Boars Suddenly Fighting

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My boar Six lost his cage mate and brother in the new year. We introduced him to a baby boar (Cap) and they seemed to bond well and get along. There was a bit of rumble strutting from them both but nothing worse than that in the 3 months they have been together.

I now feel riddled with guilt, we gave them a bath at the weekend and the following day, Cap started to chutter at Six and yesterday they had a proper fight, which resulted in Six with a bite on his lip and a scratch under his eye. After reading on here, I figure we didn't reintroduce them properly after the bath?

Six and Cap are currently separated and I would like advice on if and how we can reintroduce them and what is the best way to do it?

Six is 4 and Cap is about 5 months.

 

[Galaxy&nibbles]

I'm sorry they've fallen out.. I can't help myself but I hope someone else can. I'll hopefully be getting a new friend for Roddy at the weekend as he ills his cagemate so I will be stalking this thread.

 

[Squeakums]

I was in a similar situation, my pigs are about the same age as yours but my older pig keeps injuring my younger one so I think they have to be permanently separated now I hope you have better luck.

 

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I think they have fallen out for good we gave them a bonding bath and reintroduced them on neutral ground in the hall, where they got on alright for a few hours... Then when we put them back in their (cleaned out) cage, they started clicking their teeth at each other straight away and were squaring up to each other, so we separeted them again. Six doesn't seem to mind being seperate at all, but Cap is beside himself and wheeks constantly for Six and gnaws at the bars seperating them. We'll see how they get on living side by side.

 

[lauraboara]

Sorry to hear about your boys - I have had a similar situation where at 5 or 6 months the younger boar's hormones kicked in and he started to challenge for dominance leading to fall outs.
Glad that you can have a side-by-side set up to give you and them a bit of time to breathe and consider. It can get a bit fraught when they are ready for fight mode all the time. I hope that Cap will settle down a bit and he will still be able to see and smell Six which is good.
You said that Six had a couple of bites - have you been able to give them a good clean with some saline? Also worth checking under his chin as they can have hidden bite marks under there from nose offs getting heated.
Let us know whether they settle side-by-side.

 

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I've dabbed/wiped Six's poor little piggy lip and under his eye with saline, do I need to do anything else? His eye seems ok and is almost healed, but he had a big scab on his lip. Should I take him to the vet just in case?

They are ok together on laps and during floor time, so when we cleaned them out we opened up the cage and were pleased when they snuggled down for a nap together... Until they woke up and Cap starting snapping at Six straight away! So we'll keep them living apart.

Is floor time together enough for them not to get lonely?

 

[Kerrie74]

Hello, I was looking at your thread and wondered if you did have to keep your guinea pigs separated? I'm having a bit of trouble with my two boars, we adopted them but the rescue claim they are brothers and I know humping is normal, however the one who is being constantly bothered has started to lose his temper again, fur raised, teeth chattering, he was up on his back legs, he chased the other one across the cage, so I don't know if we need to split them up. The one losing his temper only bit the other one last year.