Boars Behaving Badly

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Feylin

Post   » Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:19 pm


aw, they are only doing what they do best! I had to refrain from making snarky comments about human male adolescents...I think I'm a little over exposed since I spend most of my time around teenagers 9 months of the year!

It would be great if you could take pictures and describe your boys here too! More examples will help people. :)

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sammianne

Post   » Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:40 pm


I just got home from work and went to check on everyone like I do everyday when I get home. As I was leaving the foster's room I heard claws scrambling on the coroplast and bedding flying everywhere and turned to see my naughty foster boys, George and Romeo, separating themselves and chattering madly. I am guessing they turned into a flying ball of fur the moment my back was turned to leave as they were fine two seconds before.

It's not a surprise to me that they "locked and engaged" in battle of some sort. It's obvious they are still trying to work out their dominance issues. The chasing each other has almost completely ceased and they no longer chatter angrily at each other 24/7, but they do still chatter some. Mostly it seems to be a warning of "Back off! This is my hay/spot/dish/bottle/etc". We will be buying another dish and water bottle tonight as one of each may not be enough. They share a 2x5 cage and I was hoping that'd be large enough because I am running out of room for cages with our pigs and the various fosters here. I removed all the pigloos and have boxes with multiple entrances in the cage instead. The boxes/pigloos seem to be a trigger for problems, so I am going to switch to towels draped in the corners to make tents instead. I really am reluctant to remove the hideouts altogether because these two pigs are such scaredy cats and I fear they'd spend all of their time frantically running around in search of a place to hide. Of course, maybe it'd force them to not want to hide as much. I don't know.

Anyway, I checked both pigs over and found no blood. I did find some very small scabs on each pig, though. They appear to be old and it's possible they are. Both pigs are in the process of learning to be handled without completely freaking out and they are not always still and compliant to being checked over. So it's possible I might've missed seeing the wounds when they were fresh. I feel awful about it. I thought I was checking them thoroughly, but I guess not.

I know that the rule is if there's blood the pigs need to be separated. Does that rule apply to dried blood, too? Should I separate for scabs? I'm talking small scabs. Romeo has three about the size of a pin head. They each have one scab larger, maybe 1/4 inch. Each is near the right eye. Romeo's is right under his eye and George's is just above.

And is there anything else I should or can do other than keeping an eye on the healing wounds and making sure they are kept clean?

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Feylin

Post   » Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:53 pm


Nah. We had scabs too from over enthusiastic hair yanking. The rule I follow is if the scabs heal and no new ones appear, I leave them alone. Don't feel bad. Pin head scabs are nothing and could have come from scratching at mites.

Also, separating themselves from the fight is a good sign.

Get rid of those huts!! Drape towels or bend grids. The boys will be ok- you're weighing them so you'll know if they're not.

Getting more of everything is good too. Start changing their locations daily. Stir up the carefresh to redistribute the smells. hmmm, whatelse....more floor time? Scarry vaccuming? A second buddy bath?

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sus4rabbitsnpigs

Post   » Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:11 pm


You tried adding a loft? It usually cuts down tension if one can retreat to another spot.

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sammianne

Post   » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:08 pm


Yes, they are losing their huts and getting towel tents instead and getting at least one more bottle & dish.

They rearrange on their own, Feylin! Huts & dishes are constantly being flipped and moved about by the boys. Bedding is resdistributed as they run around and skid to a stop. I have interior decorating pigs! Albeit bad, but still. I know what you mean, though. I'll start switching stuff around and stirring up the bedding. I'll try the vaccum and bath if need be, too. More floor time is coming their way whether they like it or not, too!

I could add a loft if I have enough coro and grids. If not, I can get some this Friday probably. I'm not sure they'd use it, however. They seem to only use half of the cage they are in now. It's very rare to see a pig on the one side of the cage unless they've been chased there by the other pig or our hands freaking them out. Maybe all the mixing things up I'm going to do will force them to utilize more of the cage.

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Amy0204
We miss our sweet Oreo

Post   » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:33 pm


OMG - I think I need new glasses. I saw the title of this thread and saw sammianne's entry and read that they are losing their "nuts"! I was about to post that neutering doesn't ensure that boars will stop behaving badly! I'm so glad that I went back and reread that!

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sammianne

Post   » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:45 pm


Don't feel bad, Amy. I'm the one that typed it and when I read it after posting it I was "Oh no! WHAT did I type?" and was ready to hit edit and fix the typo. That h is sneaky! ;-)

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Feylin

Post   » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:52 pm


Well, I threaten mine with loosing their nuts all the time if they don't settle down and behave!

Sus had a good idea about the loft. I put all the hay and 1/2 of the veggies up in the loft to make them want to go up there.

I'd bathe those boys, actually. I'm sure they're boar smelling eachother up as fast as they can, not to mention pee and boar glue. It's not going to hurt them to get a bath or two extra over the next week.

emilythegreat

Post   » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:58 pm


I'm praying for baby girls.

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sammianne

Post   » Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:20 am


I'd just finished churning up the bedding, moving everything around, and replacing the huts with draped towels and Romeo freaked out, running into the corner George was occupying. This led to them both locking onto each other and spinning around in a circle on their sides.

It was like some whacky pig break dancing and I have to admit I freaked. They didn't have time separate themselves because I practically fell into the cage separating them myself.

George is none the worse for the tussle. Besides maybe being ticked off about that other pig all up in his face again. Poor Romeo has lost another patch of hair, but at least it doesn't look too awful because he has rosettes all over him as it is.

After being checked over and returned to the cage they both raced around a bit and then realized they could hide out under the towels. After retreating to opposite corners for a few minutes both boys were out eating side by side. Hopefully things will remain peaceful for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow it's bath time and a comeplete cage cleaning and remodel.

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Feylin

Post   » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:04 am


Ya, sounds like teenagers! I think they'll be OK if you keep checking them over weighing and looking for big wounds. Silly little things. Eating side by side makes me think they don't wan't to kill each other, just prove who's got the biggest nuts.

Emily, boys may be obnoxious until they are 1 year old but girls get bitchy once a month for the rest of their lives! ;) Also, I think boys are funnier to watch with their antics.

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sammianne

Post   » Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:07 pm


Well, I don't need to wrestle to be able to know that. I can tell by looking and I told them both it's George. His are definitely bigger, but they won't take my word for it.

There was some scuffling after lights out last night. It could've been one or both of the boys running or they might've been up to no good again. After waking up hearing them and checking on them for the third time at 3:30 in the morning, I decided enough was enough. There were no more new wounds and I figured they'd be alright until I checked them before work.

No more new wounds so far today. They still hang out in half the cage, even with the towels instead of huts. So they spent last night each tucked in a corner "tent" on the same end of the 2x5.

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