Need some encouragement

KatieM

KatieM

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Dec 25, 2024
Messages
143
Reaction score
397
Points
265
Location
Colorado, USA
I have two boars, a 3yr old and an about 10month old (bonded to the 3 year old 5 months ago) and I bet you can imagine the issues we are having. The younger boys hormones are raging, the chasing, humping, and vocals are just awful. I think everything is normal for a teenage boar though. What gets me emotional is my 3 year old is such a mild mannered, sweet guy and he is being absolutely bullied by this younger boar. Always being chased, always laying in the same two corners. But he’s still friendly towards me, eating, drinking and maintaining his weight. So after reading the guides I’m not seeing anything worth separating them over.

BUT it still makes me sad, the older boys past mate was such a kind tender hearted pig. This new pig is absolutely off the wall crazy, he hates me, he’s super territorial, boar glue everywhere. It’s just really hard to bond and love a pig whose being mean to your kind pig and also stinking up the place 😅

But there’s hope right? I know hormone spikes in boys can be really hard and so I’m just holding out hope that when he’s not blinded by hormone rage, he might be more open to leaving his poor friend alone. It’s fine if he hates me, but I just want a pig who’s not stressful for his cage mate!

They have some days they are okay but some days are hard to watch all the same.

Thank you!
 
It's good that your older piggy is maintaining his weight. If he is being badly bullied, you could separate them, but the benefits of keeping them together make it worth persevering. How big is your cage? You could try putting in lots of dense hay to hide and tunnel in and more enrichment such as scatter feeding and hay stuffed into cardboard holders so that they have to pull it out and work to get it. Reducing pellets might help along with feeding more veg. Hand feeding them should help to improve your bond with the younger boar as well as having lap time and feeding and grooming him while he is being handled. Hopefully they will settle down. When cleaning, leave some soiled bedding as removing all the scent marking leads to more territorial behaviour and stress while the dominant piggy is "redecorating" the pen.
 
The first thing is that you need to be clear on this behaviour.
You say that you think it’s normal for a teen but also that the older is being bullied by the youngster.
If the behaviour does fall into the specific definition of bullying then they must immediately and permanently be separated. Any bullying is bond breaking.

If you are concerned but unsure then you can do a temporary separation. Separate them for a few days. Watch your older piggy, not the young one (the young one, if he is bullying, will be very upset by a separation but you ignore this). If the older one perks up being away from the younger, then that is a sign their bond isn’t working and he may be happier to be kept apart.
You can then reunite on neutral territory and see how it goes. If the older one goes to looking depressed, sticking to a corner etc, then it would be likely to call it a failed bond and make the separation permanent.
If all goes well, they it means all is ok and they can go back to the cage together and don’t separate any more.

Not all bullied pigs will stop eating (bullying behaviours may not centre on stopping the other from eating) so you can’t use that as a definitive things are ok. It’s behaviour as a whole you need to look at.

If you are sure you are just seeing normal behaviour, then while it is hard for us to see, it is important to remember not to put human emotion on it. It’s normal for them.
When I had a 6 year old (who just wanted to nap in his retirement!) living with a youngster, I looked at the older and it almost looked like he was just rolling his eyes and saying ‘kids’ but ignored him and got on with his own life!

Is their cage big enough? 180x60cm
Do all hides have two ext?
Is there multiple of everything in the cage?
Is there plenty of enrichment?

Bonds In Trouble
 
Truffolo said:
It's good that your older piggy is maintaining his weight. If he is being badly bullied, you could separate them, but the benefits of keeping them together make it worth persevering. How big is your cage? You could try putting in lots of dense hay to hide and tunnel in and more enrichment such as scatter feeding and hay stuffed into cardboard holders so that they have to pull it out and work to get it. Reducing pellets might help along with feeding more veg. Hand feeding them should help to improve your bond with the younger boar as well as having lap time and feeding and grooming him while he is being handled. Hopefully they will settle down. When cleaning, leave some soiled bedding as removing all the scent marking leads to more territorial behaviour and stress while the dominant piggy is "redecorating" the pen.
Click to expand...
I scatter feed all their food! I should start hand feeding the younger boar more often, when I do he just sits there frozen in fear 😅 I always leave this tunnel thing that has their scent all over it! And I never rearrange their cage.
 
