[Gpdd] MISC Welcome Allison, Chino and Bean

[Penny Charlesworth]

A rather belated welcome to Allison and her piggies ( I have been away and am still catching up with the Digest ).

I never have my boars neutered. Too risky and unnecessary ( in my opinion ).

An aggressive piggy will always be aggressive whether he is neutered or not so there is no need for any dangerous operations when putting two boars together. I had a piggy called Sam, who came to me already neutered. He was definitely a people pig and refused to share with anypig, even a sow, but loved the company of his next door neighbours, two friendly boars.

Two of my adolescents, Polo and Copper, regularly mount each other, seemingly taking turns but there is no malice in it and straight afterwards they are happily munching together and sleep cuddled up side by side.

I always pair up my boars. I do this very carefully and slowly and watch them like a mother hen until I am sure that all will be well. Sometimes a new pairing will look each other over, say "let's eat" and go on as if they have always been friends.

New piggies arriving here always have a shampoo so if two boars come in at once, this is an ideal way of introducing them. They are so busy investigating the bath together that when they have shared a box of towels for drying it seems that they forget that they didn't know each other before. You could try bathing your boys before attempting an introduction.

Always introduce them on neutral territory so that there are no scents to confuse them.

It can often be easier to put a baby boar in with an older one, especially if the older one is used to a companion but there is no reason to suppose that your boys will not become firm friends.

I like to recommend this website to anyone interested in boars. It is badly written and never encountered a spellchecker but contains all the info that you could possibly need.

http://www.susieandpigs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/home.htm

I didn't write it but it saves me a lot of typing!

Good luck with your boys. I do hope that all goes well but if it doesn't work, keep them side by side. It is the company that matters.

Penny and the Piggyfriends ( a small piggy rescue in England ).