Successful bonding of boars...

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After someone telling me of her 6 boars that live together happily, and someone else of someone who has 20 together, its got me wondering...

Today marked the end of the successful bonding of 4 boars I have here, a bonded pair of males, and 2 lone boars....to be honest I wouldnt have even tried this in the past...

Its taken just over 2 weeks of building up the foursome relationship, 10 mins runtime, then a scary amount of teeth chattering, seperation, then 15 mins until they had to be removed (as I was absolutely terrified about a bloodbath), but now, all is quiet except for them talking to eachother...no lonely piggy cries, nothing....they have been together in the run with lots of hidey holes since 9pm last night, but they still choose to all pile into the one pigloo, so I am braving it tonight and putting them to bed together..

This has got me thinking, I am now hoping to bond another lone boar....my burning question is if I now introduce a 5th boar, could this upset the newly found bond of the 4?

And yes I am aware of the facts they could fight in the future, but thats fine by me, its just interesting to me that it could be done.

Personally even 2 boars together worries me normally, and in the past I have given up after a few days of the chattering for 10 mins here and there, so its really opened my eyes, and I'm thinking it could be a lot easier to bond boars in the future :-\

What do you guys think? I really want to hear peoples experiences with boars, the good and the bad...

I'm starting to think I might be a bit too neuter happy, so I'm really looking to see it from both sides....

Has anyone got, or knows of someone else who has a large amount of boars living happily together?
 
Gosh you are brave! well done, I cannot imagine all mine living happily together, the teeth chattering and rumbling that goes on when they are next to eachother with a divider is enough for me :o
 
I think you are incredibly brave, I will watch your postings on this with interest.


Sorry can't offer you advice, all I know is that even bonding two boars can be fraught with complications as you already know. They can get on one week and then have a major fallout for no apparent reason the following week. Three strikes and you're out is my rule! (Well seperated rather than out!)

I suppose as long as they have numerous food and water sources, plenty of space I don't see why they can't get on. Apparently the DAP plug in (atificial pheremone for dogs) is mean to be excellent. This could help overcome any initial problems.

Not sure about adding a 5th though, why fix it if it ain't broke? ;D
 
Hiya,

As you know I've had trouble getting my third boar to bond so I've no left it for now. I didn't want to upset the applecart with Sunshine and Twinkle. They seem to go through phrases one minute they are the best of buddies and all I can see in the hutch is piggy bums as they sit under one pigloo then the next minute they are teeth chattering, I noticed they only teeth chatter when I am about so I think they are fighting for my attention. They should learn their is no need to, they both get attention the daft .

I personally wouldn't introduce another boar just yet, probably because I'd be too chicken in upsetting the friendships now formed. Why not leave it a bit? I do plan on getting Cuzzy back into the group not sure if it would work, but I needed time out as my nerves were getting shot to pieces!

Louise
x
 
I will tell you one thing....to find a medium by not putting them in danger of fighting, but not mothering them too much by seperating them at the slightest noise is really hard!

Not sure about adding a 5th though, why fix it if it ain't broke?
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Thats what half of me is saying, very much so, but I would like to try bonding another boar, just to see how the dynamics change as they try and work out the dominance issues, and if it is possible!

I have found so far, that bonding the new piggy with the most dominant piggy in the herd, then trying to bond the group, from what ive seen, is totally pointless, as once in the herd environment, you are back to square one...

We all know there are a hell of a lot of male guineas that end up in rescues from fighting, or being unwanted as studs, and they are often overlooked, unless neutered and ready bonded...

I'm sure a lot of people will agree that the amount of cages involved in keeping boars puts people off, and if they could be housed in larger numbers, people would be more likely to want them as pets.

In an ideal world I would love to have a sheds with 10-12 free range boars living happily together....but I accept that could be near impossible :) And even the 4 now could and may easily fall out :)

Should the right two boars come my way, I would love to try two neutered boars and a sow to see if this could work, but at this point in time, I dont think I have the right candidates ;D
 
Our first piggies were father and son, I've heard that is one of the strongest bonds you can have. Got on fine - until we put Dylan next to their cage. Within a few months they had to be seperated,never to re-bond. In hindsight, we would never had done this, but we had read that you can have successful pairings of a bonded pair next to a single, but it didn't work with us!

