introduced my boars together = problem

[kash191]

well after the quarantine phase passed and Alf has continued to look healthy i decided to introduce them to the cage,

i cleaned out the cage very well, re organized it and gave everyone a dreaded bath.

no fighting in the first 2 hours of neutral territory so i decided ok lets move it to the cage, for a while, all went well....chewie did a lot of rumblestrutting (he is now the 2nd oldest in the herd) but he always does that even with brian, not that brian cared much about it before and still doesn't now.

after a day or so passed i noticed Chewie and Alf having little dominance spats when they all went to the "hay cage" sometimes id hear some shifting around in the hay that did not sound like normal movement, but i stuck to my guns. i wont separate until first blood is drawn, unfortunately that time did come, at 4 am i woke up to some squeaking and loud chattering, and then the one that finished it off was chewie biting Alf right on the lip, not a big cut, healed up in a day, but still a little blood was drawn, Alf liked to move in to areas Chewie had moved in to and liked to be pushy so its not surprising Chewie did this.

i didnt want to seperate them completely, so i keep alf in the closed off hay cage until i can figure out what to do, he can still see and smell the others and vice versa.

can you guys give me some advice, I'm not really sure how to proceed.

was i right to separate them after a minor nip, or should i have let them resolve it, id say they were almost 1 week in when this happened.


sorry for the long rant with little to no grammar.

thanks

 

[Romily]

Maybe you need to have two seperate areas for hay so there is no need for them to be in the small space together? That may help to reduce the tension.

 

[Rubybubbles]

I have got 2 water bottles, 2 hay areas and 2 feeding bowls! I do think this has helped my girls with the bonding. Sugar can jump onto the top part of my 2nd level without ramp so leaving it as it is as she can get out of the way for her food, water and hay if wanted! If she is in the normal litter area with hay rank and Candy comes along, she'll move then jump up to eat|)

Sounds as things were going well though after a week?

 

[kash191]

really? how long exactly is the dominance selection fighting supposed to last?

i removed the hay cage and made 2 separate piles and then let alf roam free again, what started with complete joy for him popcorning around the cage turned bad when he was greeted by a chattering teeth chewie, and to my surprise brian too! (he has never shown any dominant behavior more than a simple butt sniff..) but they were clearly threatened by his presence or so i assume, regardless i let them scuff it out a little to see if it would die down, eventually Alf was the one hiding from chewie and brian.

during all of this Alf was making the whining noise whilst Brian stayed silent and Chewie made a wide assortment of noises from rumblestrutting to stretched out low toned chut chuts.

but i could see him running back to his hay cage door (which is now his temporary "suite") and very panicking like looking for the door to open,
i did pity him so i decided to put him in and close the door hes now laying in his cage in a strange position, sort of laying on his side with his hind legs stretched out....

i probably did the wrong thing letting him go and try again with them right?


my new question is, if i do choose to separate him
i dont want him feeling lonely, but at the same time I'm worried he will fight with another boar.....and if i get a sow ...well i dont really want a lot of babies....china has no Cavy Savvy vets so no operations of that kind exist here. what should i do? keep him in an adjacent cage by himself or find him a baby boar who will quickly understand hes in control