Male territorial issues!

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Emsyems

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Please help!

I have 2 male pigs...one very laid back, friendly pig which I have had for 2 years (Boris) and one fairly skittish but friendly pig which I have had for 1 year (Buster).

They have had absolutely no problems bonding, and the Boris soon took to the Buster (but of course showed him who was boss!) They both accepted this very well and a LOT easier than I had anticipated- no fighting at all, other than the initial dominance issues. Since then Buster has followed Boris around every day- he'll literally take a step behind Boris every time he moves! Boris has never had a problem with this and he seems to enjoy the company.

I've just noticed in the past 2 weeks that they've started chattering their teeth at each other (particularly Boris to Buster) and if Buster goes to sniff at Boris he quickly jolts his head up and sometimes rubs his neck over Busters head.

These all seem to be territorial actions to me, but I'm concerned that they have just started doing this now and not a year ago when they were first introduced!

From what I have read, could it be possible that it is due to the change in cage? Over Christmas, I took the pigs to stay with me at my parents house (the pigs have an indoor cage there too which they have stayed in many times before) and they are now back in their normal cage at home. But they have never been like this before and any territorial issues have usually been resolved between them both within a day or two at the most! Over the holidays, they would have spent around 2 weeks in each cage.

Should I be worried?! I don't want to have to seperate them :(

Thank you!
 
i am going through this too, i changed the cage around christmas and they are chattering etc but i am persevering until they draw blood, sometimes they are fine and eat together etc, but i dont want to split them. Also i think with mine its their ages as they are both one this year around summertime.

eeeeeeh little monkeys arent they! rolleyes
 
Hellloo and welcome to the forum :)

Uggh! Typical boys! My two are the same, I wouldn't worry to much with the teeth chattering, nose off's and rumble stutting etc, it should calm down in the next few weeks or so, here's a great thread on boar behaviour if you're ever worried:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

Hope they make up soon! :)
 
I wouldnt worry tbh unless blood is drawn. I have a 3 month old with a 8 month old and they do plenty of mild teeth chattering, rumbling etc and I dont worry about that. I just keep a check on them and check for any problems when I check them over weekly
 
Oh thanks you guys..I joined to get some real advise, as every site I go on to only tells me negatives about keeping two boars! But until now I've had no problems at all and reassurance from you guys only confirms that! :)
 
Bath time fun?

I'm sure I read a post that said that bathing two grumpy pigs together could help to re-bond them. As baths are a little scary the two pigs might take comfort from one another and became friends again, at least for a while. I'm sure it's in TGPF somewhere but I need to go to bed.

Good luck.
 
hippoman said:
I'm sure I read a post that said that bathing two grumpy pigs together could help to re-bond them. As baths are a little scary the two pigs might take comfort from one another and became friends again, at least for a while. I'm sure it's in TGPF somewhere but I need to go to bed.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Yes it does! Never thought to mention that :)

Put them in a bath tub or sink together, with 1 inch of warm water, soap them up at the same time using guinea pig friendly shampoo, and rinse carefully. Leave them to dry in a warm hay filled cardboard box or towel dry them off, you can use a hair dryer on a low heat setting too.

If you do wash them its a good idea to clean their cage out completly including the cage bars/coroplast, wash all the hideys, food bowls, and remove all scents from the cage, and it might be a good idea to change everything round in the cage so its different and new. Then you can put the boys back in the cage and they’ll be too busy exploring their brand new home to be territorial against one another

Good luck :))
 
I can't really add much to the great posts above except to say to double check that you have two of everything to cut down on any squabbles. Bathing can work (it worked temporarily for our two).

Anything can set them off unfortunately. Even in what seems a very stable relationship between two boars, the submissive one may one day decide to challenge the status quo. This might come about through changes to the layout of their cages or even minor behavioural changes or (as far as I can make out) nothing at all...

Best of luck and I hope that Boris and Buster can resolve their issues soon :)
 
Hi all,

I thought I'd just let you know that ivw followed all of your advise..thoroughly cleaned the cage, bathed them together and have been giving them seperate bowls of food to avoid squabbles over food! These have all seemed to work well and my eldest pighas been allowed the run of the house more often which has given them a bit of time apart! So all looks to be well, thanks for all your advise :)
 
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