[Gpdd] BEHAVIOR: Floyd & Horatio - The Honeymoon is Over!

pat schuett bunzella at yahoo.ca
Mon Jun 6 16:49:10 EDT 2011


 

Hi everyone,
 
In the past few days, my adult boar Floyd and my four-month-old boar Horatio, who have just been living together  a couple of months, have really started to bicker.  

Horatio is a little guy with a big attitude, and the trouble seems to have started with him repeatedly attempting to mount Floyd, who of course does not appreciate this at all!   At first Floyd would just rumble and chitter at Horatio, which would make Horatio back off at least temporarily, but Floyd now seems to be really losing patience.  In the past few days, I've seen him chatter his teeth loudly, turn around and snap at Horatio, then chase him around the cage several times, apparently with fairly serious intent.  When this happens, Horatio backs off, hides for a while and seems really fearful of Floyd, but unfortunately this common sense effect doesn't last long.

Last night I saw a few exchanges between them during floor time that worried me enough about leaving them locked up together that I dragged the quarantine cage (which is quite small) upstairs and put Horatio in that overnight, just for safety.  Horatio was irritated at being in the small cage that he couldn't see out of very well, but he settled in quickly and ate everything as usual.  Floyd, on the other hand, was very upset, hardly ate at all overnight and kept wandering around the cage, looking in all the corners for Horatio.  This morning, I ended up putting them back in together and they seemed quite amicable for the moment.

Now I don't know how to proceed.  Is this something I need to let them sort out themselves?  Floyd is not a bad-tempered pig and has really been quite patient with Horatio, but he is so much bigger that I'm worried he will do some serious damage before Horatio gets some sense into his little head!  

                                                                                                                                          Pat S. 


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