Can a boar be happier single?

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chelgan

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Hello, new to this forum! For background, we got our first piggy (Winston) as a baby. He was single and super sweet and happy for about the first year, then we decided to get him a cage mate as we felt bad that he didn’t have a friend. When we bought our second piggy (Melvin), Winston was not a big fan. They bonded and everything, but they bickered a lot and Winston seemed to get much more aggressive and skittish, even toward humans. (Teeth chattering when we’d try to pet him, absolutely flipping out when we’d pick him up for nail trims, no longer letting us pet him when feeding treats, etc.) Melvin was extremely submissive and didn’t ever react when Winston would mount him or get aggressive with him, etc. They live in a 2x4 c&c cage with 2 hides, 2 water bottles, 2 food dishes-we make sure they have enough of everything to go around to avoid fighting over resources.

Sadly, Melvin suddenly passed away a couple days ago at about 2.5 years old. Winston seemed a little confused at first, but after about the first 12 hours he has begun to go back to his happy, sweet self that he was before we introduced a second piggy. My question is, could he possibly be happier alone?

We are planning to get him a new cage mate later this week (baby from the pet store to try and make sure he doesn’t feel threatened by another adult), but I’m wondering if we try introducing them and it doesn’t go well, should we just keep him single? (He’s 3 years old, if that makes a difference.)
 
I'm so sorry you lost Melvin.

Let's see if my link works: Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities Seems to have, so have a read here

There seem to be differing opinions on this in different countries. In Switzerland for instance it is against the law to keep a herd/group animal single. That includes guineas and rabbits. I live in Germany where it is not illegal, but the Swiss law is often quoted by rescues. Back in the day I did have singles sometimes, but I'd never go back to it personally.

Are there any rescues where you are? Sometimes rescues will let you come in and see if your boar will bond with another. If your boar is not interested, then keep trying, eventually you'll find a good match or rather your boar will ;-)

Good luck.

P.S. Welcome to the forum!
 
I’m sorry for your loss.

Our advice will always be no they aren’t happier alone.
Even having two piggies living in separate but side by side cages due to them not bonding is better than being without any interaction with another piggy. Side by side means they can still communicate and still get interaction.

This is our bonding guide.
Please ensure if you are getting a baby that you have checked the sex of the piggy, and that you plan for kicking side by side if the bonding fails.
It’s better if possible to rescue a new friend rather than buy from a pet shop as they can assist with bonding and return if a bonding does fail allowing you to try another friend.

Wiebke

Thread 'Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics'

1 Introduction
2 Pre-bonding
- Quarantine and sexing
- The need for a plan B
- The rule-breaker: Youngsters under 4 months (sub-teenage)
3 Setting up an introduction
- Getting to know each other
- ‘Buddy baths’ – why not
- Scent swapping - why not
- Setting up a neutral bonding area
- How to start the bonding
4 Acceptance phase: Do we like...
  • Like
 
Mrs Tiggy Winkle said:
I'm so sorry you lost Melvin.

Let's see if my link works: Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities Seems to have, so have a read here

There seem to be differing opinions on this in different countries. In Switzerland for instance it is against the law to keep a herd/group animal single. That includes guineas and rabbits. I live in Germany where it is not illegal, but the Swiss law is often quoted by rescues. Back in the day I did have singles sometimes, but I'd never go back to it personally.

Are there any rescues where you are? Sometimes rescues will let you come in and see if your boar will bond with another. If your boar is not interested, then keep trying, eventually you'll find a good match or rather your boar will ;-)

Good luck.

P.S. Welcome to the forum!
Click to expand...
Thank you for this! I did check out rescues, however there is only one in my area (about a 3 hour drive away), and they bond pairs at the rescue and only allow adoption in pairs, so no luck there! After reading the link, it sounds like perhaps the problem can be linked back to having Winston single as a baby so he wasn’t able to observe other piggies to learn social behaviors. He did live with a partner for over 2 years, so maybe he will do ok with another as long as they get along. The local pet shop doesn’t allow “dating” so we will just have to go for it and introduce them very slowly and see what happens. I do worry about the new pig’s teenage years, as that was extremely rough when Melvin was that age. I guess we will just need to see how it goes! Thanks again.
 
Do note that boar bonding isn’t done slowly.
You just need to put them in neutral territory for several hours and see whether they get along. If they do then after several hours you move them to their thoroughly cleaned out cage to begin their life together. It then takes the next two weeks for them to fully establish their bond and hierarchy.

As your new piggy is going to be a baby, he will need that interact with an adult piggy straight away.
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’m sorry for your loss.