As Summerleaze has said, these pheremone boxes are supposed to really help with the old hormones.

On a visit to the CCT last year Vedra was explaining how she managed to have a large number of boars successfully all in the same pen - she said she had a huge run (I think space is the key) and way more hides / boxes than piggies, and she gradually took a box / hide out every so often to slowly reduce the hidey holes. Apparently it was very successful, she was talking double figures! Not for the faint hearted though!

We had four seperate boys in four seperate cages and not a huge house. This can be a problem but I suppose if you try anything, as long as you are prepared for the worst...!

Personally I would not add the fifth, but that would simply be my decision.
 
Good luck :) Never tried with 4.

Not worth it for me as I have enough trouble rehoming the pairs of boars I have and with a good vet nearby there's no reason not to castrate and find them a good home :)

I doubt I'll ever try it personally, its too time consuming without a guaranteed outcome rescue wise for me, and I prefer sows to boars (have 3 groups of sows living with boars :) ).

I'd be interested in how they got on. :) Are these boys for rehoming?

I think you're asking for trouble putting 2 boars and a sow together personally. Interesting, but fair? :-\

I've had groups of 4 together before temporarily when I've had a lot of rescues come in at once (emergency) but I seperated them into pairs for rehoming, people here simply don't want more than two or three :)

I used to think our neighbouring RSPCA branch were castrate happy when they said most of theirs were castrated but I haven't looked back since getting a good vet and am rehoming more boars now.

Stud boars don't have to be kept seperate :) My friend pairs hers up when they retire and some go free range in the shed :)

I did meet one woman that managed to put multiple boars in with sows in a big run, you'd need to know your boars :) I know that 2 of my 3 wouldn't get on!
 
Glad you have bonded your 4 boars together, not sure if adding a fifth would cause more harm than good though
 
I have had 4 living together before, but now have two pairs and three singles.
 
No, these are resident boars, they wont be being rehomed....

To be honest, I wouldnt like to let a group like this be rehomed, as the risk off fallout is too great, I am home all day, and these 4 will live in my living room, so I will always be keeping an eye out, and if touch wood anything happens resulting in a fight, I know I can deal with it, whereas others wouldnt.

I will neuter around 70% of boars that come in, and ones that go together in all fairness are those that came in together and had a good bond, as for me personally rehoming, I find it a lot easier and dont consider it cruel to neuter, but some comments from people recently have made me feel a bit uneasy and somewhat guilty that neutering is my first option, so I am trying to understand the bonding process a bit more, so hopefully I will be able to successfully pair up more lone boars in the future.

RE: Two n/d boars and a sow or two; it would be something I would love to try if and only if I had the right boars, which like I say, I dont, and probably never will!

I have had several lone boars here that were used as stud and just unneeded and 'wasting space' :( I have just neutered them and paired with a girly in the past, but I would just like to feel I could and had the confidence to bond with another boar..
 
This is an interesting thread.. 2 of my boars Jeremy and Tiger live side by side and share floor time together, but I don't think they could live in the same cage as they niggle a bit. I know what you say about how hard it is knowing when to separate them and when to leave them! They were naughtier than usual this evening.

I will be introducing our latest addition Roly to Scruffy as soon as he settles in and gains some confidence. I hope to be able to bond them so that I have 2 pairs of boys.
 
Your a braver person than i am.
I am always worried when i have pairs of Boars in that they will fall out and i just wouldnt have the nerve to introduce another strage boar to them.

