Boars - why the bad press?!

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sophiew (EAGPR)

sophiew (EAGPR)

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Sitting here next to my big indoor cage with my 3 boys in it - Zippy, who was dumped in a layby, my lovely Peruvian - Captain Jack - unwanted at 5 years old, and another Peru, Sirius Black who is an ex-breeding boar... they're in my lounge to spread the word about indoor piggies when people visit, and can be relied to greet guests adoringly!

I'm just fed up with people not wanting boars - even though they don't already have pigs, and want a pair - usually it's because they've been told (by who!?) that boys will fight. It's such a shame as a lot of people have ruled out having boars even before they've met any.

Out of all my piggies here (about 60 at the mo!), I've only had one pair that really fell out and that's Zippy and George - Zippy is now living happily with the others and George is waiting for a baby boar to pair with. If I could only have a pair of pigs (sometimes I dream of only having a pair!) I'd definitely have boars - I love my girlies too, but the boys seem to have so much character and are so friendly.

I've got a lovely pair of Sheltie boys that are fit and healthy and young and ready to go - and not a single enquiry about them! (have considered pretending they're girls, LOL!)

Sophie
x
 
I think you are right! and you have to have boars to really appreciate them.

Take Lennie RB, unwanted, unloved and alone until he came to me and although I couldnt bond him with another boar, what an amazing character x)

My 3 other pairs, no problems, they are a delight! character wise, I agree, so independant, funny, cheeky and just adorable!
 
I love my boys to bits, they never fight, sometimes a bit of a rumble but I just tell them to 'pack it in' and they do! I have not found any difference in boys and girls (except the obvious) they are all characters, all love cuddles, all noisy, all cute. I would recommend boys to everyone. Probably for every one that has a scrap there are hundreds or thousands that don't.
 
I PREFER boars to sows and i also prefer male rabbits to does as well...

They aer more laid back and a bit mummies boys to be honest... The only exepction to the rule was my old female Squeaky piggy who was very affectionate...
I wouldnt have another female rabbit again i can tell you!
 
i love my four girls and one boy, but sonny melts everyone's hearts with his cheeky standing on the front of his cage to let me know he wants to come out. i was put off boars, mainly because of impaction i must admit, but now i know it wouldn't bother me if/when he needs it all done
 
I love my boys - I have 3 pairs! They are always first at the wire if food is on offer. I find that by providing two sleeping places & two food bowls each, they hardly ever argue and rumble at each other. I

n the summer they are out in the garden in 3 separate runs next to each other & they have a wonderful time rumbling & chatting to each other before settling down to eating grass - they never fight.
 
I have 2 Boars and 1 Sow and all 3 are soo adorable.
Chestnut is very mouthy and lets you know he can hear you when you walk up stairs.
Angel starts chestnut off for food at dinner time but poor Eli he never gets a word in with chestnut and angel as they are soo noisy.
Its wrong that boys get bad press as they have such lovely little characters.
I do love my little girl to bits x
 
I love my girls to pieces but when I got my piggies I wasn't bothered what sex I ended up with. The reason I ended up with girls is because we were given Connie as her 'family' no longer wanted her :( I got Eliza as a friend for Connie and because I wanted more than one. My friend however has 2 boars and they are so fat, cuddly and adorable x)x) Not as cute as Connie and Eliza though but then again, I'm just biased :)p
 
I got a pair of boars that had been happily together a year, after a few weeks of having them they started to fight and after drawing blood quite badly i had to seperate them. I do have boars but they are castrated and in with females.

So my experience with bonded boars sadly is not goodrolleyes
 
I love my boars so much, of course I love my sows too but they seem to be more for Peter! The boars certainly love me more and squeek when they hear me.

I have only had a problem with Sunshine and Twinkle and had to seperate. Other than that I have 8 boars and they are all in pairs!

I always advise to try a baby with an older (doing that tomorrow) and see how it works, of course it may not work out but I always advise that first rather than neutering.

