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Tiamolly123

Tiamolly123

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I'm trying to bond Gizmo a neutered boar with 3 sows. I of the sows the quiet one Tatty & Gizmo keep going head to head. Jumping in the air & throwing themselves at each other. Chasing each other. He's now gone head with another sow although that's come to nothing, with Tatty one of them is chattering, I think it's Gizmo.
They have hideys with 2 exits, 4 bowls of nuggets, & 2 bowls of water. Also 4 Toliet rolls filled with. Gizmo is a bit dominant & has a temper. At the moment they are ignoring each other & Gizmo has gone off to annoy another with chattering teeth.
What do I do? @helen105281 @Adelle
 
I have found with failed introductions that once tempers flare to that extent with one it has a knock-on effect with the others and tends to end in failure.
With the last group into I did I had a bunch of coriander to hand to distract them from their anger. There was some teeth chattering with one sow but I kept stepping in with the coriander to diffuse the situation and nothing developed as far as rearing up at each other for an attack. Just a few head-lunges. However they (the sow in question) had also made the first submissive move initially which seemed to placate Freddie even after she started getting aggressive with him. Fortunately it settled pretty quickly and Freddie was willing to back down as were the sows and all are happy and harmonious. All in all despite a wobbly patch it ended up being quite a straight-forward intro, and two of the sows (not the aggressor in this case) had violently rejected him a long time ago beforehand.
Previously I have had sows reject him to the point of rearing up and Freddie had previously retaliated in kind, and I had to split them before they did damage to one another. This last time, however, either Freddie has calmed down a bit, the initial submissive gesture by the sow in question put him in a more tolerant mood to her short-lived teeth chattering warnings, or the coriander calmed things down. I would say in the end it went well, but there was a few minutes there of concern.

With yours it seems like how some of mine have gone previously and I wouldn't let them keep rearing up at each other, as it seems like they really mean business at that stage. A good break of a few months can make a difference, I've found. However it's not always a viable option.

How are they doing right now? Have they settled or does it keep escalating?

@Wiebke ?
 
If my piggies cannot sort out the top spot amicably, then I consider the bonding failed. Bondings can fail either on acceptance (i.e. a newbie is not accepted from the word go) or during the dominance phase when the leadership and then the hierarchy is being worked out.

I would recommend to call it a day for today. You can give it another try tomorrow and see whether tensions/hostilities are up there again right from the go. In that case, it is not worth it, especially if the leadership remians hotly contested.
If the top spot has been settled and it is more of a matter of working out where to slot in the new boy, then you are in with more of a chance that things can work out in the longer term in a more peaceful athmosphere. But it all depends on whether Gizmo and the sows can come to an agreement or not.
Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
 
Critter said:
I have found with failed introductions that once tempers flare to that extent with one it has a knock-on effect with the others and tends to end in failure.
With the last group into I did I had a bunch of coriander to hand to distract them from their anger. There was some teeth chattering with one sow but I kept stepping in with the coriander to diffuse the situation and nothing developed as far as rearing up at each other for an attack. Just a few head-lunges. However they (the sow in question) had also made the first submissive move initially which seemed to placate Freddie even after she started getting aggressive with him. Fortunately it settled pretty quickly and Freddie was willing to back down as were the sows and all are happy and harmonious. All in all despite a wobbly patch it ended up being quite a straight-forward intro, and two of the sows (not the aggressor in this case) had violently rejected him a long time ago beforehand.
Previously I have had sows reject him to the point of rearing up and Freddie had previously retaliated in kind, and I had to split them before they did damage to one another. This last time, however, either Freddie has calmed down a bit, the initial submissive gesture by the sow in question put him in a more tolerant mood to her short-lived teeth chattering warnings, or the coriander calmed things down. I would say in the end it went well, but there was a few minutes there of concern.

With yours it seems like how some of mine have gone previously and I wouldn't let them keep rearing up at each other, as it seems like they really mean business at that stage. A good break of a few months can make a difference, I've found. However it's not always a viable option.

How are they doing right now? Have they settled or does it keep escalating?

@Wiebke ?
Click to expand...
No in the end I thought it was gonna end in a full blown fight so I put them back in the cage with the barrier I'll try again.
 
Thanks to you both for the replys. It's annoying because they lay together either side of the barrier.
I think Gizmo is quite dominant, & very bad tempered he was constantly trying to rip the barrier down.
 
I really feel your pain as recently I took my two girls to a rescue to be bonded with another pair and within minutes Rosie and one of the new girls were having a full on fight. It was horrific. Luckily all the girls were okay, but it was clear my two were better off as a pair. Thankfully, the two girls I was going to adopt have found a new home so I'm sure they will be fine... but seeing them fight like was really shocking.

Sorry can't really offer any advice, but really hope yours get on or you manage to come up with a suitable solution. Its irritating as you just want to tell them that they would be so much better off if they all liked each other and got on! xx
 
Sorry it never worked out this time. Maybe you can try again at a later date.
 
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