Introductions Mouthing through bars

[chloej]

Hi,

So about three weeks ago, we rescued a young boar, Oreo, who we estimate is 3-6 months old, though he's on the small side according to the vet. We introduced him to our 3 year-old boar Sunny yesterday. One behavior I noticed a few times was that they put their mouths to each other's, almost like they were kissing, sniffing each other, or nipping. I could not tell which. We decided, due to the lateness of the hour that we introduced them, not to put them in the same cage overnight. (It didn't help that we didn't have the bigger cage cleaned out and ready to go, but oh well, bygones be bygones.)

Anyways, we placed Oreo's cage next to Sunny's, which unfortunately made them overexcited. Oreo was jumping up on the bars closest to Sunny's cage, and he kept trying to get his mouth between his bars. Seeing as he is pretty small I decided it was better to move his cage across the room so he could calm down. He stopped putting his mouth through the bars.

At one point while their cages were next to each other, Sunny and Oreo did that same mouthing thing that I noticed while they were introduced to each other. They did this through the bars of their cages. I don't remember seeing this in any other introductions I've done before, so I am not sure what it means. I checked both of them over after introductions and neither seemed to be bleeding or otherwise injured.

We also saw the boys constantly mounting, and Oreo chased Sunny so much that Sunny pretty much begged for a break by crawling into my lap. I'm pretty sure it's normal introduction behavior though because my previous boar pairings have mounted each other and done some chasing. I was just concerned about the mouthing because that was new for me.

We are going to put them in the same cage today and monitor their behavior. Hopefully things calm down when they have food and more places to hide.

 

[daisy1cow]

Well before putting in cage again, you need to re introduce them. If you take them apart, you have to go through it all again. Be sure this time the cage is all cleaned out before hand. They do a thing where they raise their nose, highest in the air wins, was that what you saw??? Its a dominance thing also.
Is your introduction place a large open neutral territory? Is their cage big enough for two males? They need more room. The smaller the area, the more they are to fight.
Having cages next to each other but not to work out dominance promotes fighting as well. Unfortunately mounting is part of the dominance dance as well.
Put out on kitchen floor, hay and veggies and let them work it out as long as there isn't bleeding. I block off one side of my kitchen, sit close by and let them figure it out. Hay and veggies are nice to distract.
Good luck

 

[chloej]

No, it was not the nose-raising thing, I have also seen that. It was literally mouthing. We let them run around in our bathroom which has the bonus of having a door to close so they can't escape. It's a decent size, not huge but plenty of room for running and hiding.

Okay, we will reintro them again and include food and more hiding places this time.

 

[bpatters]

Read the introduction section at www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm and https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html for more information on how to properly introduce guinea pigs. You shouldn't introduce and then separate -- it's stress for the pigs as they have to go through the whole dominance procedure every time you do this. Pick a time when you're not hurried and can leave them together in a neutral are for a long time, and then when you do put them in the same cage, leave them there.

Also, if your cage isn't large enough, you may doom the whole process to failure. See the Main tab at the top of this page for recommended cage sizes, and remember that bigger is always better, particularly where boars are concerned.