Hi not been on for a while. Have been bonding (successfully) with Rocket and looking for a suitable companion.
I have been in contact with a small pet shop who take in rescue pigs. Yesterday a one year old boar (Coco) was brought in and the shop owner thought he would be a good match as he has also lost his companion recently. He is also well handled and was fine with the female pig he was put with in the shop.
Today I went to see him and brought him home. Before putting him in the cage with Rocket I let him sniff Rocket's things as advised by the pet shop owner. I put him in and immediately Rocket was excited and chasing Coco around and trying to mount him! I was also advised that one of them would do this to show their dominance. I had expected it to be the other way around as Coco is more than twice the size of Rocket. I sat by the cage the whole afternoon watching them and although there was a lot of teeth chattering and chasing they seemed but I left the room for 10 minutes, and when I came back Rocket was cowering in a tunnel and there were clumps of his fur in the cage.
I lifted him out in his tunnel to check him over but he wouldn't come out. I could see that one of his eyes was weeping and looks like it could have been hurt.
I put him back in the cage and he eventually came out of his tunnel and ran into the house Coco was in! Coco didn't react and Rocket sat with him for a few minutes then returned to his tunnel.
Rocket always comes out for his fresh veggies at tea time but didn't, although he was taking food from me. Coco keeps trying to get to Rocket in the tunnel but is too big to get in and Rocket backs away to the other side. Rocket has come out of the tunnel twice now but the fist time Coco was trying to mount him and the second time Coco chased him back in.
Don't know what to do but I'm scared Rocket will get hurt and can't sit by the cage all of the time. I haven't eaten since breakfast and am a nervous wreck! I bought Coco to make Rocket happy and it seems to have done the opposite!
I have put the divider in the cage for now so I can leave the room but it's not ideal because they're not left with much space.
What should I do?
Is this normal?
Is this an incompatible pairing?
Do I risk leaving them alone again without the divider?
Help!
Ps. Sorry for such a long message! Also I videoed some of their interactions when Coco first went in the cage if that's helpful for anyone to see?
Hi!
Please do not leave them without a divider and no supervision under the circumstances.
Am I correct in understanding that you have put an unquarantined unneutered boar that has come straight from being housed with a sow (which is now most likely pregnant; what a great surprise for whichever poor soul is going to adopt her!) into another boar's territory immediately upon arrival and are not happy because the two poor boys are not getting on?
Please ALWAYS do your research beforehand! We are here and are willing to answer your questions and help you to make sure that any bonding is set up properly and has the best chance possible for success (although that is never a given. Bonding guinea pigs is A LOT more tricky than just popping guinea pigs into cages.
- It is important to quarantine any new guinea pigs unless they have undergone a mandatory quarantine at a proper good standard rescue. You now have to treat both boys if the newbie has arrived with some hidden luggage.
- No boar that has been with a sow (the ultimate career aim of any boar) is going to be happy to be relegated to bachelor level, especially not when he is expected to go from one to the other straight again.
- Any guinea pig that is in new surroundings is on edge. Always give a new arrival several days to get their bearings and time to meet their future friend through the bars for several hours or even better days. That means the newbie can relax and the piggies can get to know each other before they are bonded. That takes a lot of extra stress out of a meeting.
- Guinea pigs very much have their own patch. If you drop a guinea pig into the territory of another, then dominance shoots straight through the roof and fights and tussles are pretty inevitable as the invader is feeling very wary and the invaded is generally not happy. for that reason, any bonding needs to happen on neutral territory that is not part of any of the piggies' patch. Even a bathtub or shower basin with a towel in will do the trick in a pinch.
- Boars bond via mutual mounting. Bondings usually fail when one party has had enough or doesn't accept that the other party has had enough. After initial acceptance, dominance happens to establish the hierarchy.
Please remove any hideys until the bonding has either clearly failed or the boys have settled together; it takes several days. If one of the boars is a lot smaller and still a sub-adult, then a tunnel the other piggy cannot get into can provide a refuge from excessive humping.
- You do not interrupt boar bondings unless there is a fight (and a clear fail). Every time you put them together, they have to start straight back at the start and do it all over again. Always choose a time when you can be around for a day to make sure that they get on and can be left without supervision.
- Please have that eye checked. Eye injuries can deteriorate very quickly and need prompt vet care to heal.
Before you do anything else, please read these guides carefully and fully:
Importance Of Quarantine
Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
If you decide that the bonding has not worked, please consider keeping the boys next to each other in different cages for mutual company. Please do not drop the new boar back to the shop as an "aggressive boar" because that means that the boar will at the best have to spend his life as a single piggy after being failed by humans for the third and likely a fourth time through no fault of his own. I'd rather not comment on that shop and their level of the even most basic knowledge or elementary care.