Sunshine was a pet shop pig I was told not to put him with any pigs as he will kill them!
Radley was on free ads 5 months old babe who was supposed to be agressive. He is daft!
Jasper was supposed to be agressive too! Hmmm thats why he lives with Logan!

I'm defo a boar person, typical mummy's boys especially our Twinkle and Eccles, I dread anything happening to them I would be devestated. But I try not to have favs but some do have such big personalities!
 
I know what you mean - I try not to have favourites too, but of all the favourites I don't have, my top 5 are all boars!

In fact, my top 10, probably!

Love my girlies too, of course :))

Sophie
x
 
I have only ever had boars and in fact only really had problems with one that was NOT related to a piggy being extremely/chronically ill.
I think I shall always have boars.
 
Boars are the best! I have only ever had boars & wouldn't consider having a sow. :<>

I have had piggies who have fallen out & fought, but I find that patience, love & time & they usually pass through that stage (especially puberty) & can become the best of friends. not only that I have successfully paired pigs of different ages & don't believe anyone who says it can't be done! (Although there is always the odd stubborn pig or 2!)

I had a twosome who were 2.5 yrs & nearly 7 years. Tycho (the older of the 2) had a tumour & stayed in the cage all day. Kili (the baby of the pair) would run around the lounge but would then go back & sit with Tycho. When Kili became ill with a neurological problem the pair were not separated until he died. The most amazing & devastating thing is that Tycho died 40 hours after Kili, not from his cancer - but pining for his best friend. I actually had them cremated together as I know that it what they would have wanted. :(

It is so worth the time & effort of putting boars together because there is nothing like seeing 2 happy lads sat contemplating life or playing chase round the lounge!

Hooray for boars! x)x>>
 
I agree there's nothing better than seeing a boar who has been by himself 'find a friend' - I've got one here that is single at the moment, and he's caused quite serious injury to his previous partner so he's by himself for a bit, we'll try him with someone else in time.

I wish boars could live in lovely big groups like the sows can... I know some people with 'boar pens' but I don't have what it takes... apart from my odd 3, I can only do pairs!

Sophie
x
 
I think it's because a lot of people are inexperienced when it comes to bonding boars. Some people will just throw any two in together and expect them to get along. Then, when there's bloodshed, they tar all boars with the same brush. It is essentially a lack of education that causes boars to be unwanted. It is definately easier to keep sows in a group though. I have groups of up to 8 sows and they all get along so well..I can't imagine having 8 boars living together! mallethead I have 26 piggies all together, 23 of them are sows and 3 are boars. My oldest is Wilbur who found himself in a rescue when he was four. It's very sad but they're real characters aren't they? :)
 
I've always had boars, years ago i just put 4 unrelated boys together & all was well imagine my surprise when almost 4yrs ago i put Wallace, Wilbur & Huxley together to find Huxley with a bitten foot the morning after. I had the W's paired & Hamish joined Huxley, they lived together for 13months before i had to separate them.
I've had girls and had more problems with them than my boys, boys are "up front" where i've found girls sly, they pretend to be friends & when your back's turned they have a go at whomever.
I now have 5 single piggies; 4 boys, 1 girl - as for my personal preference i would have to say boys x)
 
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I love my boys. Sparky oringinally lived with Tommy but Tommy took to beating him up while Sparky sat there and took it. over a period of a month I slowly introduced Prince Harry to Sparky they are now bonded and have been together for several months they have the odd domestic but nothing major rolleyesrolleyes I love my boys so much!
 
I have two boars and I had no idea they had a bad "rap"..
What do people say about them?
My two boys absolutely adore each other. Luckily, they were already bonded prior to me adopting them at the rescue. But still, I've never seen two animals get on so well with each other. I can't imagine sows being any "better".
 
i have four boys lving togther and there get on grest 90% of the time

there are so much more lively then the girls and are more cuddly

i only see te girls at feeding time as rest of time thier sleeping under hay or in the house
 
Niki I agree! Amber (in my avatar) she comes acros as best friends with Pearl but if something isn't going her way she will try and have a nip at her. Fleur only cares about me feeding her and Flora just doesn't care at all haha! Leia hates cuddles too and Lyra teeth chatters if she doesn't get her own way!

