Will My Three Boars Ever Be Able To Live Together?

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willowo

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Hi,
I had two brother boars aged 3 and one died, so we got two young boars (2 months) to keep the remaining one company. To start with they were all fine, but at about 4 months the young ones would not stop pestering the older one. They became very sexually aggressive with him; humping him, spraying wee on him and chattering their teeth at him ALL of the time. We took the older one out and put him in a separate cage (but still in the same room). Then a month later the two young ones had a big fight (resulting in a trip to the vet's to have stitches in the nose) so we have separated them too. They young ones are now about 7 months old, and we let them out of their cages to run around together and they seem ok for a while but then start rumblestrutting and chattering. For some reason they go crazy at the older one, when he is running around they are squeaking, biting the bars and getting very agitated. If I handle one of the younger ones after the older one (so still have his scent) they go mad licking and sniffing me. If I didn't know better (as I have checked with the vet!) I would think the older one was a female.

Having three pigs in three cages is not ideal, is there any chance the two younger ones will grow out of this stage?

Thanks for any advice!

Willow
 
Oh I'm sorry that you have 3 lone boars .... to me it sounds as though none of them will get on, but I am possibly paranoid as I have repeatedly tried to re-bond my trio (but I have a happy pair and a lone boar so not as bad as you having 3 singles) and it resulted in a recent terrifying fight that got me bitten badly twice and lead to my hand being very swollen and infected for a couple of days!

If you have already had to seek vet treatment, I would not try to re-bond the pigs, and it does not sound promising for them to be re-bonded with the older pig either in my opinion, but others may advise differently.

Proper guinea pig fights are astonishingly violent aren't they? My hand is still scarred and scabbed!
 
Hi! Your two younger boys are currently going through the big teenage hormones which will last until they become settled adults at around 15 months old. Whether they will go back together as adults is rather doubtful; it depends on whether they are character compatible in their adult identities or not (relationship doesn't make any difference). To me, they sound both like they are fairly dominant. I gather that none of the piggies has been in a bloody fight with bites, which would imply a permanent fall-out?

I would rather consider trying to see whether the less dominant of the two boys will bond with your older gent at some point, but it may not work out.

Rumblestrutting, mounting and even teeth chattering are pretty normal behaviour when meeting and trying to establish a bond. Each time your boys meet, they start the bonding process; each time you separate, you abort it.

Their behaviour is very normal; they want to be back with the older boy (irrespective of whether it is working or not) and they get excited when they can smell him - that goes for all piggies!

Please have a look through our information threads at the top of this section.
 
Hi,

Thanks for your quick and very useful reply. The two young ones have had a bloody fight which ended up with one having a really nasty gash on his nose which required stitches. Maybe I am being overly cautious now, as I worry when they start grumbling that its going to lead to another fight. I put the two young ones in the run in he garden for the first time at the weekend, thinking a scary new environment might bond them (it works with rabbits) but they still started fighting almost instantly.

I will try and introduce one to the older one. I just feel sorry for him as he gets chased round and humped and makes sad little squeaky noises. I had a look at the 'sticky' on behavior and found it really useful, I will try and hold back and let them try and bond and only split them up if it seems to be going seriously wrong.

Thanks again,

Willow
 
The "sad squeaky" noises are simply signalling submission; you older boy is obviously not at all dominant.

If I were you, I would wait until the boys are past the hormones before trying any bonding; you have a much greater chance of it working out. Right now, they are too full of juice with some more hormonal spikes yet to come! :(
 
To me it really sounds as if your two younger ones do not like each other, they have had a fight which has drawn blood and needed vet treatment, and they started fighting immediately when you put them in the run - they sound like my Pumpkin and Jack. Personally I would not try to rebond the two younger ones, it sounds like they really don't like each other, and you may end up with another vet bill, a very injured guinea pig or two, or an injury to yourself when you try to split them up.

Bonding one of them to the older pig does sound more promising, if he is running away but not fighting back then you could attempt a pairing that hopefully will not lead to fights....

@Rodentopia is very knowledgeable about boars, maybe she will see the tag and pop by to give her opinion?
 
I Have had a couple of boar trios. the three things needed are patience, Space (our most recent trio until rocky died had 20square foot) and an age range that way only one was whithin the stroppy phase. Trios are rare and sadly if they arent going to get on then you cant force them Good luck and if you have any questions just ask. Finally Have multiples of everything in order to stop squabbles 3 pigs = 4 bowls 4bottles 4 hideys etc
 
Thanks all for your really really helpful advice. If I was able to pair the old and one of the young, would you advise getting another friend for the one left by himself? I don't like to think of him being alone for the rest of his life.

Thanks again, I am learning lots!
 
Take him to a local rescue and let him choose a friend. Most rescues will allow boar dating plus the bond will be stronger if he's allowed to pick his mate
 
If bondings are not working out your options depend to a large extent on where you live.

Here in Britain, we have a got a fair number of good standard specialist guinea pig rescue that offer "boar dating" at the rescue under expert supervision. This is by far the safest way of bonding single boys, as you only come home if the boys have clicked and you have got the rescue to fall back on in case you run into trouble down the line. Some rescues offer "full" or residential boar dating, which is by far the best option, but as it is very time consuming, there may be a waiting list for a slot - worth it, though!
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-rescue-locator/

If you are in another country, access to good rescues is not quite as easy as there are far less around. I am able to look up whether you have a rescues within reach. These rescues may not provide dating, but they will take back any boars where the bonding hasn't worked out.

Whether you want to consider neutering in order for each boar to live with a sow of his own (cross gender bondings are by the most stable once the initial acceptance has happened), depends largely on having access to a good and experienced piggy neutering/operating vet. otherwise the risk of mainly post operation complications is still quite common. You are also looking at a full 6 weeks post operation wait until any neutered boars are 100% safe to go with a sow (I have the surprise baby from a supposedly safe over 5 weeks post boar living with me, just top prove this particular point). Please note that unlike with rabbits, neutering doesn't affect boar behaviour/dominance and is no cure for bonding problems. I you want to think about having just one boar neutered, you will have to then have the cross gender pair living out of sight and reach of female pheromones from any bonded boars. Unfortunately, spayed sows are about as rare as gold dust!
We have got a piggy savvy vet locator for our UK members on the top bar.

With members from all over the world, we are grateful if you added your country/state or (for the UK) your county to your details, so we can always give you the appropriate advice and recommendations for your part of the globe straight away. Click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details/location. Thanks!
 
Thanks for all the tips, I think we will wait a while until they are 15 months and see how things are then. If we can bond one of the young and the old, then get a friend for the other young, that would be an ideal situation. Sending him dating sounds great, we did that with my rabbit and it worked very well. I hadn't thought of doing it for a pig!
We use Cambridge Veterinary Group and I have always been happy with them, but their exotic specialist did advise getting them neutered to control their fighting - which seems that it wouldn't work anyway.

Again, thanks to everyone for the really useful advise.

Willow
 
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