male piggys and confused owner

[ashworth]

hello

i have 4 male piggies that currently live in pairs ...... in the same large cage over 5 ft long that is devided in the middle my boys are george 18months and timothy about 3 months and then darwin and blaster are brother and around 6 months ......... they are always talking to each other thou the cage and when they get floor time they are all out at the sametime with only lol my fire gaurd to serarate them they lick each other throu the mess and run round like mad ..........

i really want to try putting them together but am not sure if i should ......... i have order the itmes needed to make a c&c cage and hope to either make to medium sized on or one huge one for all of them with 2 level arounsd 5ft by 3ft .........

anyone got any advise ........thanks

kate

 

[Wiebke]

I have yet to hear about a quartet that has been stable for any length of time.

Three of your boys are just in or about to enter the stroppy months, so as lovely as they may be now, it can easily end up in one big bloody fight with bites and scratches to the head and bum when the big hormones suddenly hit! You will most probably end with not just one, but two single boars who won't be able to live with any of the others.

I strongly recommend keeping your boys in pairs; you have a much higher chance of avoiding any breakups and fights that way, as tempting as putting them all together may be now!

 

[boozyfruits]

i agree with Weibke. wait til the hormones are over - this may last until they are 12 or 15 months old. don't rock the boat just yet.

this does not mean that a c+c is out - you could still have a divided c+c.
B

 

[CiaraPatricia]

I have heard of groups of four males that do fine. But I think more often than not there will be fights.

I'd keep them so they can see each other through mesh/wire, and then like the other people said, when they're older and calmer you could try to see how they get on. If they get a long on neutral territory when they're running around, then that's a good start anyway. They might get along now, but when they go through puberty they might fight. But hopefully when they're older they will get along.

 

[KingBoris&HisFollowers]

I have a quad that have been successful for a few months but i have also had a group of five and trio's fail, its very very difficult and can result in 4 lone pigs if it all goes wrong.
They also need a ton of room, my quad have just upsized to a 4 x 5 C&C cage to keep the peace, the ages of your piggies aren't the greatest to do this right now either,
The best chances of your boys getting along forever is to keep the pairs seperate/with no shared floor time, of course it is up to you but my experience with my own crazy herd of 27 boars is that setups like that are hard to make last permanently. xx

 

[ashworth]

thanks for the advice i think they will be staying as pairs and am goin to add a 2nd level to there cages instead ........ and just to stress my piggies are not all runing around the same room for floor time mixing i have a shelter area in my garden that i divide into 2 section using my old fire gaurd thus they are still in pair and like in the cage they can see each other and speak to each other but cant get to each other ........... they seem to sulk if i dont put them out at the same time and take it in turns to bounce round the cage!!