Boars together?

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Paravati
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Wed Jan 01, 2003 10:14 pm


Here is our "regular" pig room - all the pigs we're keeping that won't ever be adopted out. You can see Mister E (heart pig) running to jump into the "hump Tigger" fest. The babies love doing that. The girls on the far end are a bit more relaxed... They all love sleeping in the hay box together.

Image

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Paravati
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Wed Jan 01, 2003 10:15 pm


Here's the sow side. Everybody likes to get into the hay box and preen themselves while the boys are eating.

Image

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cindy29

Post   » Thu Jan 02, 2003 2:21 pm


This is great
I started a debate
I just wanted to let you know that I am still reading all three topics on the subject
I really never did want to neuter my boy and it sounds like if I wanted to get another young boy and introduced them properly that it will work out fine.
Thank you all.

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Xanlexian

Post   » Thu Jan 02, 2003 2:32 pm


HAH! Never noticed it in the pic before, but Blaze (the one with her head poking out of the yellow pigloo) looks like a turtle. hehehe!

Lilo in the hay, Rebecca contemplating jumping in the hay, and Stitch about to go into the haybox :)

heh, had no idea how much I actaully like this particular pic!

--Xan

Charybdis

Post   » Thu Jan 02, 2003 2:34 pm


Cindy, that's great--I was hoping that you were still with us.

Para, I love your cage set-up! It looks so nice and roomy.

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Paravati
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Thu Jan 02, 2003 4:37 pm


Yeah, we have such a big cage that we don't really have to do floor time. We have two big dogs, so floor time is sort of scary, anyway. We had two upper deck levels for each cage, but when the fighting started between Tigger and Charley we took the upper levels out (makes it easier to just step on in there and break it up). We also got a spray bottle of water (thanks Pinta!!).

Pozone

Post   » Thu Jan 02, 2003 5:51 pm


Your setup looks really cool, and seems like they'd enjoy being a herd. When you adopt them out, do you have a sense of which boars might work as pairs? That might be one potential concern -- a couple of boars who don't fight in a herd situation might behave completely differently on their own together, which could be disconcerting for a new adopter. Just normal "getting-to-know-you" behavior is disconcerting anyway, when you're new to it all -- our guys just about gave me a breakdown the first couple of weeks we had them, and I was thinking that I had made a BIG mistake in getting two boars and thinking I could house them together. They'll be 3 in March, and they're still together, but I came so close -- even though I don't believe in doing this kind of thing -- to taking Po, who was less tame and more aggressive, back to the store . . . so glad my principles won out over my buyer's remorse!

At least, I'm thinking you're adopting pigs out, or plan to? I know you're rescuing them . . . anyway, it looks like you have a terrific setup, but just food for thought.

Evangeline

Post   » Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:52 pm


Argh!
The myth that says that boars shouldn't be housed next to sows is almost as common as the one that says boars can't live together. It annoys me to no end. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

I have my pigs living in pairs and trios of same sex pigs, they all live in the same cage structure and I have never had problems. Pinta has sows and neutered boars living together in a free range herd. Numerous people here are boars and sows living next to each other with no problem.

It's just a myth.

pinta

Post   » Thu Jan 02, 2003 9:22 pm


Yeah - we have 3 unrelated neutered boars living with 17 sows. At night they are locked up in a 5 level condo. No problems. Most of the time, unless we take the boars out, they hang in the condo all day. Dominick loves the living room but has to be taken out to it. He doesn't leave the condo voluntarily.

We've had up to 4 neutered boars with 12 sows. Never had a problem beyond normal tussles which have always occurred OUTSIDE of the condo. When locked in the condo, everyone is on best behaviour.

We did have one introductory fluke bite infection that resulted in an amputation but the boar who delivered the bite showed immediate concern and became the wounded boar's best friend. They slept together and ate together and Nigel watched over Willie until they were separated by death.

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Etta Mae
Lynx's Favorite

Post   » Thu Jan 02, 2003 10:10 pm


Para- is that just a big "rug" of fleece? How often do you have to wash it? Do the pigs potty all over it, or are they litter trained? What's under the fleece?

My pigs are in a Martin's cage right now, and it's definitely too small. When my roommate moves out, I will have more room to make a C and C cage, and will be needing advice.

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Paravati
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Fri Jan 03, 2003 11:56 am


The pigs (both boars and sows) in this room are the ones we're not going to adopt out. Mister E is a heart pig, Blaze has a broken leg and battles pneumonia on and off, Lilo and Stitch are our two original sows, Tigger is just mean and crippled, Tommy is his best friend and will stay because no one else seems to be able to get along with Tigger, Rebecca has a problem with constant UTIs, and Baby S'more is Alex's pet favorite because he's so pretty. So they will all stay with us.

Any other pigs that come in stay in the Q-room or once they move past the three or four week mark, will go in other rooms while we try to adopt them out. I made the mistake once of throwing a rescue in with the regular guys and got everyone infected with lice. That pig HAD been through four weeks of quarantine, but apparently it wasn't enough. So that won't ever happen again.

Any other new pigs that come in injured or with health problems that make them unadoptable will go through the proper introductory period before we try to throw them in with the regular guys.

When I decide that I'm going to try and create a "boar couple" I make a cage that's two by eight cubes and put a pigloo, water bottle, and food dish on each side, and put the two boars in together. I sit and watch for a while to make sure there's no immediate problems, and then just keep a close eye on them. If there are a few signs that a problem is imminent, I put a divider down the middle and let them hang out together for a week or so, touching noses. Then I take the divider out and let them play together a few times, putting it back up at night. After that, there aren't any problems and the two little guys have a blast together.

EttaMae, we used twist-ties to secure our cube sections together, so when it's time to clean the cage, we just pick it up and it collapses into a big heap (still together, though). We have a layer of sleeping bags on the hardwood floor, and a big section of cotton blanket filler that goes directly under the fleece. We want to try to keep our guys warm. I went to walmart, and bought a few skeins of their discount fleece. It's $2 a yard, and our cage is 3.5 yards long. So we buy a few rolls of fleece, and cut it to the right length of our cage. Then we use a few layers of the big rectangles and just lay it down. We pick up our collapsed cube outline, and reposition it into the two big squares shape (takes about two minutes). We shake the dirty fleece off outside, and throw it in the wash. If you vaccuum out the poops once a day, and remove the fleece liners once a week and wash them, it's very easy to keep the cage clean. We've expanded this idea so that ALL of our cages, no matter what size, are done this way. The smaller rescue cages have smaller fleece liners, with a layer beneath of towels to make them extra soft. The babies LOVE popcorning around when they know they can fall every which way and not get hurt. :)

Pozone

Post   » Fri Jan 03, 2003 9:00 pm


Ah, right! I just wasn't clear. It does sound as though you've got a good thing going with them -- lucky piggies!

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