Brother Boars Fighting

[will1985]

Hi,

I’m sure this has been asked a lot, so apologies in advance.

2 days ago we got 2 10 week old brother boars. They appeared well bonded where we got them from, were told by the owners they were well bonded, they appeared to be sharing hay when we arrived.

Took them home, seemed fine. They have 2 by 6 c & c cage so lots of room. The next morning, one of them had a rip in its ear, almost from the tip to the bottom, so it’s like 2 flaps now. Ever since, whenever they are near each other, they pretty much square up, teeth chattering, occasional little squeaky noises then they lunge at each other and roll around fighting, almost inter locked. I’ve tried to read about dominant behaviour and characteristics and what they are doing doesn’t seem to be that. We separated them overnight so no more damage would be done. Cage fully open again now, 2 further minor fights this morning and now both sat at opposite ends.

Any advice?

 

[Piggies&buns]

A change in environment can trigger dominance even in bonded pairs but they usually recover from that but full on fights are a relationship break down. The advice is once a full on fight has happened and injuries and blood has been drawn, then they will no longer be able to live together and must be permanently separated.
It’s important to not keep separating and reintroducing boars though, its incredibly stressful and more fights may occur. They either need to be permamently together or permamently apart.

 

[sport_billy]

Hello

Sorry to here this, please separate them immediately and divide the cage. Once a nasty fight has taken place they are highly unlikely to be able to live together and can result in severe injuries

Please take a read of this thread for lots more information Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,

I’m sure this has been asked a lot, so apologies in advance.

2 days ago we got 2 10 week old brother boars. They appeared well bonded where we got them from, were told by the owners they were well bonded, they appeared to be sharing hay when we arrived.

Took them home, seemed fine. They have 2 by 6 c & c cage so lots of room. The next morning, one of them had a rip in its ear, almost from the tip to the bottom, so it’s like 2 flaps now. Ever since, whenever they are near each other, they pretty much square up, teeth chattering, occasional little squeaky noises then they lunge at each other and roll around fighting, almost inter locked. I’ve tried to read about dominant behaviour and characteristics and what they are doing doesn’t seem to be that. We separated them overnight so no more damage would be done. Cage fully open again now, 2 further minor fights this morning and now both sat at opposite ends.

Any advice?

Hi and welcome!

New territory unfortunately will require your boys to re-establish their hierarchy unless you take the care to transfer their scent into the new space by rubbing scent marked soiled bedding all over the new space or allow the boys to scent mark any fresh fleece and furniture first before transferring them to their new quarters.

A 'cold' transferral can cause even a stably bonded boar pair to fall out if there are any underlying tensions. It is unfortunately a widely spread persistent but long since debunked breeder myth that boars won't fall out.

Please take the time to read this guide here. It talks you through all your options step by step:
Bonds In Trouble

Here is information on social interactive behaviours, which you may find helpful to judge your bond by:
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics

And here is our New Owners guide collection where we are addressing the most often encountered issues for new owners: Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides

 

[will1985]

Thanks all for your replies. So before making a decision to separate them permanently, we decided to give them some floor time earlier. No incidents, they were very close to each other a number of times and were in a tunnel together. There was a couple of small nips but nothing apart from that in the 30 minutes they were out. Will try that again later. Nothing has happened since. I understand it’s out of the cage so different environment but if they can maybe get along outside it might transfer into the cage?

Thanks again

 

[Lady Kelly]

Thanks all for your replies. So before making a decision to separate them permanently, we decided to give them some floor time earlier. No incidents, they were very close to each other a number of times and were in a tunnel together. There was a couple of small nips but nothing apart from that in the 30 minutes they were out. Will try that again later. Nothing has happened since. I understand it’s out of the cage so different environment but if they can maybe get along outside it might transfer into the cage?

Thanks again

If it were me and I felt they were bonding well then I would be inclined to try again, can you put some tunnels down or little fleece pads etc during their floortime so they can be placed in the cage so its familiarly scented when they do go in? It might make the transition a bit easier. If you do go for trying them in the cage then I would only do so when you can dedicate hours to keeping an eye on them just in case.

 

[Merab]

Welcome to the forum
I hope things work out for your boys

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks all for your replies. So before making a decision to separate them permanently, we decided to give them some floor time earlier. No incidents, they were very close to each other a number of times and were in a tunnel together. There was a couple of small nips but nothing apart from that in the 30 minutes they were out. Will try that again later. Nothing has happened since. I understand it’s out of the cage so different environment but if they can maybe get along outside it might transfer into the cage?

Thanks again

Give it another try and please conduct a formal bonding on neutral ground. You will find our bonding guide (link in my first post) helpful in that respect as it tells you exactly which behaviours are good and which aren't for each stage.

Some bonded pairs will get back together if it was just a tiff over the hierarchy and not a full-on fight and fall-out. Just given them time to cool down and make sure that you have several hours to observe. You can't bond boars in short meetings as you prevent them from going through the manual. Hopefully they will just go back together with a minimum of fuss.