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Switching cages - unhealthy?

catzeye21138

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A quick backround: I have 4 pigs, 2 boars and 2 sows. I had the two boars living in a 2x4 with a second level, because I could use fleece in that cage and have the upper level with pelleted bedding because one of my boars has long curly fur, and constantly gets matts if he is on almost any type of lose bedding. This includes carefresh. But those two have not been getting along lately, so I stuck jackson(long fur) in my old small cage with two strips of old fleece(he has a corner litter box) i have until i can make some more plans for a 2 lvl seperated 2x3 for the boys. But onto my question:

My two girls have been living in a 2x3. Since there is only 1 boar in the 2x4 and 2 sows in the 2x3 I thought that was unfair. So since the other boar can be on loose bedding I'm switching him over to the 2x3 with my kiln-dried pine that the girls have been on. So the girls will be on the fleece now. At the moment the girls are in limbo.

I want to know if it's okay to put Brock(short furred boar) Into the girl's cage without me disinfecting it. I cleaned out the bedding and everyone is healthy. Would it just make him giddy with all the smells? And same with the girls, would I have to disinfect that cage? I don't see why but I just want to make sure. I will be changing out the fleece, but the pelleted wood is still very new and barely dirty. I don't want to waste all that bedding.
 

Ly&Pigs

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You need to clean and disinfect cages before moving pigs around.

When you say your boars aren't getting along, has there been any bloodshed? If there's been no bloodshed then you shouldn't separate them.
 

catzeye21138

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Thanks, I've done that now. Everything seems a lot fresher. I cleaned the bottles and dishes as well. All the accessories stayed with the pigs they were with.

There hasn't been blood shed that I've seen, but they aren't happy. They are always on oposite ends of the cage chattering at each other and picking at the other's ears and bullying. Brock would keep jackson away from the food as well. It's just easier for me and them i'm hoping this way. If stacked cages don't work out i'll put them in side by side cages.
 

Ziggy&Herald

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How old are your boars? Could they just be going through an adolescent stage. My two bars I adopted came from the same home, but I was told they could not be housed together. I built them a brand new very large cage. After quarantine, I put them in my bathroom with my current piggie and introduced them. There was the occassional snap at eachother but that was it. After about 2 hrs I put all 3 in the new cage. They have been together for bout 2-3 weeks now and everything has been fine. I guess my point in this long drawn out post is that even if you do have to seperate them now, maybe in the future they can be reunited and live together peacefully.
 
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