Scab on boars mouth.

[proudguineamomma:)]

Hi everyone, this is my boar, Bear
I’ve noticed that he has a scab on the corner of his mouth, I will insert a picture (he wouldn’t let me take a decent one!) The bits of blood under his chin are just that, dried blood, not other scabs.

He is eating fine and when I touch near the scab he doesn’t seem to be in any pain.

Just wondering if anyone else’s boars suddenly get random scabs on their body/face/mouth?

He gets along fine with his hutch mate, but noticed when he’s in the run with the other two boars he likes to get frisky with a particular one and thinking it might be a fall out from this? (I’ve never seen them fight though).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sarah

 

[proudguineamomma:)]

p.s checked him all over and he isn’t losing any fur (treated all boars for mites and ringworm not long ago).

Also what can I do/use to treat this?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Are you putting two separate boar pairs together for play time In the same run? If so, then that will cause huge problems. Boars can only be kept in pairs and putting piggies who do not and cannot live together will be seen as a bonding session by them which will cause hierarchy reshuffles, stress and fights

Please have any cuts checked by a vet. You can clean a wound with saline solution but bites from other piggies can cause infections etc so would need to be checked properly

 

[Siikibam]

Guinea pigs don’t do ‘play dates’, which is essentially what you’re doing when you put them in the run together. Doing so increases the risk of a fallout between the pairs so it’s best to keep them separated in their pairs. I would get him seen by a vet. Both for the scabs and any cuts/scratches.

 

[My Piggies]

I agree with @Piggies&buns. If you want both your boar pairs to have run time, you can rotate them (eg. two hours at a time), but please don't put them together as this will cause an enormous amount of stress for the piggies and could possibly cause fights between the bonded pairs.

Hope you boar is okay and is off to a speedy recovery.

 

[proudguineamomma:)]

Thanks for all replies!

I thought it would be nice for them all to mix together because two live in the bottom hutch and two live in the top (I thought they would get along better in the run as opposed to their hutch as that is where they sleep and eat). I was clearly wrong!

Me and my partner were planning on building a 6’x6’ run to give them lots of space, would we be able to divide this so that the boars can all go out at the same time but not mix together (we want to connect tunnels from the hutch to run so that they can go in and out as they please).

Sarah.

 

[Piggies&buns]

It’s a lovely thought but it isn’t how things work for piggies unfortunately. Pairs need to be kept separate at all times.
Boars cannot function in anything other than pairs so putting four boars together has the potential to ruin the bonds between each pair every time they meet - you could end up with four single piggies.

Runaround tunnels are popular and a good choice if you are there to supervise their lawn time. I once looked into getting some myself

 

[Claire W]

Yes, so long as the two boar pairs are separated at all times, they should be ok to share a run through a divider but please don't mix them as this will cause major problems

 

[proudguineamomma:)]

I have put two boars (Bear from the picture and his hutch mate Buck) outside in the run to see how it goes, the other two are still in the hutch.

They aren’t really taking any notice of each other at the moment, both just eating grass. I noticed that Bear was rumble strutting when I first put them in but that soon stopped

 

[Siikibam]

Be aware they shouldn’t have access to the run when it gets cooler. But yes, a tunnel to the hutch would work. I’d love that for my piggies!