Will a single pig next to a new bonded pair threaten the bond?

[Bettyb26]

Hi all,
I have posted before about my 2 boars who had to be separated shortly after we adopted them because they stopped getting on (blood was drawn). They have been side by side ever since and interact through the bars, and while Eugene seems truly happy on his own and only really pays attention to Eddie by chattering at him, we really would like to get Eddie a friend. I reached out to a rescue a while ago who do bonding, and they said that if we were to get Eddie a friend, Eugene would have to be moved away from him otherwise he could threaten the new bond. Is this really the case? Aside from the fact that we dont really have the space to move eugene anywhere else, I would hate for him to be completely seperate from other pigs and he would end up going over to them anyway when he is roaming around our front room. Could it ever work to have a bonded pair next to a single? Thank you

 

[Claire W]

It should be fine to have Eugene living next door to Eddie and his new friend. It’s only when there’s a sow in the mix when problems could occur. There’s lots of members on here who have boar pairs living alongside another boar and they have no problems

 

[Bettyb26]

It should be fine to have Eugene living next door to Eddie and his new friend. It’s only when there’s a sow in the mix when problems could occur. There’s lots of members on here who have boar pairs living alongside another boar and they have no problems

Thank you, I have seen lots of examples of this so I’m not sure why the rescue said that!

 

[piggieminder]

I've had a single next to a pair several times without a problem, I think it depends how strong the bond is. Nugget and Caspy did break up after Red moved in next door but their bond was a bit iffy anyway and I think Red causing trouble at the bars was the last straw for them.

 

[Piggies&buns]

It’s absolutely fine to do this.
I have a 5 year old bonded boar pair and two 6 month old single boars (their bond broke down about two months ago) in the same shed. While my older boys live in the upper level of the cage, they come down to the floor to play and the presence of the two youngsters either side of the playpen area does not cause any problems.

(To expand further on Claire mentioning sows. It’s only an issue introducing sows into a room where there are bonded boars. In your situation and if Eddie was neutered, you could still give him a sow friend because Eugene isn’t bonded with another boar for their bond to be put at risk by introducing a sow. )

 

[Bill & Ted]

I have never heard of that before. It’s only the presence/smell of females that drive bonded boars to fall out not another male

 

[Bettyb26]

It’s absolutely fine to do this.
I have a 5 year old bonded boar pair and two 6 month old single boars (their bond broke down about two months ago) in the same shed. While my older boys live in the upper level of the cage, they come down to the floor to play and the presence of the two youngsters either side of the playpen area does not cause any problems.

(To expand further on Claire mentioning sows. It’s only an issue introducing sows into a room where there are bonded boars. In your situation and if Eddie was neutered, you could still give him a sow friend because Eugene isn’t bonded with another boar for their bond to be put at risk by introducing a sow. )

Thank you for this, I think I asked them about both boars and sows so that’s possibly why they said that. I’d rather not put him through neutering if I can help it so fingers crossed we can find him a boar friend!

 

[TheSilverH]

This thread couldn’t have been more timely for me lol. I stopped in pets at home today (friend needed some dog toys), and obviously I used it as an excuse to look at what I was expecting to be some very young, tiny piggles. Of course there were lots of little floofs, but they had a single, older boar in the “adoption centre”. I asked why he was alone and found out he’d been found abandoned in a field and someone had brought him in. Needless to say I wanted to scoop him up and bring him home with me, though after chatting to my wife we’ve agreed that we should see if anyone can take him to pair with a friend first. We literally only have enough room to fit another cage big enough for one piggle, next to one of our three boar pairs, so he would have company, but we’ll see if he can have a proper cage mate first though. He was an unbelievable cutey though .

Also I haven’t been on here in ages, so as piggie tax he’s pics of my two old boys Lincoln and Roma exploring during floor time last weekend.