Pair of boars now fighting

[Wei]

Hi, I'm new here and haven't yet read around the forum for solutions to my problem. But I will have a good read soon .

I have a pair of boars, now 3 1/2 months old. They are siblings and I've had them since 6 weeks old. They have been well bonded and snuggled together and called for each other.

4 days ago, in the night, in their hutch, they had a major falling out and a fight that resulted in one piggy getting very badly scratched and bitten. He lost a tooth and had to go to the vet for a GA to have an abcess in his ear treated. Luckily he is recovering well.

I have had guinea pigs before and not come across this problem.

Once the injured piggy is better I plan to wash both guinea pigs and their hutch and accessories thoroughly and reintroduce the two together again. I thought I would do this introduction in a neutral area of the garden and in their large outdoor run (10' x 5'). I am also thinking of getting them castrated which is something my vet has suggested might help.

Their hutch is on the small side at 5' x 1.5' and I did plan on making them something much bigger but thought that this would be OK whilst they were still young. They also have one of these plastic indoor guinea pig hutches that you can buy (which in my opinion is way too small for guinea pigs) and we had been using this for very short periods of time when they were young so that they can come into the house in the evenings and morning and become socialised/get used to being handled.

They currently rumble and strut and teeth grind/chatter even if they catch sight or scent of each other.

I got 2 guinea pigs as I wanted them to have company, so this is really disappointing. We also do not really have space for a second large hutch or another large run in the garden so I really want to try and get them rebonded .

Any thoughts?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi and welcome!

You may find our boar guide helfpul (which contains further links):
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=76162

It sounds like your boys have hit the big hormones early. They last roughly from 4-14 months until boars are mature adults. Whether your boys make it together depends entirely on their character compatibility; it doesn't matter whether they are related or have been together since they were small.

Usually you will find that boars won't go back together again after a serious bloody fight with bites. You can try a re-introduction with a bath, but please be aware that it may not work out in the long term.

I am also very sorry to say that unlike with rabbits, neutering does NOT change boar behaviour, it only takes away their ability to make babies. http://www.cavyspirit.com/neutering.htm

Which country are you in? There are good rescues in Britain that offer single boars the change of boar dating in order to find a character compatible companion.

 

[Wei]

Hi, I am in the UK. Near Cambridge.

My gut feeling is that these two will probably not settle down together again, but I want to try every possible avenue first.

So there is absolutely no point in getting them neutered then? My vet thought it would be worth a try.

Also, they are my sons piggy's (he is 4 and got them for his birthday) and I'd love to be able to keep them as I know he will be upset if we have to rehome one and get another one.

 

[Wiebke]

No, neutering is definitely only needed if you want to have a boar living with one or two sows, and you preferably want to find an experienced neutering vet to operate for you in order to minimise the very real danger of post op complications.

Going down that route to have each boar living with a sow is one of your options as fall outs between cross gender pairings are extremely rare. However, you need to make sure that your boys are developed enough yet to be neutered (generally, neutering starts from 4-6 months old) and they also face a full 6 weeks wait until they are 100% to go with sows. The best vet for neutering I can recommend is in Northampton.

Boar dating your two boys at a good rescue that offers this service to rebond them with a character compatible boar is another option. However, you have several recommendable guinea pig rescues not too far from you which may be able to help you. I can especially recommend the West Suffolk branch of the RSPCA - they have a very good guinea pig section. But as there has not long been a huge rescue from a hoarder not far you (nearly 300 piggies), there is certainly no shortage of piggies looking for new homes right now!

If you cannot afford to double your number of piggies, there is also the option to have them living alongside each other for the rest of their lives with interaction through the bars, which admittedly is not a very satisfying solution either.

If I were you, I would think through all your possible options first before you decide how you want to proceed. I wish I could just sweep my magic wand and come up with a perfect solution, but that is sadly not the case and you will have to make some tough decisions. Sadly, boar fights and fall outs are actually not all that rare.

 

[Wei]

Hmmm. No I don't think we can really manage double the space and time for 4 piggies living as separate pairs . (Or even 2 piggies living separately)

But then again we do always seem to end up with more and more of a menagerie as I can't seem to ever turn my back on any animal...........so we'll see. I also don't want my son to get the idea that animals are disposable if it doesn't work out first time, or that we shouldn't be putting the effort and time into them .

If we looked into boar dating, how does it work? Would the animal shelter exchange one of our boars for another more suitable one?

If we kept both of them, what would be the best solution for the pair of them? To each have a neutered sow as a companion? Or another boar?
And if we had two pairs, living seperately, could they go out in one big run if we subdivided it into two sections? Or is that too close for comfort?

This was supposed to be so simple - two little piggies for my 4 year olds birthday. Now it has become complicated and expensive!

 

[Wiebke]

I know... Sadly, piggies are not just peaceful little fluffballs!

I applaud you for your ethics - so many people sadly don't have them and treat piggies as disposable toys... You could work past the problem of "exchanging" boars by explaining to your boy that as the boys are no longer friends, you are taking both boys to the rescue to choose a new friend each. One boy and new his friend would come back home with your boy and the other would go to a new good home with his own new best friend to be happy again, too. All the recommended rescues will do homechecks, so any piggy of yours will only go to a good home.

Alternatively, if you want to hang onto both boys - yes, you can divide the run, too (just make sure that they cannot wiggle through).

 

[chelle83]

Hi and welcome
I'm from newmarket. I had a single boar and after suggestions from this site I made contact with the West Suffolk RSPCA Branch to talk about finding mine a friend. Alan at the centre was brilliant and we had several conversations before I took Dudley along to see how he reacted to having a friend. They seemed ok so I bit the bullet and brought Yuri home. They still haven't worked out their dominance issues but there is no major squabbling, just a bit of teeth chattering etc.
In my opinion it was totally worth doing but definately not just plain sailing, its very nerve racking bringing another home and watching them try to sort out their issues but I hope they are both happy I did it as Dudley now has some company and Yuri has been given a loving home.

Keep us updated on what you decide. x

 

[Doeylicious]

Oh hello, you found your way here lots of people here with MUCH more experience than me, I am really pleased you came and joined

(I am not a stalker, I know Wei from a horsey forum )

 

[Wei]

(I am not a stalker, I know Wei from a horsey forum )

:{ No, she's a stalker!



Well, it looks as if we will end up keeping both of them regardless. We discussed the problem with our son and suggested he might like to keep one of them and get him a new friend. But the 4 year old has spoken and says we have to keep them both now as they are part of our family. He is right of course 8.

So, when Nibble-Nibble is better and the weather warmer and we have some time, we will try re-introducing them.
If that fails then we will get each of them a new friend from West Suffolk RSPCA (the 4 year old thinks this is the best idea and seems to have already chosen names for the new two *sigh*).

And in the meantime we will make another new outdoor run and a new hutch (poor Wei is currently in one of those furplast plastic indoor cages ).

We have far too many rescued animals - what difference will another two make................mallethead

Thanks for all the suggestions and links. I'll let you know how we get on.

 

[Wiebke]

Poor you! Best of luck with sorting it all out. See how it goes and take it from there...

And yes, we are always grateful when we get updates!