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One of my pigs keeps rumbling and mounting the other ones

  • Thread starter Thread starter eddieiscool
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eddieiscool

Hello!

I'm not sure if this can be classed as a health and illness question but I need some advice. One of my (older) pigs keeps mounting and rumbling the others. He has done this before and we were told by the lady at the rescue centre that it was a natural thing for a dominant pig to do. I was just wondering if there was anything I could do to prevent him from doing this. I don't want to seperate them because he's been with one of the cage mates since birth (even though he keeps mounting him the most). Please help! His poor cage mate is quite an old pig and I don't want him to get hurt. Could it also have something to do with him sharing his pen with three others? It's a large pen and there's plenty of room for them all.
 
It does sound like 'standard' dominance behaviour. What size is the cage? Do the pigs have multiple hideys?
 
I've had boars for 10 years & there always seems to be at least 1 pig who likes to be the boss of the bunch & does the rumbling, grumbling, bottom wiggling & mounting. :{:{

I have found that you can often pig the less dominant pig up & remove them from the situation, but as soon as he is back down, the dominant pig picks up where he left off!

To be honest I leave them alone now - as long as there is no blood shed. That way they all calm down much quicker than if you keep picking up the less dominant pig. :)
 
This is completely normal behaviour, but you can dissuade it by have multiples of everything, for example, houses, bowls, water bottles and tubes.

Unfortunately, however, it can sometimes lead to fighting for dominance when they reach maturity (at about a year old), and they might need to be seperated then :(

Hopefully not in your case though!
 
Re: Copernicus isn't rumbling anymore

Hello!

Thanks for all the advice. He calmed down alot once we started putting in an extra bowl of food every morning. They have a large pen and there's always lots of everything around so we didn't think that was a problem. However, he is sharing with three other boars so I just think he's feeling a bit undermined. I gave them all a bath as well and, although I hear the occasional rumble from him when one of the other pigs gets the last peice of cucumber, he's okay now. The mounting has stopped and he's turning in to a very well behaved pig!

On another note, when I posted something a while ago about him making a strange noise (other than the rumbling), it turned out to be gas. We have stopped feeding him the green vegetables and he hasn't made it at all! Now he's on carrots and fruits and he seems much happier. So thanks for that advice too!
 
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