My Boars are worrying me! Help!

rorajane

New Born Pup
Joined
May 9, 2018
Messages
40
Reaction score
16
Points
155
2 weeks ago we adopted 2 boars from a shelter. They were already bonded together which is why we got these two. I don't beleive that they are siblings as Griffin is large (1.1kg), long haired and brown and Felix is black and short haired and quite small in comparison (0.8kg). However, according to the shelter, they were both 1 year old. We made a dumb mistake and listened to a pet store when they told us the cage was big enough despite my intuition that it wouldn't be. They were really having a hard time. Griffin was getting overly aggressive and wouldn't let felix go anywhere! so we did an emergency build our own cage (and returned the one we got). They are now living in roughly a 3ft x 5ft home and have been doing well. They are both eating well and getting very happy and excited every time they think i'm getting out fresh veggies. Griffin is happy to let Felix eat, they cuddle, they play, its all been good for a little over a week now. On sunday (2 days ago) i did a proper clean of their cage. I emptied all the bedding out, washed all the towels, sprayed and disinfected the under layer and washed all their dishes and pigloos. They were very happy for a while. Then today, I was doing a spot clean before bed and scooped out all the poop and wet areas, as I do every day. After I was done cleaning, both boys started to get aggressive. Felix tried to mount Griffin which he has never done. Griffin responded by incessantly chasing, humping, teeth chattering, rumbling, etc. Felix couldn't seem to get away and Griffin made a point to corner him often. I saw Felix snap back a few times and I got very very worried that they were going to hurt each other. We built a cage with a gate that allows us to separate them. When i closed it though they both freaked out! they were both squealing and not a happy squeal. Even though our walls are 10 inches high, Griffin actually climbed over the wall to the side with Felix. but once we got over he chased, teeth chattered and all the dominant behaviours began again. We opened the gate again and put a panel from their play pen in place of it so instead of being a solid wall, its metal bars. That way they could still smell each other. Anyway, Griffin continued his dominant behaviours (minus the humping) through the bars, and Felix even responded by whimpering as he always does. But now they are still trying to find ways to climb over or chew through the bars. They are restless. But when i let them together, they get vicious. It is stressing me out so much that I'm sleeping in the living room (where they live) keep an eye on them, but i'm worried at every sound they make and so scared that they are going to get to each other and get in a fight, or that they will hurt themselves trying to get to each other. As far as i can tell, there has been no blood shed but i'm worried that if i let them at it, there will be. What do i do?! please help!
ps: there are 2 pigloos, 4 additional hideaways, 2 water bowls and 2 food bowls. We do not have a hay trough yet but we put the hay in the same place every time and we have 2 separate piles of hay in 2 separate corners. Also, once i separated them, they have been (seemingly purposely) spilling their water dishes everywhere! (they normally dont, though sometimes griffin likes to step in the water)
 
Hi, have a read at the bonding threads in the forums tab. I can't link on this device. Boars need to establish who is boss, and should only be separated if they fight and draw blood. All else is dominance and sorting out hierarchy. It might be best to take the time to do a formal reintroduction. Sorry just heading out but wanted to let you know where to get info. Good luck x
 
Hi Reenie,

Thanks for the response. I did look at the forum and found the one called "bonds in trouble" The disfunctional bond is what i'm worried about. Griffin is just relentless and it looks like hes biting while he's humping. Felix is starting to stand up for himself and try to fight back and thats what i'm super worried about. I'm not sure if i tired to separate too soon. We also don't have the best set up for separation. I'm hoping that one night will help and Griffin will be calmed down in the morning? I'm just so scared of something happening while i'm not here to catch it and someone getting really hurt or worse! its only been 2 weeks but i'm honestly so attached and so in love, i don't want anything to happen to my sweet boys
 
I know it's a worrying time, and the expert, Wiekbe is on holiday just now, so I can't tag her in - the advice in the forums is written by her so is the best you'll get.

I have that most elusive of things - a trio of boars who haven't fallen out (yet), so I have read a lot of the advice about what to do if things go wrong.

I would say that they seem to want to be together, if they are screaming for each other when they are apart. The humping/chattering/dominance spree may have been set off by the new cage or a total clean of the cage - I always leave an unchanged litter tray, and change their toys on a different day so that the cage still smells like them, and they don't need to start their dominance all over again.

Are they apart or together just now? It's not a good idea with boars to keep putting them together and apart. One bonding and leave them to it, until you know for sure one way or the other. If they are currently separated, you will need to do a formal bonding on neutral territory. There is guidance on this in the bonding threads.

