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Young boars fighting

WombleandBear

New Born Pup
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I have four pigs, 3 boars and a sow. Bear (older boar) moved back in with Womble recently. Bear was living with two baby boars (Biggum and Wilson) and before he left kept on having stand offs with Wilson. Now he's gone, Wilson and Biggum keep fighting, it starts off with tooth chattering, chasing, a weird Phht Phht noise and then they lunge and the cycle continues. To my knowledge they haven't bitten one another but Biggum does have a suspicious looking scar on his nose.

I'm not sure if they're trying to sort out a hierarchy with Bear gone, are unhappy or something else is bothering them. I just don't want the fighting to get to a point where one of them gets hurt.
 
How old are they now?
It does sound likely that it’s a hierarchy sort out but if they are puffing air and lunging, then that is a more serious warning sign.

Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
They're 3 months old. Womble and Bear were the original pair, but then it turned out Womble was actually a sow and pregnant.
 
They're 3 months old. Womble and Bear were the original pair, but then it turned out Womble was actually a sow and pregnant.

Yes I remember your situation, so they’re just coming up to the start of the teens.
If you continue to see an escalation in behaviour and they aren’t settling down and sorting things out between them then it could be that they just aren’t compatible with each other and won’t be able to live together for the long term.
 
Yes I remember your situation, so they’re just coming up to the start of the teens.
If you continue to see an escalation in behaviour and they aren’t settling down and sorting things out between them then it could be that they just aren’t compatible with each other and won’t be able to live together for the long term.
I'll keep an eye out. I'm really hoping they'll calm down like Bear has because if they have to be separated I won't be able to get more pigs to give them company.
 
I'll keep an eye out. I'm really hoping they'll calm down like Bear has because if they have to be separated I won't be able to get more pigs to give them company.

Hopefully they will get through it and it is just a sort out now bear has moved out but definitely keep a close eye on them. Being siblings is no guarantee of compatibility. If it comes to separation, then they would need to live as neighbours for companionship and interaction through the bars.
Do Wilson and biggum have a big enough cage? It’s important for teen boars to have enough space (although compatibility is the key factor, lack of of space won’t help any tensions)
 
Hopefully they will get through it and it is just a sort out now bear has moved out but definitely keep a close eye on them. Being siblings is no guarantee of compatibility. If it comes to separation, then they would need to live as neighbours for companionship and interaction through the bars.
Do Wilson and biggum have a big enough cage? It’s important for teen boars to have enough space (although compatibility is the key factor, lack of of space won’t help any tensions)
They have a 2X4 C&C pen, Womble and Bear live in another pen of the same size. They live in my room, My floorspace is limited as I was never expecting to have more than two pigs lol
 
It is hard when unexpected pregnancies happen.
A 2x4 (150cm x 77cm) could be pushing it for teen boars (some will be fine with it but some won’t). My own two then teen boars were originally in a 2x4 but it had to be expanded to give them more room. A 2x5 (180cm) is the recommended size for two boars.
As you’ve got c&c then they can be stacked so that saves on floor space. The only problem there would be that of thry did have to be separated, then being in a stacked cage wouldn’t work as they won’t have through the bar interaction.
 
It is hard when unexpected pregnancies happen.
A 2x4 (150cm x 77cm) could be pushing it for teen boars (some will be fine with it but some won’t). My own two then teen boars were originally in a 2x4 but it had to be expanded to give them more room. A 2x5 (180cm) is the recommended size for two boars.
As you’ve got c&c then they can be stacked so that saves on floor space. The only problem there would be that of thry did have to be separated, then being in a stacked cage wouldn’t work as they won’t have through the bar interaction.
I have extra C&C so I can expand their pen to a 2X5, I can try and fit some smaller pieces of plastic together to make the bottom big enough. How do I safely stack the cages?
 
I have extra C&C so I can expand their pen to a 2X5, I can try and fit some smaller pieces of plastic together to make the bottom big enough. How do I safely stack the cages?

By putting some more the grids on top of the bottom cage to create an empty layer and then putting another layer of grids on top and the top layer makes the second cage (so in total they stand three grids high). You will need supports for the top layer. If you look online you will find pictures of stacked c&c cages - it’ll likely be easier to understand than my explanation!
 
By putting some more the grids on top of the bottom cage to create an empty layer and then putting another layer of grids on top and the top layer makes the second cage (so in total they stand three grids high). You will need supports for the top layer. If you look online you will find pictures of stacked c&c cages - it’ll likely be easier to understand than my explanation!
That makes sense, I'll have a look online and see if I have enough C&C to do it. Thank you for all the help and advice :)
 
I completely feel your pain with boar bonding - my boys were going through it all every other week (it felt like!) until I upgraded their c and c cage from a 2x5. They are now 13/14 months and have a 3x5 c and c and two (at least) of everything in opposite ends of their cage so one pig can’t block the other pigs access to anything. Since we’ve upgraded their cage *touch wood* things have really calmed down. I think sometimes they just need more space to be able to get away from each other.

Hope things calm down - Keep asking for advice on the forum as members on here were fantastic in offering advice - and keeping me sane - in what was a really stressful time!
 
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