[Gpdd] BEHAVIOUR Two young males. Welcome!

[Penny Charlesworth]

Hello Suzy, Rocky and Cocoa and welcome to the GPDD!!

Your boys sound as if they are getting along OK to me. Remember that they are adolescent boys and as such will chase each other around a bit and make that lovely "rrrrrrr" sound at each other. As they grow older they will settle down to be good friends. 

I have several pairs of boars here at Piggyfriends, a little piggy sanctuary in England. A pair of brothers, a father and son and the rest are adults that I paired up when they arrived.

One of your boars is likely to be the dominant one and once the other knows his place there should be no trouble. I always put at least two houses in my pens in case they do not want to share but often find that they will squeeze into the smallest one available for company. Some people put two feeding bowls and two water bottles in their pens so that the boars do not have to share. You can also put two piles of veggies and two piles of hay.

There is a lovely website about looking after boars called "Barmy4Boars". It does need a bit of spellchecking and editing but the info is first class. Have a look at http://www.susieandpigs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/home.htm

I would never let piggies and rabbits co-habit. They may seem to get along perfectly well but their food requirements are different and there is a danger that a piggy could be hurt by a rabbit, however small.

I have a lovely boar called Gulliver, who was badly injured when he was kicked in the face by the rabbit with which he had been housed. The rabbit probably meant him no harm but rabbits do kick out with their powerful hind legs and a little piggy can be hurt in the process. Gulliver needed stitches, weeks of nursing,  syringe feeding and pain medication before he was whole again. It was a long time before he could feed himself again and it would be a shame for one of your little ones to suffer in this way.

Please do not have your boys neutered as this will not alter their behaviour. Barmy4Boars has a section on Neutering. Go to "Boar Options" on the home page and there is a link to it from there. I would never put a boar through any unnecessary surgical procedure as this can carry a risk to their health, post-op pain and it is expensive. Save the money for piggy veggies and hay.  Here's the neutering advice page http://www.susieandpigs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Nuetering.htm yes I know that it is spelt wrongly! If only their grammar was as good as their advice.

Another great website to look at for piggy advice is GuineaLynx - www.guinealynx.com  and all of us here on the Digest are here to help. Don't be afraid to ask and you'll get more advice than you could ever need.

I hope that you have many years of pleasure being a piggy slave to your boys.

Give them both a hug from us all.

Penny and the 24 Piggyfriends.