walterbaconsmom
New Born Pup
We got Walter Bacon when he was 3 weeks old. He is now just over 4-1/2 years old. We always debated about getting him a companion and finally did, but might have overdone it! We got 2 young boars who are now about 5-1/2 months old. They live together in a separate cage from Walter because, well, Walter is spoiled, sometimes cranky, spoiled, and we didn't know how he would react. He is also spoiled. 
One of the new boars, Staley, is obsessed with Walter! He gets all riled up when he hears Walter talk or jump out of his cage. If I have them all run together, he will not leave Walter alone (sniffing his backside & attempting humping behaviors). Walter will just run away (with Staley close behind) and eventually jump back into his cage. Staley will then proceed to chew on the bars of his cage obsessively. The other new boar, Floyd, doesn't really seem to care. He does take advantage of Staley being distracted by Walter and will mount him for a quick second.
I am struggling! Ideally, they would all be free to run together. We have Midwest cages so we usually leave the door open so they can go in and out while we are in the room. Lately, I have just given up and close up Walter while I let the boys run for a bit, then close them up and let Walter roam for the rest of the time.
Any advice? Do I just need to wait for the boys to get older and not so hormonal? Do I need to put Walter & Staley together in a neutral location for a few hours? Or, are we just kidding ourselves since they don't share a cage? Also, we are very protective of Walter. We don't like to see him get upset, so we usually remedy the situation. Did I mention that he is spoiled?
Any advice is welcome!
One of the new boars, Staley, is obsessed with Walter! He gets all riled up when he hears Walter talk or jump out of his cage. If I have them all run together, he will not leave Walter alone (sniffing his backside & attempting humping behaviors). Walter will just run away (with Staley close behind) and eventually jump back into his cage. Staley will then proceed to chew on the bars of his cage obsessively. The other new boar, Floyd, doesn't really seem to care. He does take advantage of Staley being distracted by Walter and will mount him for a quick second.
I am struggling! Ideally, they would all be free to run together. We have Midwest cages so we usually leave the door open so they can go in and out while we are in the room. Lately, I have just given up and close up Walter while I let the boys run for a bit, then close them up and let Walter roam for the rest of the time.
Any advice? Do I just need to wait for the boys to get older and not so hormonal? Do I need to put Walter & Staley together in a neutral location for a few hours? Or, are we just kidding ourselves since they don't share a cage? Also, we are very protective of Walter. We don't like to see him get upset, so we usually remedy the situation. Did I mention that he is spoiled?
Any advice is welcome!
there is a load of advice about this on this forum. Also, by the sounds of it putting them together in the run is causing stress for Walter (being chased and humped) as Staley attempts to become the dominant one, and then separating them again is causing stress for Staley hence the chewing on the bars. Your younger boars have not even or are just about to hit the all time hormonal stage anyway (6months onwards) and I would definitely not put them all together at this stage! It’s not pretty. If Walter has been alone for all this time he’s likely used to it and comfortable with it, they can still interact by the set up you have by the sounds of it. I love their names by the way.
a few from snowball. None yet from Piggie (the oldest). He did when the boys first came into the house tho