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GP boars - playing or aggression?

3 replies

phantomnamechanger · 06/07/2014 20:31

how do I know if my boys are just playing/teasing each other, or if there is serious hatred brewing? I don't want them to hurt each other.

they will tug-of-war each other for a piece of hay or grass and shove each other out of the way with their noses, they will also sniff and nuzzle each other and sit side by side in their igloo or a box, which seems friendly but sometimes one will growl/rumble and they occasionally pounce - hitting the other one in the side with their front paws - no teeth on show or anything. they do chase each other happily around and popcorn too so I'd like to think this is all good humoured and playful but am getting a bit concerned. they are about 11-12 weeks old by the way. they both do these things, its hard to pick one that's more dominant.

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 06/07/2014 20:43

phantom there's a really good website , I'll try and find it .

My boars used to bulldoze each other out the way, literally head forward and shove.
Sometimes they'll face each other ad the heads raise until one will mutter and walk away grudgingly.
Noises can be teeth chattering (imagine their jaws going side to side chu chu chu
Rumblestrutting is a dominance move - body straight and stiff like a tiger, and a brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (rather than the happy brisk purr ). They walk with their legs almost stretched (it's quite magnificent to see)

They can bonk each other (GP3 , I mean you)

I've only seen a couple of episodes of real narkiness - once in winter when they ate a load of coriander (oh, looks like parsely, I thought. It wasn't)
Guy Fawkes in their small cage (2'x4') they didn't like.

Then one Spring morning, GP1 got a big narky with GP2 but they tended to give each other space and were fine.

They will happily steal food from the other pigs mouth and want the exact piece of grass that their mate is sitting on.

"What;s your problem"
"Your FACE "

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FernieB · 06/07/2014 22:39

My boys are 3.5 and have always been together. They are like 'The Odd Couple'. Constantly bickering and fighting over the tiniest bit of celery but if you take just one out of the cage the other one wheeks like mad.

Sounds like your chaps are approaching teenage and will try to sort out who is top pig. There will be some argy bargy while they do this. Unless they draw blood leave them to it. You can always distract with food. Just make sure they have plenty of room and separate places to hide away from each other.