You don't say what age they are, but if they are between 4 and 14 months, they are in their teenage phase, where most problems occur. It can be quite hairy to watch them when they're having a hormone spike (believe me, mine have given me a few moments!). When this happens, try not to interfere, but let them work through it. You may need to put a divider in just to let them calm down, but don't separate them properly.

Another thing to remember is that the 'underpig' screaming is usually a sign of submission, and although it sounds like pain, it often is not the case....that's just piggy language for 'yes, yes, you're the boss, I know, I know'. Hopefully this, along with the bonding threads will help, but remember, if it doesn't work, there is very little you can do, or could have done. If your boys can't be friends and play nice, they are just that way. All guinea pig bonds are about personality when it boils down to it, and all the little tricks we try are just to get them through the awkward times if they really do like each other, but if they don't - they don't and no amount of separate bowls, bigger cages, etc. will make a difference so - no blaming yourself!
 
I know it's a worrying time, and the expert, Wiekbe is on holiday just now, so I can't tag her in - the advice in the forums is written by her so is the best you'll get.

I have that most elusive of things - a trio of boars who haven't fallen out (yet), so I have read a lot of the advice about what to do if things go wrong.

I would say that they seem to want to be together, if they are screaming for each other when they are apart. The humping/chattering/dominance spree may have been set off by the new cage or a total clean of the cage - I always leave an unchanged litter tray, and change their toys on a different day so that the cage still smells like them, and they don't need to start their dominance all over again.

Are they apart or together just now? It's not a good idea with boars to keep putting them together and apart. One bonding and leave them to it, until you know for sure one way or the other. If they are currently separated, you will need to do a formal bonding on neutral territory. There is guidance on this in the bonding threads.

You don't say what age they are, but if they are between 4 and 14 months, they are in their teenage phase, where most problems occur. It can be quite hairy to watch them when they're having a hormone spike (believe me, mine have given me a few moments!). When this happens, try not to interfere, but let them work through it. You may need to put a divider in just to let them calm down, but don't separate them properly.

Another thing to remember is that the 'underpig' screaming is usually a sign of submission, and although it sounds like pain, it often is not the case....that's just piggy language for 'yes, yes, you're the boss, I know, I know'. Hopefully this, along with the bonding threads will help, but remember, if it doesn't work, there is very little you can do, or could have done. If your boys can't be friends and play nice, they are just that way. All guinea pig bonds are about personality when it boils down to it, and all the little tricks we try are just to get them through the awkward times if they really do like each other, but if they don't - they don't and no amount of separate bowls, bigger cages, etc. will make a difference so - no blaming yourself!


Thanks for the more detailed information. The shelter aged them both at 1 year and 1 week when we adopted them so they are at the tail end of that 14 months. I'm hoping things well calm down a bit soon.
I kept them separated (but in the same cage with just metal bars to separate) over night. When i woke up they were both very quiet and almost seemed down. I removed the divider for their vegetable breakfast and made sure to feed boss pig (ie: Griffin) first (he's usually the first to come out during food time anyway). They both seemed much more skittish than normal but were doing fine with eating. Good thing is that Griffin never bullies Felix about food unless he really wants what Felix has, so that's a positive for sure! After breakfast there was some more dominance/aggression but it was what i'm used to seeing from them, not as scary as it was last night. When i was getting ready to leave for work they were playing and popcorning all over the place. When i got home from work they were both at separate ends of the cage where they were when i woke up. they did both come out to see me but they are very quiet as they usually are very wheeky when i get home. While Griffin showed a bit of dominance, it was pretty mild. It seems that Griffin is now mostly content so long as Felix stays on the side of the cage that he was confined to last night. When he ventures over to Griffin's side, Griffin tends to rumble and pursue Felix around the cage until he can get a quick hump and then leaves Felix. I think they may have just needed a small break from each other. They didn't get their usual floor time yesterday so I'm thinking that may have also been a contributor. They seem to be much better today and i'm hoping that soon they will age out of these teenage hormones.
As a side note, this aggression didn't happen at all when i did a proper deep clean of their cage, only when i did the spot clean but i did remove all the wet bedding that obviously smelled like pee. Before separating them, i did try adding some of the bedding that I had removed back into the cage (as i hadn't disposed of it yet) but it didn't seem to do anything.
Anyway, thank you so much for your advice. I'm hoping that they will remain peaceful with each other. They clearly do love each other and were already bonded when we got them so I never want to have to separate them!
 
Back
Top