Piggies&buns said:
The first thing is that you need to be clear on this behaviour.
You say that you think it’s normal for a teen but also that the older is being bullied by the youngster.
If the behaviour does fall into the specific definition of bullying then they must immediately and permanently be separated. Any bullying is bond breaking.

If you are concerned but unsure then you can do a temporary separation. Separate them for a few days. Watch your older piggy, not the young one (the young one, if he is bullying, will be very upset by a separation but you ignore this). If the older one perks up being away from the younger, then that is a sign their bond isn’t working and he may be happier to be kept apart.
You can then reunite on neutral territory and see how it goes. If the older one goes to looking depressed, sticking to a corner etc, then it would be likely to call it a failed bond and make the separation permanent.
If all goes well, they it means all is ok and they can go back to the cage together and don’t separate any more.

Not all bullied pigs will stop eating (bullying behaviours may not centre on stopping the other from eating) so you can’t use that as a definitive things are ok. It’s behaviour as a whole you need to look at.

If you are sure you are just seeing normal behaviour, then while it is hard for us to see, it is important to remember not to put human emotion on it. It’s normal for them.
When I had a 6 year old (who just wanted to nap in his retirement!) living with a youngster, I looked at the older and it almost looked like he was just rolling his eyes and saying ‘kids’ but ignored him and got on with his own life!

Is their cage big enough? 180x60cm
Do all hides have two ext?
Is there multiple of everything in the cage?
Is there plenty of enrichment?

Bonds In Trouble
Click to expand...
Thank you! I think it’s all normal, I say “bullied” as more of a human term for the behavior. The older boar sticks to 2 corners but I have seen him kick the younger out of a hide and lay there. But it doesn’t seem like he’s just “rolling his eyes” at the behavior all the time. The younger one will come hump in the corner and push him into the edge of the cage/bars. I could definitely trial a separation and then reintroduce them on neutral territory again.

I could definitely up their foraging enrichment! I always scatter feed everything and they have hay piles. But I could make them some cardboard toys. They have double of everything (water bottles, hides, toys, etc) all the hides have two exits and the cage meets the minimum size!

Thank you for the guide link!
 
I'm sorry you are having to go through this, it's hard to watch sometimes. Hopefully the youngster will settle soon and those hormone spikes will become less often. I have a pair who are both around a year old, we have several instances a day where I think for goodness sake you two stop it and settle down.
 
KatieM said:
Thank you! I think it’s all normal, I say “bullied” as more of a human term for the behavior. The older boar sticks to 2 corners but I have seen him kick the younger out of a hide and lay there. But it doesn’t seem like he’s just “rolling his eyes” at the behavior all the time. The younger one will come hump in the corner and push him into the edge of the cage/bars. I could definitely trial a separation and then reintroduce them on neutral territory again.

I could definitely up their foraging enrichment! I always scatter feed everything and they have hay piles. But I could make them some cardboard toys. They have double of everything (water bottles, hides, toys, etc) all the hides have two exits and the cage meets the minimum size!

Thank you for the guide link!
Click to expand...

You dont want to do a trial separation unless you absolutely have to. Only do it where you are concerned about the bond or where the hormones are so incessant that the companion cannot get a break at all.
If your older boar is ok and tolerating it well then don’t do the trial separation.

If you separate them without an actual need you could do more harm than good. A separation and reuniting (where you think this is just normal dominance) will just cause an increase in dominance when you reunite them and that really isn’t what you want!
 
Piggies&buns said:
You dont want to do a trial separation unless you absolutely have to. Only do it where you are concerned about the bond or where the hormones are so incessant that the companion cannot get a break at all.
If your older boar is ok and tolerating it well then don’t do the trial separation.

If you separate them without an actual need you could do more harm than good. A separation and reuniting (where you think this is just normal dominance) will just cause an increase in dominance when you reunite them and that really isn’t what you want!
Click to expand...
Thank you! I’m going to attempt to up their foraging and just watch. I watched them today and they seem back to their base level of mainly ignoring eachother. I think it depends on the younger boys hormone spikes! I will not separate unless it gets relentless and consistent!
 
Mrs Tiggy Winkle said:
It seems as if your older boar is able to hold his own when he thinks it's important enough.
Click to expand...
Which is the consensus I get from him but it’s still hard to watch! I am glad he’s a kind pig whose up to the challenge of a wild teenage boy, I do want to see these two grow up together!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top