Attempting To Re-bond

[JamesC]

Hi

I've read through all the threads on here about bonding, but to be honest finding the sheer amount of information a bit overwhelming and not sure how best to apply it to our situation!

I'll explain the whole story and hopefully can be pointed in the right direction.

So we got two litter brothers last May (Deano and Monty), and they were outside in a hutch. They got on fine. Unfortunately one of them had health problems from day one and died around Christmas (RIP little Deano Deano).

On the advice of our local breeder we got another guinea straight away, a 2 month old fluffy thing called Joey, and put him straight in with Monty. Initially they seemed ok but we noticed after a few weeks they must've had a fight and had hurt each other (Joey had a really bad cut on the back of his neck which took a lot of time and care to heal, and Monty had a few smaller scratches which got a little infected too).

I found this place and learnt a lot from here about the amount of space really needed (especially for boys), giving two food bowls and water holders etc, plus not having hideys with one exit, but a bit late unfortunately having previously just gone on the breeders advice!

So, with the help of this thread I put them together a new indoor C&C cage with a divider down the middle. Housing For Two Not Quite Bonded Boars

At first, Joey would chatter his teeth a lot through the bars but has calmed down over time. Monty always seems really excited to see Joey, sort of purring and chattering away through the bars, and they'll often sit right next to each other either side, although Joey still seems a lot cooler on the relationship he seems happy enough just sitting like that. The only time Joey gets upset is if I feed Monty first, then there's a bit of chattering.

A couple of times we've tried putting them together in their indoor run, but both times they've ended up startling each other and Joey has been a little aggressive (not doing anything violent but sort of running or jumping at Monty and making Monty run away) and we've pulled Monty straight out within less than a minute both times, as I don't want to risk anything.

So when we put them out they now have a run each, but Monty seems to get quite upset whenever we take him away from Joey, which is a little heartbreaking.

Any suggestions? Should we try the bath thing (Monty hates baths even on his own)? Should I hold my nerve a bit longer when putting them together in the run and see what happens? Or do we just need to give up and Monty will have to deal with the occasional time apart because Joey's just not so keen and it's not worth the risk?

Any advice appreciated.

James

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

I've read through all the threads on here about bonding, but to be honest finding the sheer amount of information a bit overwhelming and not sure how best to apply it to our situation!

I'll explain the whole story and hopefully can be pointed in the right direction.

So we got two litter brothers last May (Deano and Monty), and they were outside in a hutch. They got on fine. Unfortunately one of them had health problems from day one and died around Christmas (RIP little Deano Deano).

On the advice of our local breeder we got another guinea straight away, a 2 month old fluffy thing called Joey, and put him straight in with Monty. Initially they seemed ok but we noticed after a few weeks they must've had a fight and had hurt each other (Joey had a really bad cut on the back of his neck which took a lot of time and care to heal, and Monty had a few smaller scratches which got a little infected too).

I found this place and learnt a lot from here about the amount of space really needed (especially for boys), giving two food bowls and water holders etc, plus not having hideys with one exit, but a bit late unfortunately having previously just gone on the breeders advice!

So, with the help of this thread I put them together a new indoor C&C cage with a divider down the middle. Housing For Two Not Quite Bonded Boars

At first, Joey would chatter his teeth a lot through the bars but has calmed down over time. Monty always seems really excited to see Joey, sort of purring and chattering away through the bars, and they'll often sit right next to each other either side, although Joey still seems a lot cooler on the relationship he seems happy enough just sitting like that. The only time Joey gets upset is if I feed Monty first, then there's a bit of chattering.

A couple of times we've tried putting them together in their indoor run, but both times they've ended up startling each other and Joey has been a little aggressive (not doing anything violent but sort of running or jumping at Monty and making Monty run away) and we've pulled Monty straight out within less than a minute both times, as I don't want to risk anything.

So when we put them out they now have a run each, but Monty seems to get quite upset whenever we take him away from Joey, which is a little heartbreaking.

Any suggestions? Should we try the bath thing (Monty hates baths even on his own)? Should I hold my nerve a bit longer when putting them together in the run and see what happens? Or do we just need to give up and Monty will have to deal with the occasional time apart because Joey's just not so keen and it's not worth the risk?

Any advice appreciated.

James

Hi! Please follow the advice in this very detailed step-by-step guide. It has pictures and descriptions of the most common bonding behaviours, so you can judge better what is going on and what phase your boys are in. Boars bond mostly by humping and chasing. Bondings generally fail when one boar has had enough.

The first rule about boar bonding is that once you have committed, you have to sit it out unless there are real serious fights. You can't miss the intensity of that; it is in a completely different league to normal hanky-panky.
The second rule is, you conduct any bonding in a place that is not part of their regular territory.

Each time you pull out a boar once they start dominance behaviour, you kill off the bonding process dead in its tracks and your boys have to start right from scratch next time round. You get nowher, except ending up with two increasingly frustrated boars.

Nobody can predict whether your boys will go back together in the end or not, but there is no "soft wash" method; it is either leave be or jump in the cold water and let them sort it out between them. Sorry, but that is how it goes. Bonding is always a nerve racking time. The biggest problem for first time owners is not the potential fighting, but to not interfere and to not separate way too soon.

Make sure that you have oven gloves at the ready. If the bonding fails, then your boys simply go back to your split cage as next door neighbours.

 

[JamesC]

Thanks. When we separated them the first time it was definitely the right thing to do, it took Joey weeks to stop having to go the vets with the infected cut he had.

It's the subsequent attempts I'm less sure about, and we're definitely really nervous when we try as I couldn't bear it if one of them hurt the other again! Maybe need to give it a bit longer to develop and watch really closely for actual fighting.

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks. When we separated them the first time it was definitely the right thing to do, it took Joey weeks to stop having to go the vets with the infected cut he had.

It's the subsequent attempts I'm less sure about, and we're definitely really nervous when we try as I couldn't bear it if one of them hurt the other again! Maybe need to give it a bit longer to develop and watch really closely for actual fighting.

If you want to bond, you have to give it time to develop and ONLY separate (forever) if there is actual fighting.

Most boars however will not go back together again after a serious fight with full-on bites.