New boar nextdoor to established pair led to fighting. Advice needed.

InfinityPiggies

InfinityPiggies

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Hi all,

I have a pair of boars together (Sherbet and Snocone) in a 12 sq foot c and c cage. They have been together their whole life. Sherbet, the dominant one, can be a bit of a bully sometimes but it only leads to minor bickering. Recently, I took home a new boar, Pecan. Up until today has been in a separate room so I can monitor him. He went to the vet today and got a clean bill of health. I set up an eight sq foot c and c that shares a wall with my preexisting boars. I had decided that he would live in this cage, as bonding three boars is not recommended. I expected that maybe Sherbet would be a bully to Pecan through the bars, but they are totally fine. What HAS happened is that Sherbet got really worked up by the change and has been chasing Snocone around their cage. I know minor chasing is fine, but Sherbet was really bullying Snocone and not letting home get away or hide. Even though there was no blood drawn, I decided to put a divider between the two as Snocone was very tired and scared. This is not what I was expecting! I feel so worried that I’ve done something horrible and ruined their bond. I thought that as long as the new boar was separated, everything would be ok. What do I do now? Do I attempt to rebond Sherbet and Snocone? I need advice. Thanks.

Ori and pigs
 
I’m sorry to hear this.
It is ordinarily fine to keep other boars in the room where a boar pair live. It can produce a bit of a stir in some cases but it sounds to be more than that in your case. It may have brought some issues between sherbet and snocone to the fore.

I would give them a couple of days apart to calm down.
Then in a few days time put them both into neutral territory to allow them to see if they still want to be together. You must use neutral territory to reunite them, do not just remove the divider and allow them to wander together. Each half will become their own territory so if they are allowed to just wander together then it can be seen as a territory invasion and cause a fight.

Put them on neutral territory and monitor them for several hours - if they go back together happily (you are going to see dominance as they reestablish) then hopefully thatll be the end of the incident. While they are still in neutral territory, remove the divider in their main cage and thoroughly clean it out. Once you’re satisfied they are ok together (several hours at least) then you can move them back to their cage together.

If they fight or if behaviour goes beyond dominance when you put them in neutral; then unfortunately that means they are not accepting each other back and sadly they would have to stay separated permanently.

If that did end up being the outcome, it would be worth trying to bond two of them either sherbet and pecan or snocone and pecan to see if you can make a pair again

I’ve added a guide below to help further

Keep us posted on how things go

Bonds In Trouble
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours
 
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