[Gpdd] [CARE] Young Boars Fighting

[Andrew Malton]

Newbie, looking for friendly advice.

My children asked for a long time to have piggies as pets, were  
persuaded to wait, and wait (to be sure) and to find out all they  
could about keeping them, cost, etc., we finally (in the summer)  
adopted 3 babies, all boys.  They were (and are) delightful  
individually.  Two are brothers, I think, with short and straight  
hair, coloured a delicious mixture of white, black, chocolate, and  
butterscotch.  They're called Aster and Cocoa.  The other is probably  
unrelated to them, he has short wiry and curly hair and is black and  
white.  He is the smallest.  His name is Machu Pichu.  They have been  
gaining weight nicely and are generally healthy and bright-eyed.   
Except for the scabs....

I think they are just about 4 months old ; they have been together  
since birth.  Now after a little bit of social negotiation Aster and  
Machu have formed a very strong bond, basically they're all over each  
other all the time.  But not only is Cocoa excluded, but they both  
fight with him whenever they get the chance.  And I don't just mean  
chattering and teeth-shivering, or playing my-nose-is-higher-than- 
your-nose. I mean incessant highspeed chasing (when there's room,  
i.e. when they're playing on the floor) and even all-out tooth-and- 
claw-and-hair-cutting fights.  All of them have back scabs, and I  
first separated them when I found Cocoa with a nasty open sore (which  
thankfully has since healed OK).  There is absolutely no possibility  
of their being in the same enclosure together currently.

Listmembers can probably imagine how disturbing this behaviour is to  
my children (there are three children and each one considers one of  
the piggies to be "his") not to mention that it makes housing them  
(the piggies, I mean) rather more difficult: currently Cocoa sleeps  
in a box which is rather too small for him, and gets his exercise on  
the floor.  Thus it is also rather disturbing to him, and when all 3  
of them are out on the floor if they leave him alone for a moment he  
sits quietly in the corner as far from the other two as possible.

I would be very grateful for any advice or consolation, such as:
	* this is a common problem and I what have to do is ...
	* this kind of thing passes when they finish growing up
	* I'll have to house them like this ...
	* Never mind just let them fight it out and they'll settle down (I  
doubt this but the suggestion was made)

We weren't sure initially how much room to give them to live in, and  
it may well be that they started life too cramped: perhaps this made  
the situation worse.  But now I want to help the children restore  
harmony amongst their pets, if possibel: but I don't really know what  
to do.

Help?

A Malton