Bonding Neville with an un-named piggle

[Laura M.]

I used to have a trio of boars (I was lucky that they got on fine), but now I am down to the one. After viewing all of the possibilities, I thought that it would be best to get him a baby boy companion, because Neville is not neutered. We had a look nearby, and came home with a brown-ish Abyssinian, 6 weeks old. We put him and Neville in a box (neutral territory), and it was fine for a couple of minutes until the little one decided to rebel. It did not look good, as they got into fights and Neville was even bleeding a bit. We took them both out, and held them for a little bit whilst my sister prepared a larger box. We put hay in the middle of this one, plus some grass. They only fought a little bit, and for the past few hours, the worst that would happen is Neville edging up to Little One, and then deciding not to risk it. A couple of times, if I did something Little One did not like, he would hide behind Neville, who let him. I decided to put in a hidey that only little one could fit in but it turns out that Neville could squeeze through, and then ran around to the other side to do it again. And then they both ended up in the same (tiny) hidey for a while. There were no hostilities, but I decided to get Little One his own hidey anyway. Then they were just sitting/lying quite calmly in their individual hideys.


For all I know they could have been asleep, but I cannot tell because guinea pigs sleep with their eyes open. Now they are warily wandering about the bonding pen, using hideys, eating grass, drinking from the bowl. They are edgy about each other, and keep yawning at each other too.

Despite the obviously very bad start, do you think that their bond might be successful?

Also, 'Little One' is not his proper name, we are just using that as a temporary name until we think of a good one. We have ideas of Scratchy (the name of the Agatha's rabbit in Wandavision), Fizzgig (the name of Kira's fluffy piranha-like pet in The Dark Crystal) or Susuwatari (the Japanese name for soot sprites which appear in the Studio Ghibli films Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro).
Any good ideas?

 

[Piggies&buns]

If a blood drawing fight has occurred, then it’s usually the end and a fight will often occur again. It takes two weeks for them to fully form a relationship
By far most piggies don’t cuddle together or share hides but they still live in harmony with each other and want to be together. If they are avoiding each other and seem uncomfortable then I’d be very careful and prepare for further problems and potentially separation but hope for the best.

 

[Laura M.]

The bonding has failed. What do I do with little one, because I am sure that we cannot keep him. Also, what do I do with Neville after the failed bonding? Neville has also been damaged but that is in another thread in the medical section because I need advice on that quickly. We have ideas to give Little One to RSPCA Little Valley Animal Shelter, Exeter because that is where we got our trio, but we still do not know what to do for Neville.

 

[VickiA]

Neville needs to see the vet today. I’m sorry that the bonding has failed. Perhaps you could take the little one back to wherever he came from.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Unfortunately in Devon there are no rescues that offer boar dating. The nearest would be Little Wheekers at Bristol, they are on Facebook. Neville would have to stay with them for 10 days residentially while they match him with any single boars they had. We had this problem here in Cornwall too last year. When Bill died it left Ted on his own. We made the decision to have him neutered and paired him with two young girls from Maria’s Animal Shelter down here in Cornwall.
Good luck, hope you can find Neville a little friend x