Bullying: Been Having Issues for Quite Some Time (Long)

[NicholsS10]

I need some advice from my fellow members here have large herds of pigs (probably 4 plus living together) or have been in a similar situation. This has to due with: bullying, aggression, fighting, and biting. Background: As many of you know, I have 5 pigs and a 2 by 10 C&C cage. Here's a little behavioral background on each pig, since it is important here.

Bodie- he's my only boy (he's neutered), he lives together with the 4 girls and is the most dominant. He is VERY laid back and only asserts his dominance when really necessary. He is very tolerant of girls moods, and essentially is a very good piggy husband to all of them (he even loves to cuddle with them when he sleeps). He is 3 years old.

BoJangles- she's my largest girl (almost 3lbs!). She is also my most dominant girl. Before Bodie was added to the herd, she was overly aggressive. Once Bodie took charge, she calmed down quite a bit, and seemed relieved to no longer be top pig in the group. She asserts her dominance over the other pigs only when they are getting out of line (being aggressive to her) to "correct" their behavior. She is 2 years old.

Root Beer- she's my 3rd most dominant pig, and only submits to Bodie and BoJangles. She's also the favorite pig among the group. All the pigs like her, and get along with her. She almost has no problems with any other pig, besides the occasional scuffle that comes with having roommates. She is 2 years old.

Skunk- She's my 4th most dominant pig, and is SUPPOSE to submit to all the above pigs, and is the smallest pig. She has also become my problem pig. She starts all the problems. She is bullying Monkey (who I will detail next) a lot. She chases Monkey around multiple times a day (Monkey screeching in fear as she runs), pushes Monkey away from her food (which is why I have the pellets in one part of the cage and the hay in another so she always has a food source to go to), wakes Monkey up from her sleep because she wants to lie in her spot (even though there are PLENTY of other spots...I think she does this just because Monkey is there), Skunk bites Monkey often (never drawing blood, but pulling out decent size chunks of hair at least weekly), and Skunk has even lunged at Monkey landing on her head. Monkey ALWAYS submits.

I can't say Monkey never deserved any of this... when Monkey was going through puberty, she terrorized Skunk in the same way, but that only lasted a couple of months. Monkey grew out of it, and eventually Skunk made a grab for "power" and became more dominant. That was a year ago, ever since then, Skunk is terrorizing Monkey.

I often have to get up and physically have to stop Skunk from chasing Monkey around, and often have to pick up Skunk to calm her down before letting her back in the cage. Most recently she has been attacking BoJangles, the number 1 girl! BoJangles is almost a pound larger than Skunk, and BoJangles doesn't put up with her crap. She fights back and it becomes a ball of rolling fur in the cage, and I have run over to the cage and physically separate them. They both stay all fluffed up from some time after (on opposite sides of the cage) and continue to rumble strut, and chatter their teeth. Root Beer and Monkey stay out of the way, and Bodie will go investigate each girl and basically try to restore peace. Skunk is 2 years old.

Monkey: She is the least dominant, and is now being picked on a lot by Skunk. She has not lost weight since I make sure they all share vegetables and by spreading out food throughout the cage. I sometimes find missing chunks of hair on her, but no blood loss, I'm sure she has more chunks missing on her (of hair) than I can see, but since she is an abby, it's hard to see all the spots. If Skunk comes anywhere near her, she runs away. She is terrified most of the time of her. Her best buddy in the cage is Root Beer. They get along really well, and cuddle sometimes. She is 2 years old.

So, my problem is, should I make a separation? When I have separated skunk in the past due to an illness/injury, she and the other pigs (well, not Monkey) chew on the bars of the cage like crazy trying to get to each other). If I separate, who goes with who? I know I would want to keep Monkey and Root Beer together, but should I put BoJangles with them too? or with Skunk? Where would Bodie go? I'm sure that being separated from some of his ladies would drive him nuts! I have a large enough cage (the 10 by 2) to separate them as needed and still have them share a wall, and Monkey doesn't deserve to deal with all this mental torment all the time. What do you guys think I should do?

[pigsmakemesmile]

I have 5 boars. At one point they were all together in one super large pen.

To make it simple, each have their own unique personalities. The most submissive is Jerry...2 1/2 yrs old. the most dominant is actually the youngest...Padington who'll be 2 in January.

Through rumbles, fighting and quarreling, multiple vet visits for bite wounds, I finally resorted to having them paired up where it's been piggy harmonous bliss. I have them 2,1,2..Poppy and Jerry are mates, Pigster nicked name Loner boy, is the loner pig, then Ben and Paddington are mates. Pigster's pen is divided by grids between the others so he can see, smell and hear at either end of his pen. It's not fair but he's safe and I give him a little more attn for this reason.

I was too stressed over them fighting and was afraid I'd come home from work to a disaster in the pen (major injury). So I carefully separated them. Took me a while to figure out who gets along with who well but I did it.

I've never had females.

I'm not too good with this sort of thing other than offering what my experience has been and how I think towards a resolution.

I feel to go with your gut feelings, if the idea of separating some of them is lingering in the air, then there must be a reason for the idea and maybe it's something to consider. I ask myself this question anytime I encounter a problem and need to make a change....."what would be in the best interest of the pig?" then I prioritise...safety being the first.

Good luck

[NicholsS10]

What about Bodie? I don't think that separating him from any of the girls is fair to him.

[blackarrow]

Not that I've ever dealt with any of this with cavies before, but it would sound like Root Beer would be the obvious one to pair with Skunk - dominant enough so Skunk won't feel compelled to challenge her all the time, and confident enough not to bully Skunk.

If you're going to separate anyone, Bodie is going to have to be without some of the herd, but maybe two lovely ladies are enough for him!