Help! Boars suddenly fighting

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DoodleJayne

New Born Pup
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HELP! I have 2 boars (approx 1-2 years old) bonded since babies who have recently started fighting. I've had them four 4.5 months. At first I thought it was just some dominance assertion but it's starting to make me really nervous. Percy has started instigating and harassing Winston (the dominant pig). No blood drawn, but some hair clumps.

- They have an 8 sq ft cage
- No illness or injury
- Lots of hay & water and 1/8 cup pellets each
- Fresh veggies 2x per day
- Lots of toys that get changed out
- Cage is cleaned daily
- I've replaced the one house (they seemed to be fighting over it specifically, so I took it out)
- I've moved their houses to opposite sides of the cage but Percy keeps seeking Winston out.
- Nothing is new or different.

They've been grumbling at each other since Tuesday and it is progressively getting worse.

Percy is too little to fight (he weighs 680g and Winston weighs 1245g), but he is literally picking fights with Winston. Twice today I've had to intervene bc Percy was on his back (Winston was sleeping in his house and Percy barged in and picked a fight). The last time I found 2 clumps of Winston's fur. (I've checked them both over and there are no wounds or tender areas). I don't know what else to do.

Note: Percy is a very tiny pig. He weighed 612g when we got him. The rescue we got him from said he isn't sick, just a small piggy.
 
I'm sorry to hear this.

Adults can still get hormone spikes which can cause an increase in dominance. Ensure each hide has two exits so no piggy can get cornered by the other.
You can give them a temporary separation to let things calm down and then try a neutral territory reintroduction in a couple of days to see if they still want to be together. It will become clear fairly quickly upon reintroduction whether they can work things out and want to stay together. Unfortunately bonds can break down due to underlying issues between them which come to the surface.

If they have a full on fight, then I'm afraid a reintroduction would not be possible. Such a fight is sadly the end of their bond and they would need to be kept in separate by side by side cages for interaction through the bars only.

8 square feet is usually a little too small for a boar pair though - they do tend to need more room and lack of space can cause tensions to rise. 10 square feet as a minimum but 12 square feet is recommended for a boar pair.
Full cage cleaning (if that is what you meant rather than spot cleaning daily) daily is usually too much change for boars - they need to know it is still their territory and cleaning too often removes smells and can mean they feel the need to reassert their dominance and territories.

The guides below explain everything in further detail

Bonds In Trouble
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
 
Piggies&buns said:
I'm sorry to hear this.

Adults can still get hormone spikes which can cause an increase in dominance. Ensure each hide has two exits so no piggy can get cornered by the other.
You can give them a temporary separation to let things calm down and then try a neutral territory reintroduction in a couple of days to see if they still want to be together. It will become clear fairly quickly upon reintroduction whether they can work things out and want to stay together. Unfortunately bonds can break down due to underlying issues between them which come to the surface.

If they have a full on fight, then I'm afraid a reintroduction would not be possible. Such a fight is sadly the end of their bond and they would need to be kept in separate by side by side cages for interaction through the bars only.

8 square feet is usually a little too small for a boar pair though - they do tend to need more room and lack of space can cause tensions to rise. 10 square feet as a minimum but 12 square feet is recommended for a boar pair.

The guides below explain everything in further detail

Bonds In Trouble
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Click to expand...
Thank you! This was the cage size recommended to us when we got them, but after having had them for a while it seems too small. They do get lots of play time outside the cage in a 12.5 sq ft run (I built it for outdoor play). However, I've messaged my husband to bring home a large sheet of coroplast so I can turn their outdoor cage into an indoor one (and will add a loft) tonight.

Is there hope for them to be able to get along again?

It just seems so weird. It's like Percy doesn't want to be away from Winston (as he seeks him out/will lay outside of the house Winston is in rather than his own) but gets mad at Winston for existing.
 
You do need to be sure of the difference between dominance and fights - they are two different things.

Mounting is a normal behaviour but only as long as isnt excessive, relentless and therefore tips over into bullying where the the piggy being mounted/chased etc is never left alone, never left rest or eat).

Fighting is a full on fur ball, rolling around, injury causing and is bond breaking requiring immediate and permanent separation.

Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
 
Oh no. I hope they sort themselves out soon. That's my worse worry with my two boars. That they will one day decide not to like each other anymore 😦. I hope you haven’t got to separate. 🤞🤞
 
DoodleJayne said:
Thank you! This was the cage size recommended to us when we got them, but after having had them for a while it seems too small. They do get lots of play time outside the cage in a 12.5 sq ft run (I built it for outdoor play). However, I've messaged my husband to bring home a large sheet of coroplast so I can turn their outdoor cage into an indoor one (and will add a loft) tonight.

Is there hope for them to be able to get along again?

It just seems so weird. It's like Percy doesn't want to be away from Winston (as he seeks him out/will lay outside of the house Winston is in rather than his own) but gets mad at Winston for existing.
Click to expand...

Its the welfare minimum cage size but better suited for a sow pair or a neutered boar/sow as a minimum, but for a boar pair 8 square feet is tight.

Upper levels dont count towards the cage size. Their cage needs to meet requirements on a single level. Upper levels are bonus spaces only and can give them room to have some time apart, however, adding a loft when there are tensions may make things slightly worse. A single ramp up to the loft can be as bad as a one exit hide - it means a piggy can be cornered and the ramp can be claimed as territory by one piggy and not allowing the other piggy to pass. While things are tense between them, I would not add a loft and instead keep the cage single level

Do the hides have two exits? If its a single door hide and Winston is in a hide and Percy lays by the door and he cant get out then that can be a flash point for tension as Winston can feel cornered.

Whether they can get on comes down entirely to them and their compatibility, mutual liking and ability to form a functioning relationship. It may just be a hormone spike and Percy is getting a little worked up (it happens to my dominant boar (my boys are coming up 3 and a half years old), most often in spring time, he just turns into a nightmare for a few days but settles down once the hormones pass). If it gets too much and things turn very tense between them (but not as far as properly fighting or bullying), its ok to give them a time out but separating and reintroducing boars cannot be done often (doing it too often can destabilise a bond) - a temporary one time separation and reintroduction to allow the boys to make their own decision about their relationship is ok.
 
Thank you everyone for your advice and resources. I am a new piggy parent and bought the largest cage sold at stores here. However, I've made them a new cage that is 13.6 square feet (one level). I am planning to eventually add the loft we made, which will have 2 exit ramps, but am waiting until I know things have settled down with them before adding it.

Their houses have more than one way in/out. They seem to be squabbling over the wooden house so I have taken it out and now have two corner fabric houses that hang. I am getting them two matching wooden houses, the stores here are just sold out of everything with more than one entrance/exit and the ones I can find online are are single entrance.

Maybe it's hormonal (because I don't know their exact ages). Maybe I over reacted and it wasn't as serious as I thought, maybe just some dominance testing/bullying, as the little pig (the instigator), would follow the other one around and sleep next to his house (they've never been snugglers) after getting all in his face, even in the now giant cage where he had plenty of other places to be. I just love them so much and don't want anything bad to happen to them. I feel bad about their cage having been too small before, but we've rectified that now.

There has not been any fighting-like behaviours since my initial posting. Even when they were they would still eat together with no issues, the problems seemed to be around their houses, so I am trying to get everything matching to avoid this issue.

Thank you everyone for your advice and links. These piggies mean the world to me, I've wanted guinea pigs since I was in the 5th grade and I'm now 40 years old lol. I just want my piggies to be happy and healthy.

(Sorry for the novel-length post)
 
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