Guidance on boar group

[GarterSnake]

Hi all. I have two 10 month old boys (brothers) who were bonded. One of them is a complete Buddha pig and the other rumbles a lot but never aggressive. I’ve put two baby boars in with them and they are all getting along great. The babies are brothers from an oops litter - 5 weeks old now.
My question is how long can I leave them together ? They have a 6x3 cage with a second level that is 200x60 cm (it’s much more than a loft! I know lofts don’t count as floor space). They also can get out if bottom level to free range in evening.

Is this big enough to even try to see if the quad works out? Or should I remove the younger boars without trying, and if so how long can they be left with the older boars?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I'm afraid this is a huge risk. Quartets in young boars are even more unstable than trios. I would highly recommend you separate the babies out straight away and keep them as a separate bonded pair. If you leave them together, then you are risking bonds breaking down - it could end the bond between your older two (so you'd end up with a pair and then two single piggies) or at worst it can break all bonds meaning four single piggies.

The cage size to attempt it (not that we would recommend it) is to allow at least one square metre per piggy - so a 4 square metre cage on a single level would be needed if you are going to continue with this. A 6x3 c&c cage converts to roughly 2.5 square metres so you have about half of the space needed.
Even with lots of space, as character is the most important factor, it is still no more likely to increase the chances of it working out. In fact changing the cage size to make it bigger will constitute a change in territory and that in itself can cause problems in bonds.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

 

[Bill & Ted]

You really need to remove the pups very soon as you could find these youngster upset your happy bonded boys and that would be a great shame x

 

[GarterSnake]

Ok thanks - I will do that then. I think I’ll try dividing whole area down the middle so they can be neighbours. Thx.

 

[GarterSnake]

Done! Added a new 2x1 bit so I now have an L shape!

 

[Piggies&buns]

That's good. They will be much happier as two separate pairs.
As long as each boar pair has a cage covering 12 sq ft ( 5x2 c&c) as the recommended size for each boar pair then that's great

 

[weepweeps]

I’m so pleased you separated them. I put 4 boys together after bad advice from the pet shop a few years ago. I ended up with 4 separate cages.

 

[GarterSnake]

Thanks all. You know there are some streamers with examples of 3 and 4 boars together so it’s gives the hope to others it can be done. But it does seem more unnatural due to male aggression. My main reason for taking the above advice seriously was I didn’t want to risk my fab boy pair. However since separately the two babies are facing off a bit! As they are all neighbours I may need to shuffle anyway at some point! I also have a 3 month old boy on his own (also a neighbouring cage) who is waiting for the snip before he can go in with my girls, and another boar/baby duo who are doing great together. Piggies slowly taking over the house! This after years of limiting my kids to 4 pigs!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thanks all. You know there are some streamers with examples of 3 and 4 boars together so it’s gives the hope to others it can be done. But it does seem more unnatural due to male aggression. My main reason for taking the above advice seriously was I didn’t want to risk my fab boy pair. However since separately the two babies are facing off a bit! As they are all neighbours I may need to shuffle anyway at some point! I also have a 3 month old boy on his own (also a neighbouring cage) who is waiting for the snip before he can go in with my girls, and another boar/baby duo who are doing great together. Piggies slowly taking over the house! This after years of limiting my kids to 4 pigs!

For every functioning boar group you see online, there are a considerably larger number of others who dont function - you only have to look at the behaviour section of this forum to see how often we are contacted to help owners out of a mess following a boar trio+ fall out. Most of them have unknowingly got in the situation due to misinformation from pet shops, seeing those online videos etc and thinking they can work. The realities of boar groups would not make good online entertainment!