Hi,
A couple of months ago I rescued a boar, Obi (about 9 months old) who was in a bad way and living alone. He received treatment for his skin problems, got him to a healthy weight and have now (6 weeks ago) had him castrated so he can hopefully go in with my two girls (about 6 months old). Their cages have been next to each other since I've had them but they couldn't see each other.
Last night I prepared everything following recommended guidelines (scent free, new pen, food etc ) and introduced the three pigs. Obi was rather excited and wouldn't really leave the girls alone (lots of mounting, head raising, bum sniffing, rumble strutting/hip wiggling etc) which I have read is all normal behaviour. One of the girls didn't seem to mind too much but my more dominant girl kept running away or sort of standing her ground facing him. He would go off but keep going back soon after. The girls gave a few kicks and were pee squirting at him (I've seen them do this to each other before). They seemed to settle down so I left them over night. This morning there were a few clumps of hair in the cage, seemingly from obi. I have checked them all, but they are all very long haired and fluffy so it is hard to see the extent of the damage. Obi has a few small bald patches, one worse than the others with a little blood on his back. The dominant girl also has a few bald patches with a very small amount of blood under the skin.
Now, there is still lots of rumble strutting from obi. Occasional chasing. Noise wise it mainly seems to be wheeking, but occasional rumbling and a small amount of low teeth chattering. Every so often obi and the dominant girl stand facing each other and look like they might go for each other, but I haven't seem them actually go for each other, one just tends to walk off.
Does all this sound normal or should I separate them? I'm worried if I leave them in together it will escalate and someone will get hurt, but I know obviously they need time to sort who's boss etc.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks.
A couple of months ago I rescued a boar, Obi (about 9 months old) who was in a bad way and living alone. He received treatment for his skin problems, got him to a healthy weight and have now (6 weeks ago) had him castrated so he can hopefully go in with my two girls (about 6 months old). Their cages have been next to each other since I've had them but they couldn't see each other.
Last night I prepared everything following recommended guidelines (scent free, new pen, food etc ) and introduced the three pigs. Obi was rather excited and wouldn't really leave the girls alone (lots of mounting, head raising, bum sniffing, rumble strutting/hip wiggling etc) which I have read is all normal behaviour. One of the girls didn't seem to mind too much but my more dominant girl kept running away or sort of standing her ground facing him. He would go off but keep going back soon after. The girls gave a few kicks and were pee squirting at him (I've seen them do this to each other before). They seemed to settle down so I left them over night. This morning there were a few clumps of hair in the cage, seemingly from obi. I have checked them all, but they are all very long haired and fluffy so it is hard to see the extent of the damage. Obi has a few small bald patches, one worse than the others with a little blood on his back. The dominant girl also has a few bald patches with a very small amount of blood under the skin.
Now, there is still lots of rumble strutting from obi. Occasional chasing. Noise wise it mainly seems to be wheeking, but occasional rumbling and a small amount of low teeth chattering. Every so often obi and the dominant girl stand facing each other and look like they might go for each other, but I haven't seem them actually go for each other, one just tends to walk off.
Does all this sound normal or should I separate them? I'm worried if I leave them in together it will escalate and someone will get hurt, but I know obviously they need time to sort who's boss etc.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks.