Aggression Can boars reconcile after falling out?

[guineapigtoes]

I have four boys: Fuzz, a four-year-old, Graham, Marshmallow, and Smores, a trio of one year old brothers. I needed to put Graham in his own cage over half a year ago because I caught him rolling around and fighting with Marshmallow and bullying Smores -- he would charge at and tear tufts of fur from poor Smores, who is a passive boy and never pick fights. Unfortunately Marshmallow has taken up the role of bullying Smores in the past months... Smores is buddies with Fuzz and often runs into the pigloo with Fuzz for protection, but if Fuzz is resting elsewhere, poor Smores can only wait out the bullying.

Fuzz, Marshmallow, and Smores are in a 2x6 grid cage, and Graham is in a 2x5 cage. Before the breakup, I had the four in a 2x6 cage with a 2x3 loft. That was fine until the boys were maybe four or five months old.

I've been thinking about moving Fuzz and Smores to the 2x5 cage and splitting the 2x6 cage so Marshmallow and Graham each have a 2x3 space, but after their falling out, Marshmallow and Graham do NOT get along. If I let them sniff each other through their bars, the hair on the back of their necks go up and they chatter their teeth. I tried letting them play on the ground once, and after literally less than a minute, Marshmallow bit Graham's bum. I'm concerned that, even with chloroplast also dividing them, being that close will stress them out. But on the other hand, every week I find tufts of fur from Smores on the ground. He'll be eating his hay or resting by the water bottles, and he'll run away just by the sight of Marshmallow approaching. I want Smores to stop getting picked on, but I also want Marshmallow and Graham to live comfortably. Unfortunately space is an issue...it'll take me much more time to figure out where I can fit a new cage if the bullying escalates.

So, I'm wondering if there's any way of getting the brothers to reconcile. If only Graham and Marshmallow didn't have a falling out, I would have the boys live in pairs. Is it possible to have them get along? Will the bullying ease up at some point?

 

[Soecara]

You can never tell how two boars will get along again after a falling out until you try. I have had some boars who could reconcile, but I have also had other boars who were just simply completely incompatible.

Boar trios almost never work out, and by the sounds of it your trio is not an exception. I would not expect the bullying to let up and I would go ahead with separating them and attempting two pairs in your position.

 

[bpatters]

Ditto @Soecara. Trios of boars are almost guaranteed to fail. We never recommend that anyone try that.

 

[guineapigtoes]

Thank you both for your feedback. I've decided to go ahead with separating Marshmallow from Fuzz and Smores. I've been keeping a closer eye on them, and Marshmallow isn't letting up on bullying poor Smores. I have more coroplast to set up as a bite barrier between Marshmallow and Graham, as well as extra grids in case either of them decide climbing is a good idea.

One more thing: the 2x5 cage is left in half-shadow when the sun goes down since it's under a table. I feel a bit sorry for Graham, as it seems dimmer in that cage than in the others, but will it pose any problems? I thought about getting a battery-powered dim light and setting that up over that cage, but I'm unsure if that's necessary.