Pearl is the only one who is more boar like. I feel sorry for her as she is with Flora, Fleur and Amber and seems to be a bit of an outsider. I am going to monitor that and see how it goes. I hate to seperate her from Amber as they have been together since babes.

Out of my 6 girls and 8 boys it is the girls that have given me the most stress. Lyra and Leia where with the girls until they decided they didn't want to know the other four anymore and became stressed! People are under the impression that because they are girls they are bound to get on, oh no, doesn't work like that. :)
 
I've had sows in the past but adopted a lonely boar, where I was told he'd be best living a solitary life (from a rescue!). Despite living indoors and having lots of cuddles, I knew he'd be depressed like this and, being inexperienced at pairing I thought it best to try and bond him with a baby. Luckily the same rescue had a litter with a three boars, so I took one of them. The transformation in Alfie was immediate- there was the usual rumbling but after 10 minutes he was already crying loudly when Pedro hid under the bed! It's funny to see him in 'Dad-mode'. They're both lovely cheeky chaps and my partner, who is not an animal fan, has even said he thinks these have more character than the girls did. I'm aware things may change though- especially as Pedro hits 'puberty' so may well be after some advice then!
 
I have no idea! me and my mum have 3 sets of boars between us (2 per cage) and they dont fight! They have bickers occasionally (barging the other out the way and general rowdyness) but dont we all when we are sharing our space. I'm sure the sows do this too! 5 mins later they are snuggled up together or sharing a carrot (one up one end and the other at the other until they meet in the middle!)

We love our boys! beautiful little creatures
 
My two boys get along fine
We got them because we were told they were friendlier by the breeder
 
sophiew said:
I'm just fed up with people not wanting boars - even though they don't already have pigs, and want a pair - usually it's because they've been told (by who!?) that boys will fight. It's such a shame as a lot of people have ruled out having boars even before they've met any.
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I couldn't agree more - I say this time and again to people - why are these things being touted as "fact"? I keep having to reply to posts when I have seen people posting that, "boars will fight - FACT" as I can't bear to think of all the boars who are lovely and sweet and have never so much as rumbled to one of their peers that they get such bad press. I even get emails from the rescue advice service I help with - so many emails I get say that their local rescues have advised AGAINST getting boars as they will fight - these are rescues! Astounding.

Our personal experience of boars has been wonderful - sweet, cuddly, affectionate, chunky and mostly calm. Yes, some of them squabble, but girls are more than capable of getting hormonal too.

As some of you know, we only take in boys at this point - it's like a male singles club in my house! x)
 
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In reply to Tracyyxx post about having a group of boars - I had 5 boys living together at one point & before that 8 boys in 2 cages. There were some rough disagreements, but I found that they used to sort out the pecking order between themselves! There is always one who wants to be the boss, some who fight him for the title & others who couldn't care less as there are always more important things to do like eat or sleep! 8)

It is hard work having a big group of boars, especially when one of them is 'hormonal', but then you do get even more love than you could have ever imagined! If only I wasn't a childminder & I had the time, then I would have loads & loads of boars - again! x)
 
Look at my two loverly boars snugglin' on the couch x)

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All that trash talk is nonsense! Nonsense I tell you!
 
boureki said:
I couldn't agree more - I say this time and again to people - why are these things being touted as "fact"? I keep having to reply to posts when I have seen people posting that, "boars will fight - FACT" as I can't bear to think of all the boars who are lovely and sweet and have never so much as rumbled to one of their peers that they get such bad press. I even get emails from the rescue advice service I help with - so many emails I get say that their local rescues have advised AGAINST getting boars as they will fight - these are rescues! Astounding.

Our personal experience of boars has been wonderful - sweet, cuddly, affectionate, chunky and mostly calm. Yes, some of them squabble, but girls are more than capable of getting hormonal too.

As some of you know, we only take in boys at this point - it's like a male singles club in my house! x)
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you can say that again, my girls are VERY hormonal! but it's sweet. i have no preference between boars and sows now i have both
 
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