TBH at the moment I have all the sows here and pairs of adult Boars go in my sisters shed as her sows are in the house
 
Go for it. Before I had someone to do the castrates I paired up all my boars either with each other or with adopters pigs. Now I don't have the space to do it, great if it all happens in one day, but I spent six weeks pairing one couple up and they ended up going singly to live with bereaved boars ::)
 
PP I would be very interested in more detail re your bonding process:
If you say do a diary from day one...the personalities of each boar, where and how you first put them together, how long for, what happened initially, how the dynamics changed each time you put them together, what happended when you put them into accomodation together for the first time, size f accomodation etc.. something like this could be really useful for those attempting to bond even 2 boars in the future.

Is it a case of knowing your boars temprements? I know 3 of my boars are extremely dominant, 2 are very submissive and one is so so!
I honestly believe if I put them all together, there would be absolute carnage :o
 
Very interesting and great if it works out, Mary H has 4 living together very happily, I have 1 pair and 3 singles - 4 cages 2 of which would definately not go with anyone else! Pookie is old and fed up with "whippersnappers" and Bully, well Bully is a bully! Archie might like the right friend but I am scared to try and also if there is "rumpus" from other quarters I'm scared it will upset my paired ones as they are happy together, but when I get a new one, they do have a day or so of squabbling which I can usually distract with parsley!

But it would be very interesting and great if it works out for you! It would be great just from a cage cleaning angle!

Are your 4 any breed in particular? I would be interested to know if that makes a difference too........
 
Lavenderjade; this is exactly my intention in the future, to come up with a diary with all details, and to work out the perfect amount of space needed, and if I decide to add another, its something I will definately be doing! I know there is a lot of info online, but it really does vary from piggy to piggy...if I got anything from this, it is that if you want a group, you need to bond them as a group, and not newbie to most dominant, then to the rest of the group, as thats a total waste of time.

I dont think you should put them through the stress of bonding unless you know their litle characters as best you can.

The boars are the two babies born here that no-one seemed to want, got let down constantly, so stayed here :smitten:, they are a peruvian and an aby x, they are around 5 months, have been together with no problems since one was 4 weeks, the other 3.

A sheltie boar, came in as rescue, who is about 8 months, just that bit older

And an aby, also came in as rescue who is minimum 4 years I was told they were both lone boars previously..

It wasnt what I had expected at all....the peruvian and the sheltie proved the problem, the older aby, although very fiesty(confident) seemed to just let them get on with it and the aby x was the biggest rumbler, but ran away from any kind of confrontation...

RE characters, the peruvian boar is a week older than the aby x, and has always been in charge, he is small in size compared to the aby x, who is a week younger than him.

The aby x is a lot more nervous, he was at first not wanting to be the underdog, and I guess was looking forward to having a piggy he could boss around, but he clearly didnt want any fights etc...as he would back down and run away if anyone came swaying towards him!

The sheltie is the most interesting....he came to me with lots of chunks taken out of his ears from fighting, and he has a scar across his nose....from observing, id say that he starts fights with the most dominant boar, even though there is no way he could ever 'win'...he also seemed to find it very hard to back down....he just kept coming back and trying to mount again and again and again and again, which was the main problem that started everyone elses purring and chattering ::)

The aby boar is the most confident of the group with people, very cheeky, he is nearly twice the size of all of them, very heavy, yet it seemed to be the peruvian that was the most dominant by far, and that everyone was trying to 'talk to' ;D

Another interesting thing - the bonded boars did not attempt to protect eachother in the slightest, I had thoughts they might have ::)
 
So interesting, though not surprised the aby is the most confident! They try very hard!

I, like you totally believe that when it comes to pairing up boars its only the owner who really knows their piggies and it varies from piggy to piggy.
Well done again, I really hope your obvious hard work pays off with your grouping up! O0
 
Well done Cherry O0
My vet was the first person to tell me about someone who had a herd of 20 boys & to try mine together in the run, i thought she was mad! Their first outing & consequent outings have always gone without incident until last month when Arthur attacked Hamish for whatever reason :-\

This hasn't put me off letting them graze together since but i make sure i NEVER leave them unattended. I have Huxley & Hamish living side by side, they used to live together but Huxley bullied Hamish. Toddie lives alone but can see Arthur & Fitz thru' the mesh (these 2 live together). If Fitz goes to the mesh & Toddie rumbles, Arthur charges over as if he's "protecting" Fitz.

