Bonding?

[Nicquita]

i'm rehoming a 2 year old neutered boar from Layla at the North East Guinea Pig Rescue on saturday. i can't wait. he's so adorable, and i can't wait. in fact, the wait is killing me :p

i currently have 3 sows. two that are in the region of 8 months old and one who is 4 years old. they're all very friendly towards each other and get along great.

i've never had a boar before. so, i've never had experience introducing them. i've also never introduced a single pig to a group before. i've read all of the guides on introducing, and as some people may have seen, have built a small indoor cage as a neutral area for introductions.

i was just wondering if anyone has any advice on this based on experience. i'd really appreciate it. i tend to be overly paranoid. thanks in advance, everyone p

 

[katiepops]

I've only had experience of bonding boars but a bath together helped and a place for each of them to hide. Someone suggested wine boxes make good temporary hiding places. Good luck

 

[Nicquita]

my auntie gives us avon boxes, so i tend to use those as piggle hides.

my girlies hate baths, so it'd probably annoy them, but thanks anyway

 

[Little Piggles]

I'm not much help either, as I've only added an extra girl to a pair, but wanted to wish you good luck

I think if they've got neutral territory with lots of places to hide with two exits and lots of food you you should (hopefully) be okay. You seem to have it sussed Hope they all get along well

 

[Wiebke]

Make sure that any hides have two exits and that there is plenty of space to scamper round.

It might actually not be a bad idea if you could keep the boar next to his girls for a few days, so they can make friends first through the bars/mesh if that is possible. That can take some of the boar overexcitement out of the equation when you do the intros proper.

Please brace yourself for boy going completely bonkers for a while; brain doesn't come into the equation and the mounting attempts can be any way round, as long as it's up and he can get hold of it! He'll pee on the girls to mark them as his. Because of that, I wouldn't recommend bathing before the intro; everypig will end up reeking and depending on the breed, mussed up. However, I would not bathe afterwards, either - they will develop a common group scent and you do not want to interfere with that!

The girls will wheek like mad, pee back to tell him - literally - to p*ss off, may even kick at him, depending on how close or not they are to their season. You need only worry if there are real fights - that means that the bonding has failed and your boy won't be accepted. Thankfully, that is pretty rare and usually happens within the first few minutes.

Things can look rather wild, but don't be deceived by that - a lot of the girl wheeking means "I'm not ready for you - yet!" A girl in season will usually hang out close to her boy while still shrilling at him (which seems to drive the boys crazy) until she is ready to mate at the very end of her season.

Girls have to actually lie down for a boy to be successful; piggy society is run by women!

PS: An overload of testosterone has to be experienced to be believed, so better make sure that you have a window nearby! Thankfully, it will never be as wild as the first time.

Good luck!

 

[Nicquita]

thanks Wiebke, that's really helpful. unfortunately, there's no feasible way for me to put them 'near' to each other, as my girls live in an outdoor hutch.

i know some people frown on this, but i can allow them more space outside than would be plausible indoors. i've also spent hours upon hours making their hutch as weatherproofed as humanly possible.

i've read about the wheeking and such. my girls have never had a problem being introduced (my two younger ones were both bought within the last year). hopefully they'll be as calm when introduced to Alfie.