Boars sudden change in behaviour

[cheddar&chutney]

Hi all

I have a question about my lovely boys Cheddar and Chutney.
They are 18 weeks old, from the same litter (or so we were told), have always lived together etc. So when we first bought them home, 6 weeks ago, they already got along no problem. Chutney is the more dominant one, he does lots of that purring and butt wiggling stuff and a little bit of mounting.
However, today he will not leave poor Cheddar alone. He’s chasing and mounting Cheddar constantly and Cheddar is responding with very high pitched wheeks and runs away. From reading threads on here it sounds like this is sort of normal but as they’ve been living together and getting along I’m confused as to why their behaviour would suddenly change? One thing I did think is we bathed them yesterday for the first time (possibly left it a bit late?) and although we didn’t bathe them together I was wondering if this may have disturbed their relationship somehow? Maybe by altering their smells or something? Also changes their bedding material yesterday as we had been using wood shavings (a habit from childhood!) but have since read about the paper based stuff so switched to that.
Any thoughts? Just want to make sure we’ve not done something silly that’s upset their dynamic!

 

[Piggies&buns]

At their age, they are entering the hormonal teenage stage and these kind of dominance displays are to be expected. This lasts until around 14 months with various testosterone spikes during this time. Them having always been together or being related is absolutely no guarantee that they will be able to remain together to adulthood. These spikes can result in a bout of increased dominance which may settle down, but sometimes results in a major fall out requiring separation if a full on blood drawing fight occurs. This is something you need to keep an eye on but at this stage, it sounds perfectly Normal. Don’t step in unless a major fight occurs though. The boys will need to go through this and prematurely panicking and separating will interrupt them and cause them to restart all over again if they get put back together. The loud wheeks and running off sound like submissive behaviour - again, normal. This is what you want really - if he was fighting back then there could be problems but the fact that he is basically saying that he accepts the other piggy being dominant is a good sign.
With boys it is essential that they have enough space (a 150cm x 60cm cage is recommended for two boys), multiple open ended hideys and multiple food bowls/hay piles or racks/water bottles.
Separating them for bathing may have been a bit of a disruption. Boys should not be separated at all if you can help it. Equally, things such as handling the submissive pig first can cause the dominant to feel the need to reassert dominance.

When my own boar pair started with this kind of behaviour, the first thing i did was increase their cage size and things almost instantly calmed - not totally because it is a normal behaviour that they have to go through - but with more space my submissive pig was able to get away more easily.

To add, you don’t need to routinely bathe them. Only do it if medically advised by a vet. An occasional bum bath for boars is sometimes needed though.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all

I have a question about my lovely boys Cheddar and Chutney.
They are 18 weeks old, from the same litter (or so we were told), have always lived together etc. So when we first bought them home, 6 weeks ago, they already got along no problem. Chutney is the more dominant one, he does lots of that purring and butt wiggling stuff and a little bit of mounting.
However, today he will not leave poor Cheddar alone. He’s chasing and mounting Cheddar constantly and Cheddar is responding with very high pitched wheeks and runs away. From reading threads on here it sounds like this is sort of normal but as they’ve been living together and getting along I’m confused as to why their behaviour would suddenly change? One thing I did think is we bathed them yesterday for the first time (possibly left it a bit late?) and although we didn’t bathe them together I was wondering if this may have disturbed their relationship somehow? Maybe by altering their smells or something? Also changes their bedding material yesterday as we had been using wood shavings (a habit from childhood!) but have since read about the paper based stuff so switched to that.
Any thoughts? Just want to make sure we’ve not done something silly that’s upset their dynamic!

Hi! Your boys have now hit the teenage months when their testicles are descending.

Please read these two guides here so know what you can do to minimise the risk of clashes as much as possible and what you can do if a fall-out happens. It would be good if you had separation options/dividers planned and on stand-by.
More boar pairs than not make it, but it all depends on the personality balance and space - and that is an are where shops and for sale breeders fall dreadfully short.

Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[VickiA]

I’m afraid it’s typical boarish behaviour when their hormones kick in. Great advice above.

 

[cheddar&chutney]

Hi all, thank you for your responses, really helpful. Glad it sounds like normal behaviour, I thought it probably was but just got worried as it happened to coincide with us doing some new things yesterday! Thanks again

 

[cheddar&chutney]

At their age, they are entering the hormonal teenage stage and these kind of dominance displays are to be expected. This lasts until around 14 months with various testosterone spikes during this time. Them having always been together or being related is absolutely no guarantee that they will be able to remain together to adulthood. These spikes can result in a bout of increased dominance which may settle down, but sometimes results in a major fall out requiring separation if a full on blood drawing fight occurs. This is something you need to keep an eye on but at this stage, it sounds perfectly Normal. Don’t step in unless a major fight occurs though. The boys will need to go through this and prematurely panicking and separating will interrupt them and cause them to restart all over again if they get put back together. The loud wheeks and running off sound like submissive behaviour - again, normal. This is what you want really - if he was fighting back then there could be problems but the fact that he is basically saying that he accepts the other piggy being dominant is a good sign.
With boys it is essential that they have enough space (a 150cm x 60cm cage is recommended for two boys), multiple open ended hideys and multiple food bowls/hay piles or racks/water bottles.
Separating them for bathing may have been a bit of a disruption. Boys should not be separated at all if you can help it. Equally, things such as handling the submissive pig first can cause the dominant to feel the need to reassert dominance.

When my own boar pair started with this kind of behaviour, the first thing i did was increase their cage size and things almost instantly calmed - not totally because it is a normal behaviour that they have to go through - but with more space my submissive pig was able to get away more easily.

To add, you don’t need to routinely bathe them. Only do it if medically advised by a vet. An occasional bum bath for boars is sometimes needed though.

Thanks for taking the time to explain it so thoroughly! Pleased it all sounds normal. Didn’t know about the multiple bottles, hideys etc. thing, so will definitely get some extra bits for them now, and the cage size. Thanks again!

 

[cheddar&chutney]

Hi! Your boys have now hit the teenage months when their testicles are descending.

Please read these two guides here so know what you can do to minimise the risk of clashes as much as possible and what you can do if a fall-out happens. It would be good if you had separation options/dividers planned and on stand-by.
More boar pairs than not make it, but it all depends on the personality balance and space - and that is an are where shops and for sale breeders fall dreadfully short.

Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Thank you, will definitely have a read