I also have Albie & Howie, both neutered boys, these 2 graze with all my girls & although there's no direct "squabbling" between the boys (that's left for the girls ::)) Albie is the dominant one & will nip/nudge Howie out of the way & i think it'd probably escalate if i left them, tho' i have to say i've seen worse behaviour towards my boys from certain sows.

I have to agree with you about knowing their individual characters, you have to ensure you get the right mix of personalities, from personal experience this applies to sows too O0
 
This is interesting stuff....
I can understand you being hestitant to add the 5th boar to the mix, but as you started this as an experiment and are well prepared for any fall out resulting from it, maybe you should give it a go? If you do, would love to hear how you did it, what happened and how dynamics changed etc..
I think a certain amount of bravery from us cavy slaves is important..at what point should we seperate? The teeth chattering and rumbling I could cope with but with regards to when Lennie and Timmy fell out. they both turned and faced eachother with reared heads and wide open mouths and they both lunged at eachother..it was at that point I threw in the towel, literally :o

At this point now, they have been separated for about 4 months but live next door to eachother and they dont take much notice of one another in their respective cages but a few weeks back, I was out and Timmy`s cage was open so he could come and go. Lennie had got out of his cage at some point and when I returned, the first thing I could hear was teeth chattering. Now, they could have been out together for 5 minutes or 5 hours, I dont know, but neither had a mark on them so they couldnt have actually fought.

I know my piggies well and with regard to Timmy, I feel he is lonely. I am reluctant to get him neutered and get him a girlfriend because it wouldnt be fair on my other boars who all live in the same room. I have thought about trying to re bond him and Lennie or getting a lone boar for Timmy.....but havent taken the plunge yet ;) I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this...I was thinking an older placid boar to bond him with or a baby? If I were to try, I would take him along to a rescue :)
 
RE the facing eachother open mouthed, 2 of the boars squared upto eachother like this(scaaaaary)....instead of throwing the towel ( ;D ) I dropped some cucumber through, they both jumped, then saw it, and started munching....with piggies the one thing you can guarentee is their greeeedyness ;D ;D

Then they just went back to the rumbling, then the peruvian started popcorning ? That was the end of that! ;D

Ive checked everyone over today, all clear, no bites, blood, pus..etc etc ;D
 
I have
2 sets of 2 boars together
3 boars together
4 boars together

I think my girls are just the same as boars

I have
3 sets of 2 sows together
1 set of 3 sows togetether
 
ILA, what are the ages and breeds of the 4 boars together and how long have they been together?
 
PerfectPiggies said:
ILA, what are the ages and breeds of the 4 boars together and how long have they been together?
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Hi
well they live in a 2 storey hutch outside there names are titch and cremz - they were brothers so have been together since birth then i bought teddy and rolo when they were babies and they have all been in groups since i got them of up to 8 but as ive had more room i just split them up - they are now a couple of months old or so :)
 
breeds of the 4 boars are crested golden agouti, a crested teddy, 2 mixes one crested :)
 
Well as they get older and develop, they will start to challenge eachother for dominance, which is the stage that a lot of peoples boars have to be split, you havent reached that yet :)
 
They never rumble at each other, chatter or fight or anything and LOVE each other - If i was to split them all up tomorrow and gave all different mates for them theyd LOVE it and not even do anything unless its just 1 pair and thats rasta man he does chatter his teeth but is now bonded with 2 bubs O0
 
Guinea pig puberty ;D imagine a teenage boy with attitude and raging hormones, like that! teen time in boars is about 3 months old...things can rapidly change then ;)
 
PerfectPiggies said:
Well as they get older and develop, they will start to challenge eachother for dominance, which is the stage that a lot of peoples boars have to be split, you havent reached that yet :)
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Some of my boars who ive bonded are over 1 years old and are fine though but they are nearly 1 years old titch and cremz ? :o But i think they wil be fine if not i doubt it then i can separate them easily as I'm getting a breeders block of 6.
 
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