :(
 
Thank you for the replies, I've just had a lovely quiet time with Spike and it's made me feel a bit better. If I stop stroking he looks very reproachful at me so I have to start up again.

Teadragon, I have no intention of neutering, I don't have girls so there's no point. I will try them together again, after Spike is a bit better. They will have a nice bath and a bonding session over vegetables on the kitchen floor. Seperating them was my last option, they have been together since they were tiny, and the rescue have been so helpful all the way through, this has now been ongoing for a few weeks. I would really prefer for them to be together but if the aggression continues, then mini pigs might be another option I have to look at. My vet was very keen to for me to keep them together when it all kicked off 4 weeks ago, but as soon as she saw Spike she said it's time to split them up, and to be honest she only echo'd what I'd nearly decided on this morning when I saw him.

They have squabbled before but to put them back together too soon would be disastrous for Spike, I don't have my camera with me right now but his face is really quite horrible. Mind you the face he pulled when he got his first dose of Baytril was quite horrible too.

Oh what a day, I can't wait to see what tommorrow brings.rolleyes

Thanks again everybody for your kind words.
 
I recently had to do the same thing, i knew for me to have pairs of boys was too good to be true as I've never had much success with boy pairings rolleyes. It was the younger one of the pair that inflicted the wounds on the elder. He had lived with his older boy since he'd been 4wks old but at 7 months the hormones obviously kicked in & he wanted to be top pig. My older boy (aged approx 2.5yrs) had wounds to his ear, lip & nose but since separating them both have successfully paired with babies :)
 
slackalice2k said:
Thank you for the replies, I've just had a lovely quiet time with Spike and it's made me feel a bit better. If I stop stroking he looks very reproachful at me so I have to start up again.

Teadragon, I have no intention of neutering, I don't have girls so there's no point. I will try them together again, after Spike is a bit better. They will have a nice bath and a bonding session over vegetables on the kitchen floor. Seperating them was my last option, they have been together since they were tiny, and the rescue have been so helpful all the way through, this has now been ongoing for a few weeks. I would really prefer for them to be together but if the aggression continues, then mini pigs might be another option I have to look at. My vet was very keen to for me to keep them together when it all kicked off 4 weeks ago, but as soon as she saw Spike she said it's time to split them up, and to be honest she only echo'd what I'd nearly decided on this morning when I saw him.

They have squabbled before but to put them back together too soon would be disastrous for Spike, I don't have my camera with me right now but his face is really quite horrible. Mind you the face he pulled when he got his first dose of Baytril was quite horrible too.

Oh what a day, I can't wait to see what tommorrow brings.rolleyes

Thanks again everybody for your kind words.
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Ah, sorry, I thought you'd mentioned that you wanted to neuter them. :)

Hopefully he'll heal up as good as new!

Boars are the best way to develop grey hairs, I think.
 
It's ok love we also had to separate our boys, it made me sad, but our setup was a dividing wire mesh which they then spent most of the day beside it chatting away happily :(|):(|):(|)
I did give them play time together, they'd rumble and carry on and one was erm a bit frisky with the other rolleyes but they loved those times together, but sadly there was no way they could live together SIGH boars.........you can't help but just love them x)x)
 
Spike's a bit perkier this morning, his scabs look less severe and he's eating hay and his favourite vegetables, he's certainly looking a lot happier. Mind he's being ruined by my 9yo at the minute, if she hasn't got the hamster attached to her she's cuddling Spike. He's always been the more affectionate of the 2, and loves flopping out on your knee and snoozing. It is definately a 2 person job giving him his Baytril though, he got all the dose this morning, instead of my hand getting some of it last night.

Woody is quite happily munching veggies too, he's laid on his fleece bed looking like the king of the hutch at the moment. I'm going to put them both out in runs next to each other in the garden for a couple of hours later, and see how they behave.

Yes I have more grey/white this morning, definately need a colour this weekend.

Have a good day everyone.
 
If you can contrive a setup where they can live next to each other and stay in contact through the bars/mesh, but can share run/play time together after a cooling down period, you may well be in with a chance of keeping them as a pair without having to bring new guinea pigs into it. That way, they each have their own territory, but the companionship as well!
 
Vickyt said:
If you can contrive a setup where they can live next to each other and stay in contact through the bars/mesh, but can share run/play time together after a cooling down period, you may well be in with a chance of keeping them as a pair without having to bring new guinea pigs into it. That way, they each have their own territory, but the companionship as well!
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Thank you for the advise, I've Spike indoors and was wondering this morning if I should go and get another indoor cage so they can be next to each other, I have a lovely big lounge so there's no problem there, it's just storing the indoor cages when they're not in use that's the problem. I was looking for Cubes yesterday on the internet and might just invest in some, my daughter has asthma so indoor piggies long term may not be an option though.:{
 
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