Our advice will always be no they aren’t happier alone.
Even having two piggies living in separate but side by side cages due to them not bonding is better than being without any interaction with another piggy. Side by side means they can still communicate and still get interaction.

This is our bonding guide.
Please ensure if you are getting a baby that you have checked the sex of the piggy, and that you plan for kicking side by side if the bonding fails.
It’s better if possible to rescue a new friend rather than buy from a pet shop as they can assist with bonding and return if a bonding does fail allowing you to try another friend.

Wiebke

Thread 'Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics'

1 Introduction
2 Pre-bonding
- Quarantine and sexing
- The need for a plan B
- The rule-breaker: Youngsters under 4 months (sub-teenage)
3 Setting up an introduction
- Getting to know each other
- ‘Buddy baths’ – why not
- Scent swapping - why not
- Setting up a neutral bonding area
- How to start the bonding
4 Acceptance phase: Do we like...
  • Like
Click to expand...
Thank you! Lots of great info here as well!
 
UPDATE: Thank you everyone for the advice! We were finally able to get a new baby piggy on Friday, and after a 48 hour quarantine, we introduced the new baby to Winston yesterday. They had such a positive bonding experience, and are getting along very well! Winston is very sweet to the new baby (Pork Chop) and lets him get away with things he would have never let Melvin do. He steps aside and lets Pork Chop eat, sleeps next to him (with his eyes closed!), gives him little piggy kisses, etc. And he’s still his sweet self, unlike when we had Melvin and he was even rude to the humans! (I think maybe he and Melvin just didn’t like each other now looking back–it was my first time bonding boars, and they mildly tolerated each other so I assumed boars were always semi-aggressive with each other but this is so different and great!) Hoping they can continue to be good friends through baby Pork Chop’s upcoming hormonal months!
 
Haha here they are on Sunday! BUT I think I may have made a mistake tonight… we took baby Pork Chop out of the cage (for maybe 3 minutes?) to check him over again and make sure he looks healthy, etc. and now Winston is acting like they’ve never met-chasing him around, rumblestrutting, humping, etc… acting just like he did ALL the time with our other boar who he didn’t get along with. Should we not have taken Pork Chop out? I mean it was MAYBE three minutes at most… IMG_9798.webp
 
My Stripe would hump Chez if I took him out of the cage. If you do something, you must always do it with the dominant first. Even giving treats. And if one comes out, they both should.

I must say I don't miss that now my boys are neighbors!
 
They are gorgeous. As @Ramia says, always deal with the dominant first for everything. Once when my submissive had to have meds, I took the other boy out first, gave him some fuss and a treat, then dealt with the other after he went back in.
 
Thank you! That is interesting, I wonder if it applies even though my dominant boar loathes being taken out? I did give him treats before taking out the little one, thinking he’d be glad he didn’t have to be picked up. (If he even suspects I might pick him up he puffs up, runs into a hidey and starts teeth chattering at me! I now only take him out when I absolutely have to, because he hates it so much!)
Hopefully they’ve worked it out… I hear less chattering in there now and peeked in and saw Winston sleeping with his head down so fingers crossed they’re all good again!IMG_9814.webp
 
chelgan said:
Haha here they are on Sunday! BUT I think I may have made a mistake tonight… we took baby Pork Chop out of the cage (for maybe 3 minutes?) to check him over again and make sure he looks healthy, etc. and now Winston is acting like they’ve never met-chasing him around, rumblestrutting, humping, etc… acting just like he did ALL the time with our other boar who he didn’t get along with. Should we not have taken Pork Chop out? I mean it was MAYBE three minutes at most… View attachment 263090
Click to expand...
Gorgeous - I have two boars - father and son. If I have Squirrel, the son out before Stan for any reason, Stan doesn't like it at all when Squirrel goes back in, but settles down after reasserting himself, he doesn't beat him up or anything just shows his authority. I think he's probably feeling a bit threatened. When I treat them with a bit of pepper or something I always make sure Stan gets his first and generally if I am moving them from their home to their run I always do Stan first. Good luck I think you'll be ok but there are people in this lovely forum who will give you great advice.
 
chelgan said:
Thank you! That is interesting, I wonder if it applies even though my dominant boar loathes being taken out? I did give him treats before taking out the little one, thinking he’d be glad he didn’t have to be picked up. (If he even suspects I might pick him up he puffs up, runs into a hidey and starts teeth chattering at me! I now only take him out when I absolutely have to, because he hates it so much!)
Hopefully they’ve worked it out… I hear less chattering in there now and peeked in and saw Winston sleeping with his head down so fingers crossed they’re all good again!View attachment 263091
Click to expand...
The chasing and mounting is normal dominance behaviour and nothing to be concerned about. Your boy needs to let the baby know that he is the boss.
 
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