2 Boars... Question About Constant Dominance

[Kristy]

Hi there...

This is my first post here... I have been reading and searching for some information.

We are very new to owning piggies and I have been reading like a crazy person.

We have 2 males, one is "Mortimer" an Absynian (spelling?) and the other is "Charlie" who is an American piggy...

Their temperaments are totally different from one another... The Absynian is larger and super energetic and crazy...very verbal, he is the dominant one... Charlie, the American is very quiet and loves to be held and snuggle an he is not very verbal at all.

Lately Mortimer has been chasing and humping poor Charlie all the time... he is very verbal and does a lot of strutting and purring around Charlie... Charlie seems to be getting tired of it... and he has been spending a LOT of time just hiding in his cubby.... I have several little hiding places for them to get their own space away from each other.... But Mortimer, squeezes into the small spaces and I keep hearing Charlie squeak out. I have not seen any biting or fighting, but I feel like Charlie is miserable.

Today I put a divider in the cage to give them some "time out". Now Mortimer is running around all crazy and climbing on top of his hidey boxes, and being more crazy than normal.... He just started crying out I think... he is whistling and whining... but Charlie seems happy for the separation and came out to eat and drink in peace.....

I feel mean, and I know this is a behavior that will/should pass.... but I also feel bad for Charlie having to put up with it all the time. they rarely sleep together anymore like they had done a few weeks ago...

What do you all do in this case? We do need a larger cage, and I guessing that might help. I am planning to do the C&C cage and thinking 2x4 to start and maybe adding a loft later.. I have to build a top for it though because we have a large dog.

 

[GPcrazy]

Hi

How old are your boys?
Boars go through "puberty" from 4-14 months which results in a major hormone spike and often a major increase in dominance displays etc.

Will let someone more experienced comment on what to do about ot but just wondering if age is playing a part.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi there...

This is my first post here... I have been reading and searching for some information.

We are very new to owning piggies and I have been reading like a crazy person.

We have 2 males, one is "Mortimer" an Absynian (spelling?) and the other is "Charlie" who is an American piggy...

Their temperaments are totally different from one another... The Absynian is larger and super energetic and crazy...very verbal, he is the dominant one... Charlie, the American is very quiet and loves to be held and snuggle an he is not very verbal at all.

Lately Mortimer has been chasing and humping poor Charlie all the time... he is very verbal and does a lot of strutting and purring around Charlie... Charlie seems to be getting tired of it... and he has been spending a LOT of time just hiding in his cubby.... I have several little hiding places for them to get their own space away from each other.... But Mortimer, squeezes into the small spaces and I keep hearing Charlie squeak out. I have not seen any biting or fighting, but I feel like Charlie is miserable.

Today I put a divider in the cage to give them some "time out". Now Mortimer is running around all crazy and climbing on top of his hidey boxes, and being more crazy than normal.... He just started crying out I think... he is whistling and whining... but Charlie seems happy for the separation and came out to eat and drink in peace.....

I feel mean, and I know this is a behavior that will/should pass.... but I also feel bad for Charlie having to put up with it all the time. they rarely sleep together anymore like they had done a few weeks ago...

What do you all do in this case? We do need a larger cage, and I guessing that might help. I am planning to do the C&C cage and thinking 2x4 to start and maybe adding a loft later.. I have to build a top for it though because we have a large dog.

It sounds like your boys have hit the teenage months. Are they around 4 months old? That is the age when the testicles start descending. It is during that time that boars develop their adult identity and find out whether their personalities mesh or not before they reach a hormonally somewhat more settled adulthood at around 15 months.

The more space your boys have especially during that time, the better. A C&C cage also has the advantage that you can divide it if necessary, so the boys can live alongside if they clash too badly. You will have to brace yourself for more dominance behaviour, as piggies need to re-establish their hierarchy in any new territory. If you can, please make the switch with dirty bedding to minimise this.
Please take your time to read through our guides; you will hopefully find them very helpful.
Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Cage Size Guide

 

[Kristy]

Hi and thank you for your replies! I appreciate your time so much! we've had them for about 6 weeks.... We were told that Mortie, the larger dominant one was under 6-months old, but he was much larger than Charlie, so I was guessing was at least 4 months or so... he was already rumbling and humping a little bit when we first introduced them.... but it wasn't constant like it has been the last several days. I'll guess him to be at 6 months maybe.

The little one, Charlie, does not make many sounds at all... he is quite submissive and never rumbles at all.. and just makes a little grunting sound when he runs around, and squeaks out when things get too rough and then he hides for a long time.

I currently have them separated and Mortie is obsessed with chewing on the bars and shaking it to get over there... Charlie has been ignoring him, but this morning he is coming over to the bars to sniff and they are touching mouths through the bar. I can't tell if he wants to be together or not...

I put them together last night and the romped around and ran through tunnels and played chase for a bit... then I fed them their salad in separate bowls.... and they played a little more... and then Mortie got too rough again and Charlie kept trying to hide, and Mortie kept walking on him, and humping, and etc.... and wouldn't leave him alone.

So I put the cage separator back in and gave Mortie an extension to his cage, since he is super active and needs the most room until I can make a larger cage for them both.

I wonder how long I need to keep them separate.... and if they can be friends when Mortie cools off a little from his raging hormones.....

Thank you to @Wibeke for the reading links... I will read through them today. If anyone has personal experience that they feel like sharing, please feel welcome!

 

[Kristy]

Quick update... and thank you for your replies.... I kept them separated in their cage with just a wire dividing wall for 2 days... on the third day we did a play time on neutral ground and the dominant humping piggy was much better.. I let them do play time for a couple of hours, twice that day, and again over the weekend for several hours... on neutral ground. Last night I changed their bedding... and added an extenstion cage from an old cage that we had lying around.... so now the dominant one had claimed that area as his sleeping place.... no more constant chasing or humping.. just some cute squeaking and a little bit of hump/rumble strut... They are happy to be back together again.. Maybe a few days of cooling off was a good choice...