Hi guys, wonder if any of you have come a cross this problem. I have recently introduced my boar to another younger boar of 5 months. The bonding went well, done gradually over a period of 8 weeks as the younger boar Rosco was a lot smaller than my older lad ( Sonic) and very manic. They really get on well, and enjoy each other's company, Rosco follows Sonic everywhere. Sonic is a long haired pig and Rosco is an Aguoti short hair. Rosco has begun to chew off Sonics hair, at first it was the hair around Sonics face, he had a beautiful long fringe and flowing coat, and has now begun to nibble the rest of the long coat. There's no fighting or aggression and the hair has been bitten off not pulled out, and Sonic has not shown any discomfort. They live in a large C & C cage 6' x 3' and have foraging boxes, hay racks,tunnels, and get fresh veggies and fruit daily as well as a high quality nugget type food. They spend a lot of time in a log hut and have lots of hidey holes. I don't want to separate them as Sonic has already lost a close bonded boar and another boar who lived with him for a short time died too. Any advice gladly received.
Hair Chewing
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Some piggies are piggie barbers... the term for it is barbering
Guinea Lynx has some info on it here Guinea Lynx :: Hair Loss
Some threads on the forum about it Barbering
Guinea Lynx has some info on it here Guinea Lynx :: Hair Loss
Some threads on the forum about it Barbering
Wow, some serious hair styling going on lol, as long as there is no harmful side effects, guess I will have to resign myself to having a piggie with an interesting 'do'. Hopefully the youngster will grow out of it! Sonic is so laid back he may end up a piggie skin head lol. Thanks for the info.
It's called barbering, and it sometimes just happens. My weird story of the summer was that my short-haired sow, Sundae, decided to barber the long skirt of my younger sow, Hadley. The weird thing is that she ONLY did this outdoors. She completely left the fur alone indoors, but went after it aggressively outside. Once it got too cold to go outside, she stopped dead and now Hadley's fur has grown back in. The other weird thing is that Sundae has lived with a long-haired buddy her entire life- for 4.5 years she lived with another long-haired sow named Linney and she never, EVER barbered her fur, indoors or out (then again, Linney was very bossy and would never have tolerated that kind of crap from an underling! LOL!) I have no idea where that behavior came from or why, why it was only restricted to outside, and why it stopped dead. Maybe your barbering pig will get bored and move on too!
I am hoping Rosco grows out of it, poor Sonic is looking a bit tatty, like a well loved teddy bear lol
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