fighting boars. need advice :(

Status
Not open for further replies.
halso

halso

New Born Pup
Joined
Oct 27, 2012
Messages
35
Reaction score
0
Points
0
last week i adopted two unwanted 9 week old (roughly) boars.

things have been rocky from the start. they are always chattering their teeth and puffing/hissing at each other. lots nose height competitions and such.

but worst of all. today when having floor time, one of the piggies lunged at the other, resulting in this nose bite:-

2ur120x.jpg


this is the first i have noticed of any injuries, though before i took them home i noticed the pig in the picture also has a chunk missing out of his ear. not sure who caused that though, as there were other piggies in the litter.

i should mention they both have their own hide/bowls/water and such. and plenty of room in their cage/additional floor time every night.

at a loss for what to do now :( any advice would be appreciated
 
Have been in a similar situation so know it is v worrying. Injuries are not a good sign.
How big is their cage and what type is it? (Just thinking about the divider option if it comes to that).
Do the boys go straight into fight mode (eg big yawns, hackles up) or do they have settled times too? Where are they this evening?
 
Now that blood has been drawn the only thing you can do is to separate them asap - i had to do this with two of my boys who had lived together for over 2yrs - out of the blue one day they started chattering teeth and i noticed a wound on the face of one - i separately then immediately and they've lived separate ever since.

The risk of them causing serious damage is just too great - do you have another cage you could put one of the boys in? They will be fine living side by side until you can decide what to do - whether that be to have them live next door to one another indefinitely or to take each boy boar dating to find them both a suitable friend...
 
If you haven't got another cage, can you add in a divider? Then the boys can still see and smell one another? My 2 boys lived with a divider between for some time after a fight.
 
it's the ferplast 120 at the moment. i really want to get a c&c (especially for when they get bigger) but am struggling to find the materials.

they have their own hides/bowls/water/chew tubes and such.

most of the time it's okay. but i'm not sure if that is because they are both mainly just sitting in the separate hides because they're still so skittish.

problems arise when one of the pigs is eating, and the other comes over and starts teeth chattering. even when the other bowl is available!

floor time it's the same thing really. but at some points they will run around together and explore. just as soon as a corner comes up they will start fighting.

this evening when they bite happened they were simply in the middle of the floor. no toys or food anywhere near :(
 
have put in a divider for the time being. really hope they can find a way to get on. if not many boar dating might be the best idea as suggested :( not sure how i would go about it though.
 
also, should i clean his wound? i'm not sure how to go about this. would sound wash for humans be alright?
 
You could use some salt dissolved in previously boiled water (make sure not hot when used) to dab on the wound with cotton wool pad. Does it look quite neat?

Glad you have managed to make a divider - at least you know that they can't have a scrap during the night and then you can think more tomorrow.
 
thanks. i will do that. the bite is quite neat from what i can see. its not too deep i don't think.

since putting the divider in they're both much more active and eating/chewing their hides. maybe this is a sign?
 
At 9 months old they are reaching teenage years so unfortunatly more likely to fight. Others have suggested the best ideas. The more room they have the better. You may be able to reintroduce carefully as they havent outright had a bloody fight. But for now let them live side by side and see how they are.

x.
 
Abi_nurse said:
At 9 months old they are reaching teenage years so unfortunatly more likely to fight. Others have suggested the best ideas. The more room they have the better. You may be able to reintroduce carefully as they havent outright had a bloody fight. But for now let them live side by side and see how they are.

x.
Click to expand...

Confused - the op said they were roughly 9wks old ?/?/
 
lots of biting the divider going on at the moment, and puffing at each other/teeth chattering.

since dividing the cage has made it so much smaller, i'm going to try and find a cheap c&c place online. (tried homebase/b&q/wickes to no avail)

in the meantime i'll give them individual floor time and hand feeding more regularly. hate having to keep them all squashed in :(
 
so, they're now in a c&c cage :) got some cheap supplies online. it's currently a split 5x2. things are going well with the divider. much less fighting.
i let them both out for floor time together and no puffing or chattering since. just a bit of mounting which i think it pretty normal for pigs of their age :)

hoping that when the hormones settle they can live together and have a loft extension in the future!

30ibz34.jpg


thanks for all of the advice :)
 
That looks a great set up for the boys. I hope you get to the stage that the divider can come back down. And yes the humping activity is very normal rolleyes
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top