Do i need to seperate my two piggies??

[amanda]

Hi, I bought two boars two weeks ago aged 8 weeks. Im totally smitten with them both (Ginge and Nugget). Ginge is definately the dominant of the two with regular mounting and chasing. Last night we got them out for floor time and they were chasing each other round and playing then all of a sudden they began hissing at one another and there was alot of teeth chattering, they Ginge lunged at Nugget once and then ran up as my husband got up incase things escalated. Nugget was then very nervous and seemed as though he wanted to make friends. They then began eating hay together and that was that. Do i need to seperate them or will they be ok to stay together for now??

[Susie (Barmy4Boars)]

Hi Amanda,
if they have not actually fought and drawn blood then there is hope that they will not need to be seperated. If they have I;m afraid you do need to seperate them as once blood has been drawn they will not settle back down acgain and will just carry on fighting until one of them is injured or killed.

The best advice I can give if they havn't drawn blood is to watch them closely, if you think it is bullying and it goes on a long time and seems to be having an effect on Nugget you might consider splitting them anyway. However i have had boys who had been together all their lives who chattered at each other and threatened regularly but it never came to blows! I found having a nice big cage, plenty of space for them to get away from each other and two bowls, hidey houses etc helped it work.

Let me know how you get on and if we can advise you further, Its not easy and I know how it feels when you are worried things might kick off. Have a towel at the ready incase things do (hopefully they won;t) as it is hard to seperate a fighting pair without throwing a towel over them to confuse them. Don;t want you to get bitten by accident

regards

[nikinakinooo]

Hi Amanda
I had a similar problem with two of mine (brothers) Wilbur was bullying Wallace because he could smell my other pair of boars next door. He didn't actually draw blood but he was manic in his chasing and nudging.
Thankfully he calmed down when i made their hutch bigger, they still have mini arguments but nothing like before
Oh and Susie's towel tip is essential as i found out to my cost, unfortunately my finger got in the way as i was "throwing the towel in" and Wilbur nipped me and drew MY blood LOL

[penfold118]

Is it normal for boars to fight/argue ? my 2 are now 11 weeks old and I have had them for just over 3 weeks and they seem to be gettin on great so far (fingers crossed)

[Susie (Barmy4Boars)]

It is normal for them to have to sort out a boss and an under pig at some point. If you have a look on www.barmy4boars.co.uk there is info about normal behaviour- I have seen rumble strutting, mounting, teeth chattering, yawning in the process of sorting out the pecking order. Usually pigs sort out the hierachy and everything settles back down. On rare occassions though a pair can't decide who is boss and end up fighting... and if they draw blood they have to be seperated. However with enough space, 2 bowls, 2 hidey houses etc this is less likely to happen. L

[nikinakinooo]

admin said:

It is normal for them to have to sort out a boss and an under pig at some point. If you have a look on www.barmy4boars.co.uk there is info about normal behaviour- I have seen rumble strutting, mounting, teeth chattering, yawning in the process of sorting out the pecking order. Usually pigs sort out the hierachy and everything settles back down. On rare occassions though a pair can't decide who is boss and end up fighting... and if they draw blood they have to be seperated. However with enough space, 2 bowls, 2 hidey houses etc this is less likely to happen. L

I agree, mine don't seem to bother each other anymore and with them being in a 3 storey hutch, they're usually on different levels to each other in their "own space" lol