Introductions Introduced a 3rd boar and not sure what to do

[someguy80]

My family are pretty new piggie owners. We've had a pair of boys (they just turned 2 years old) for about 6 months, and about a month ago got a 3rd boy piggie (who is about 2.5 years old, we're told). The original two have lived together in a habitat their whole lives, and the 3rd is new to us (he apparently used to have a mate that died). The 3rd has been living in his own habitat and yesterday we introduced them in a bigger habitat.


Everything I've been reading has said not to interrupt the process of them getting to know each other even if it seems stressful to us but I'm just not sure. It's been about 24 hours now and while there have been lulls in activity, and all of them appear to be eating, in general I am seeing this stuff:

Here are the names of the piggies to make it easier: Cowboy: Original boy, seemed like he was the dominant one before. Gilbert: Original boy. Pierre: New boy.

Cowboy and Gilbert chase Pierre around a LOT. Pierre basically always runs away from them and they sometimes form a little chain. Whenever this is happening Pierre is doing a worried squeaking sound. Pierre hasn't done anything that seems like he's trying to assert dominance - he always runs away squeaking.

Cowboy and Gilbert both follow Pierre into pigloos/hiding spots and evict him. Not always but frequently. It looks like we have one structure they don't kick him out of, but they often sit outside of it staring at him.

Cowboy seems the most interested in messing with Pierre.

Cowboy and Gilbert occasionally butted heads when it was just the two of them but they've actually gone after each other a couple times in the last 24 hours. It's almost like Cowboy tries to chase/mess with Pierre and then Gilbert steps in to mess with Cowboy. Twice it's happened where Cowboy starts chattering his teeth loudly at Gilbert then the two have a brief (like 2-3 second) fight - once it was up on their haunches and the second time it was spinning around. They separate, stare at each other, and one goes away. But within a minute or two they can be staring one another down again.

Cowboy seems to often make a noise that almost sounds like purring but it's a little higher-pitched. Not squeaking though. He made the noise a lot when he was alone in a habitat with Gilbert, but he makes it a lot more now, it seems. Gilbert doesn't make much noise.

Just as I was typing this there was a lull in activity. Everyone was in their own area, with Pierre in a carboard-box-made-hidey. Cowboy just started making that purring-but-not sound and went inside (it will fit a couple piggies), and Pierre immediately started his worried squeaking. Cowboy came out about 10-15 seconds later without incident, and now Gilbert is poking his head in, and Cowboy stares him down...then Cowboy goes in...all the while it seems Pierre just wants to be left alone (he just ran out of the thing and Cowboy keeps chasing him around the habitat into different hidies trying to mount him. Pierre keeps doing his worried chiprt. As they wander around Cowboy and Gilbert occasionally push their noses up at each other.

I'm sorry, I know this is long and rambling - I just want our piggies to be well cared for and happy, and I want to do the right thing to get them to live happily together. I've read things that say unless they draw blood let them keep sorting it out or you mess up the process of their socialization but I guess I need to share some more specifics of what's going on with these guys to see if it's normal or if we're doing the wrong thing by keeping them here.

Any insight about what's normal, what's happening, and what we should or should not do would be so much appreciated.

It seems we made some errors - we put them in a new area but didn't wash everything so there are some residual scents I'm sure. But the real problem seems to be mostly between Cowboy and Gilbert...Pierre seems to want to just get along and not fight. Anyway we're at a loss and really appreciate any help.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

The biggest error you've made, is that 3 boars virtually never works. Not completely never, but virtually.

In order for it to work, you've got to have LOTS of space (the bigger the better) and you absolutely MUST have some pretty laid back pigs. A boar trio, if it works, is usually accomplished with older, mellow fellows.

You could very well end up with 3 solo pigs who won't get along with anyone any more. The best solution to this scenario is to find a friend for the new boy, and have two separate cages.

 

[someguy80]

The biggest error you've made, is that 3 boars virtually never works. Not completely never, but virtually.

In order for it to work, you've got to have LOTS of space (the bigger the better) and you absolutely MUST have some pretty laid back pigs. A boar trio, if it works, is usually accomplished with older, mellow fellows.

You could very well end up with 3 solo pigs who won't get along with anyone any more. The best solution to this scenario is to find a friend for the new boy, and have two separate cages.

At what point would we know if it didn't work and should give up? And might this experience have ruined Cowboy and Gilbert from associating with one another?

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

At what point would we know if it didn't work and should give up? And might this experience have ruined Cowboy and Gilbert from associating with one another?

I tried a boar trio once. It worked fantastically well until the 2 babies hit puberty. Then one of them, Punkin, decided he wanted to be the alpha and started chasing Sly constantly. Sly is a senior and doesn't see well, and even though he didn't put up a fight Punkin still chased him incessantly to the point that Sly would run into solid objects in terror, risking injury. At that point, I separated.

Bloodshed is a definite stop and separate, and if your pigloos and houses don't have at least 2 entrances and exits, you could very well end up with one of your boys with a seriously bitten face. I don't think there's a solid "stop and separate" point as all pigs have different temperaments.

And yes, this could wind up damaging Gilbert and Cowboys association with each other.

 

[someguy80]

Thanks so much for your advice. All our pigloos have one entrance so I'll try to adjust that. And the three of them being solo would be a sad outcome I think. They're all similar age (2-2.5 years). It's so odd to me (though I admittedly don't know about Guinea Pig behavior) that even with the new guy being submissive the two who have been living together would get all aggressive at one another like they never have been. And they chase Pierre around so much.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

There's a lot of information on this site about boar trios. Give a search a try and you'll find tons of info.

 

[bpatters]

Ditto @Guinea Pig Papa.