Good evening all! I hope you are all well
I have 2x boars (Ban & Meliodas) who are 4 months old and are doing well! Ban is quite clearly the dominant one and chases the Meliodas now and again. After reading lots of 'stories' regarding boars fighting and splitting up in later life, I've been doing some thought experiments and wanted some advice from someone more experienced! I've tried Googling but can't seem to find any answers regarding ages.
- If I was to neuter both of them and pair them with either 1 or 2 sows, would this type of bond be more successful in the long term?
- Would it be better to do this while they are young or does age not matter?
- Do the ages of the sows come into it? I.e. If they were neutered at this age, would it best to introduce them to young sows (2 months old) or older ones (a year old etc)
Regards,
Nis.
Hi and welcome
The reality is that actually noticeably more boar pairs make it through teenage together than fall out; it's just the same with the vast majority of successful operation recoveries - nobody is posting about it when things go well, which means that a very distorted image is created that is then spread around and parroted by people not aware of the whole picture.
Not surprisingly are we getting lots more posts about dysfunctional or struggling boars than about happy pairs in this section; but this doesn't reflect reality. You can meet plenty of happy boar pairs in our Chat section if you need more tangible reassurance.
As long as your boys are doing fine together as teenagers I would strongly recommend to not rock the boat in any way.
The most common ages for fall-outs in boars (around 4 months at the start of teenage and around 6 months when they reach the all time peak of their testosterone output) also mark the start of the age for boar neutering; the testicles need to be on their way down or fully descended. The two hormone peaks do in fact bracket the process; the first coincides with the start and the second happens once the descent has finished.
Boars can be neutered at any age. The oldest I know of were about 6 or even 7 years old. but the majority is neutered before ca. 4 years. Younger boars will heal a bit more quickly. Overweight can be a greater operation risk than age.
Whether you want to neuter your boys nevertheless depends on your access to a good neutering vet. It can give you more options if one of a boar pair passes away but elective operations can become real guilt traps if they do not come off as wished so it is not something you want to commit to casually. Post-op complications are unfortunately not all that rare.
Sows can be any age, provided initial acceptance by the sows happens. I've had a five year old sow falling head over heels for a five months old 'toy boy' (they were devoted to each other until she died aged 7 years) and an 8 year old boar at the end of his life enjoying a few happy weeks with a couple of baby girls I adopted as new companions for his 3 years old wife to bolster the loss of her 'daddy boar' she'd been introduced as a baby herself after he'd lost all his four previous wives (even the one younger than him) within a year. A similar or younger age is of course always fine but it does come down to mutual liking and acceptance long before age or gender of the partner.
Please take the time to read these guides here for more in-depth information:
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next? (see especially the information about how teenage runs - it has distinctive phases - and what you can do to promote a stable bond)
Journey through a Lifetime: The Ages of Guinea Pigs (see chapter teenage about what happens development-wise so you can put teenage into a bit of a wider perspective)
Neutered / De-sexed Boars And Neutering Operations: Myths, Facts and Post-op Care (Addresses all aspects)
A Closer Look At Pairs (Boars - Sows - Mixed) (the chapter on mixed pairs also applies in principle for adopting a bonded pair of sows to live with a boar)
A trio only works long term if the sows are good friends; otherwise your boy will sooner or later side with one of the girls. When it works, a boar and two sows combo is a lovely thing. I've currently got 2 stable mixed trios and one happy mixed pair but Ihave had many more, including some dysfunctional trios, over the years.
I hope that this will help you.
