Pig dilema, really need some advice.

[monkeygirl]

Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place.
A few days ago I got a pair of rescue boars.At first they seemed just a bit nervous, but yesterday they started to bite.
There has been NO provocation at all,this was out of the blue.
My worry is that as they are adults this will be tricky to stop.I got them to be family pets and of course cant now let them near my son and TBH cant get near them myself! The second they see a person they run and or try to bite.
There is NO way this is caused by something done to them here.I dont want to send them back but cant have a pet that bites either.
Help?

 

[piggybaker]

I have piggys that bite but not enough to break the skin, how long have you had them?

 

[monkeygirl]

A week now.
Its not a nip, they have given OH a really nasty deep bite on his lower arm and drawn blood on a few of my fingers.
I could understand if they ahd been grabbed/prodded ect but they havent,have left them to settle in and only gone into the cage to give them food/change water ect.

 

[boureki]

Hiya

When is it they start to bite, is it when they are picked up and/or about to be put back in their cage/hutch? We have a biter, he's also a rescue and drawn blood and we think it's because he doesn't like that stage when you are standing up and adjusting him, it may be because he has been mishadled before, or simply that he doesn't feel safe, he sometimes gets a bit narky. He goes through spells where he does it a lot, then hardly ever.

I have heard they can bite sometimes if you have handled veg or something and smell it on you so you smell like their dinner. It was also suggested to us that every time we put our hands in the cage we offer them food so they can associate hands with nice things.

 

[monkeygirl]

They bite when you put the hand in the cage.
OH was just resting arm on cage at other side to the pigs and unless they have a lynx fetish he diddnt smell like food!
There was no reason for them to feel threatend in any way, the cage is huge(its a custom build and easily big enough for 3 buns).
I dont really want to return them, will be ht esecond time they have gone into a rescue center but if I cant trust them not to bite they cant be the family pets we wanted.
Sorry if this sounds hard but we did want a pet we and our son could have fun with, with these 2 we cant even put something in the cage without risking a bite!

 

[kellyandpiggies]

It seems that they have been used to this in the past - maybe why they were brought back to the rescue for that reason

Hold a veggie at the same time in a different hand, do something to take their focus off you. I'm sure that they know no different.

Good luck

edited - forgot a word!

 

[Beks]

Perhaps it might be worth leaving them to settle a little longer, talk to them daily and then start offering them veggies from your hand. They will come to learn that hands don't mean harm but it may take a little while if they were mistreated before....

Good Luck!