Fighting Need help with fighting boars!

[Quinten29]

Hi there I recently got 2 guinea pigs from the pet store, the breeder was in the store when i got them and guarantee'd me that they were from the same litter and had grown up together both 18 weeks old, purchased the whole lot from the store, cage pigs straw the lot and brought them home (Justin & Andy) now when they first got home, Justin looked to be the dominant one of the two however after a couple of weeks Andy decided to make a play for dominance, loads of rumble strutting and teeth chattering which after a couple of days finally came to a head and Justin got bit numerous times including a scratch on the eye (which thankfully was not serious and some eye cream from the vets sorted that out, so I separated them and built my custom cage at 1.6 meters by 0.72 meters with a partition in the middle so they could still see and smell one another but NO Fighting, oh and the cage has 3 levels so loads of room for them after a couple of weeks of moving each of them to either side of the cage i put them together on the kitchen floor a couple of times to get them re-acquainted with one another and to prepare them for a rescue piggie that i got a couple of weeks back, finally after introducing them and bathing all three of them together i risked putting them together in the large cage (after a furious deep clean) however Andy again decided to prove his dominance and humped the heck out of our rescue piggie (another male called Cookie who is 1.5yr's old and was being kept in a hutch on his own for a single dad's kids amusement {for when they visited}hence the rescue) and fought once again with Justin drawing blood at least 4 times before i could separate them, now Justin and Cookie are in the large cage together with absolutely no problems, (they fell asleep on my lap together whilst i was looking for damage, and Andy is sat in the piggie hutch and i have no ideas on what to do to get all three playing nicely........

pls any advice (in step by step format - think of it as piggie training for dummies as i certainly feel like one right now) would be not only most appreciated but in dire need of..

many thanks in advance for your help and support in this my piggies hour of need.

xxxxx


JUSTIN

ANDY

THE CAGE

PIC OF COOKIE TO FOLLOW

 

[lissie]

Usually they get more stressed out when you separate and put them back together repeatedly. Putting them together on the kitchen floor a couple of times to get them re-acquainted with one another will make matters worse.

Read this thread, it's very helpful for boars intros.
https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46468

 

[Digital_Dad]

Honestly, if there is no blood drawn then leave them to work it out. If blood is drawn you will have to seperate them.

 

[Quinten29]

See now that's the problem Andy has managed to draw blood and poor Justin has a gash along his side which is why I'm stuck with what to do next

 

[GizzyandMe]

I think once blood been drawn I would not try it again. I will keep them separated. Add Cookie with Justin who seems to have gotten the worst of it. I like your Cage by the way!

 

[Quinten29]

yeah got the idea off of a south african i know, lol. have allready placed justin and cookie together, question is what to do with poor andy now he's all alone, he did get on with cookie albeit with a few humping sessions thrown in but there wasn't a full blow all out 3rd world war over it.

 

[GizzyandMe]

yeah got the idea off of a south african i know, lol.

We South Africans are just TOO cool aye? heheheh

Any possibility of getting a 4th piggy? Maybe a younger male to join Andy? (any reason to get more piggys are good reasons if you ask me!)

 

[Quinten29]

Ha, run that past my ball and chain, I mean my loving caring adoring beautiful wife, 2 kids 3 and .4 yr's old and 5yr old dog then yeah sure i'll get another

 

[Kfowler5]

I wish I had better advise but when our boars used to fight we gave them a bath together and rearranged the cage and they were ok after that, they always rumble but no more brawls. Love your cage by the way, very spacious and fun looking! I hope you can get them to all get along so they can all play together. Good luck

 

[Quinten29]

would 4 boars even live together happily, i'm a sailor by trade and know how bad it can get onboard living with only men, surely that many male piggies wouldn't be happy together?

 

[GizzyandMe]

Could you look into rescues and see if a "fixed" female arrives somewhere? Or maybe send Andy for the big snip? But I think loads of people have a bunch of males and they get along?!?!

 

[lissie]

If you get another, keep them in separate pairs. This is to find Andy a friend.

 

[Quinten29]

I'm actually extremely hesitant at getting a female firstly because of the 'fixing' scenario as well as the possiblity of the other 3 fighting it out big time, i think it would upset them all far too much

 

[Quinten29]

If you get another, keep them in separate pairs. This is to find Andy a friend.

that is exactly what i was thinking and surprisingly the wife agree's so i rang around the local pet stores and one enterprising young lady decided to tell me that i needed to get them neutered and get a female instead of a 4th pig to pair with Andy as they would most definitely fight and would not pair up at all, and that by getting a female and having them neutered would cause them all to calm down and play nicely........

load of !£"$"£$^"$%^ if you ask me, but figured i'd double check and see what you all thought, would it be possible for a female to bond and pair off, and would the others play nice, i think they'd just go nuts trying to be alpha male so they could "bond" with the female.

 

[RodentCuddles]

Multiply boars with females would fight (maybe to the death in the wild?).

 

[RodentCuddles]

would 4 boars even live together happily, i'm a sailor by trade and know how bad it can get onboard living with only men, surely that many male piggies wouldn't be happy together?

Yes, they can. It depends on the pigs personality and the cage size. I know that a few people on here keep multiply males together. I have 3 males living happily in peace in their cage.

 

[Quinten29]

well i'm looking at 24 square feet on the first and second floors and a further 9 square feet on the 3rd/feeding floor, that should be more than plenty based on the estimates put on this website, least ways i think so? anyone disaggree?

 

[lissie]

If your boars are not getting along now, it would be better to just find Andy a friend and leave the two that are already compatible on their own. Is there a rescue near you that will allow you to bring Andy in to choose his own friend?

 

[Quinten29]

better than that, took Andy down to the vet's/pet store and he's hooked up with 2 other boars on the first go, singled them both out and they are all getting acquainted atm, with pop-corning some dominance but not a single tooth chatter anywhere, just a bit of rumbling and mounting, he's in heaven the two from the pet store are in their element and 5 piggies all screaming for food, fun and joy.

 

[foggycreekcavy]

It would certainly be easier to keep Justin and Cookie together, and to find a friend for Andy and keep them as a pair.

18 weeks old is smack dab right into adolescence. Andy seems to be feeling those raging hormones more than the others. He may have trouble with whomever you try him with, unless the other pig is obviously submissive. You might want to just wait it out until he's out of puberty, and then try him with the others again.

I will also put it out here that even if blood is drawn, that's not to say they can't get along eventually.