Struggle Bonding Boars

[piggyluvrabby]

Hi! I'm posting due to my current predicament that the 2 boars that I adopted just about 2 months ago have not been getting along. The shelter that I adopted from had them both living together in the same enclosure, as well as telling me they had apparently lived together prior to being surrendered. After taking them home and bringing them into our cage, they seemed to be getting along alright, with normal boar dominance behavior included. This however changed a few weeks after getting them when the two got into a rough skirmish at the top of a ramp with limited space to run away to. One of the pigs had his foot injured and was limping for the better part of a month, though he seems much better now. Since then, we have separated them, one on top and one on bottom, swapping every 2 days or so. This isn't the first time I have had boars so I have been used to the aggressive behavior, but clearly a line has to be drawn.

My question is basically, what should I be doing in order to try and recover their relationship? At a minimum I would like to remove the ramp that caused the initial incident, but I am open to suggestions. I feel badly keeping them alone as guinea pigs are so social but I don't have the means or space right now to just get 2 more to bond with them. The vet also suggested neutering them, but that is ideally a last resort due to the invasiveness of the procedure and the cost.

The cage is a 2x4 C&C with a ramp leading to a 2x2 up top. They had 2 of everything while they were sharing, though now that stuff is split between the top and bottom. Let me know if anyone has any ideas or any more questions about the setup!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear of their fall out.

I’m afraid a fight caused by incompatibility cannot be repaired and the two piggies would need to live separated permanently. There is nothing you can do to fix it.

Separated piggies need to live side by side to allow 24/7 interaction between the bars. They cannot live one up and one down - living like that removes all ability to interact between the bars and will result In them becoming lonely.
You will need to rearrange your set up to provide each piggy with their own 2x4 c&c cage beside each other. There should never be any cage swapping taking place.
That is a perfectly fine way for them to live. They get the between the bar interaction but never have to share a territory. I have a separated boar pair myself and they have lived side by side for over a year.

If the fight was caused by a piggy feeling cornered and had absolutely nothing to do with compatibility then you may be able to attempt a neutral territory reintroduction. This would be putting the piggies somewhere they do not see as their own space and seeing if they wish to go back together. If they don’t want to go back together then another fight will ensue relatively quickly. It would then be definitive that their separation needs to be permanent.
If they are able to reform their hierarchy, then after several hours in neural territory you can clean out their cage thoroughly and put them back into to. It would then take two weeks for them to fully reestablish their bond.
You would have to ensure there are no dead ends in the cage - so no ramp, no hides with only one door and ideally the cage would be made bigger. A 2x5 is the recommended size for a bonded boar pair.

Bonds In Trouble
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

 

[piggyluvrabby]

I’m sorry to hear of their fall out.

I’m afraid a fight caused by incompatibility cannot be repaired and the two piggies would need to live separated permanently. There is nothing you can do to fix it.

Separated piggies need to live side by side to allow 24/7 interaction between the bars. They cannot live one up and one down - living like that removes all ability to interact between the bars and will result In them becoming lonely.
You will need to rearrange your set up to provide each piggy with their own 2x4 c&c cage beside each other. There should never be any cage swapping taking place.
That is a perfectly fine way for them to live. They get the between the bar interaction but never have to share a territory. I have a separated boar pair myself and they have lived side by side for over a year.

If the fight was caused by a piggy feeling cornered and had absolutely nothing to do with compatibility then you may be able to attempt a neutral territory reintroduction. This would be putting the piggies somewhere they do not see as their own space and seeing if they wish to go back together. If they don’t want to go back together then another fight will ensue relatively quickly. It would then be definitive that their separation needs to be permanent.
If they are able to reform their hierarchy, then after several hours in neural territory you can clean out their cage thoroughly and put them back into to. It would then take two weeks for them to fully reestablish their bond.
You would have to ensure there are no dead ends in the cage - so no ramp, no hides with only one door and ideally the cage would be made bigger. A 2x5 is the recommended size for a bonded boar pair.

Bonds In Trouble
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

Thanks so much for the info! I'm going to try and reintroduce them soon as they did live together in the past, but it is nice to know that housing them next to each other is alright as a long term solution.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thanks so much for the info! I'm going to try and reintroduce them soon as they did live together in the past, but it is nice to know that housing them next to each other is alright as a long term solution.

Good luck if you try it but do be prepared to step in with oven gloves and towels to separate them.
Even if they did successfully live together once, it doesn’t mean they can continue to do so.
Keep us posted