Taming a Tiny Wild/Feral Pig

[supaflyskye]

so – for the past few days this tiny little white/black spotted piggie has been showing up on our property and hanging out w/ my horse in his paddocks, spending the entire first half of the day there, usually showing up between 6-8am and disappearing around 2pm. It just loves my gelding! At first Rileigh (my horse) was completely terrified of it (his entire life he’s had an unusually strong fear of pigs, though he has been exposed to them), and spent a lot of time snorting at the thing and running as it chased him (which was absolutely hilarious! I mean the pig is SO tiny, way smaller than my 53lb dog), but at this point he’s quite comfortable w/ the pig and actually seems to be really enjoying it’s company.
At first, my sister and I figured that surely this pig must be somebody’s pet teacup pig which escaped. It doesn’t look like the normal wild boars we have around here, it is so much smaller (but apparently is fully grown). And it is very comfortable/friendly w/ people (and horses of course) – it wouldn’t let us walk right up & pet it or anything, but it let us w/in a couple feet of it and showed no fear, just slowly ambling a couple paces away when we got “too close.” The first day it showed up my sister tried to corral it, assuming it belonged to one of our neighbors and not wanting it to get hurt on the road or anything, but Rileigh was so amped up, running all over the place, and the pig was almost as excited (just because Riles was excited), running after him, that she was not able to contain it before she had to leave for work.
So my sister posted on facebook inquiring if anyone had lost a pig, and one of our neighbors who owns a boarding barn at the end of the street replied basically saying that no, these were feral pigs, and a large group of these tiny pigs including this spotted one had been coming around regularly and hanging out w/ the horses at her barn for quite some time now (and they hadn’t grown any bigger in this time, so they are seemingly full grown and just naturally miniature). She also said that they were getting ready to very soon set traps out to catch the whole lot, and well…shoot them, so they wouldn’t bother the horses anymore.

We were very upset, almost horrified to hear that; because just in this short time both my sister and I have actually grown pretty attached to the little thing. I mean it is just so cute and friendly, and my horse likes it a lot, and he could really use some company.
So my sister asked this woman down the road if she wouldn’t mind holding off on the pig extermination for just a few days to a week so we could capture this pig and make it our own.
I will be up early this morning setting out food to try luring it into a stall when it first shows up.

to my question: does anyone have any advice on how exactly to go about capturing this wild pig? What do wild/feral pigs most like to eat? I know the potbellies at the barn I used to work would gobble down virtually any/all leftovers, but I imagine a pig living feral might have different tastes…
We do have a humane raccoon trap somewhere out in the warehouse, but while I imagine the piggie could certainly squeeze in there, it would be a very tight fit and I highly doubt I get it to go in there willingly. I am figuring I will just have to either lure it into a stall and quickly close the door, or failing that somehow herd/corral it in.
anyone done something like this before? any suggestions?

[jetsmom]

No suggestions, but bless you! SENDING good wishes that you catch the little guy.

[Callista17]

TOO CUTE!!! Hmmm does animal control in your area have a bigger have a heart trap you could borrow? Or is your barn set up you could bring your horse in, then have someone shut the door so they are the barn, then go for a stall? Or lure with food and a food trail? I dont know pigs, but good luck!!!

[Russinka]

It’s cute and cuddly now, will not be anywhere as at 100+ kgs. If you are going to take the pig then you need a very secure area that the pig can live in. It’ll need some form of climate control (which could be as simple as a wallow), a drinker nipple (which you’ll have to teach it how to use) and lots of enrichment (drums, wooden blocks, tough balls, rattles). Pigs love to root and dig and will rip up the ground, as well as destroying any vegetation. I’m not trying to be nasty but taking on a pig (and of the feral kind) isn’t for the faint of heart and unprepared. They are super smart but need really careful handling and training or else they can be pretty dangerous. If it is a boar then tusks can be an added risk, even if desexed. Even a gentle head rub can be fatal if one of the tusks catches you in the wrong spot. They will also need regular trimming as they can grow back into the lips/mouth of the boar.

Also I’d try apples…

[Bluey]

You may want to talk to your local game warden, the sheriff’s office will tell you who he is.

It may be illegal where you are to keep wildlife of any kinds as pets, it is here.
That is generally to protect wildlife and humans, both.

To catch wild pigs, we use corn that has been soaking in a bucket with diesel.
This way nothing else will eat that corn, like coons, skunks, badgers, rats, etc. but hogs just love that.

Yes, it is sad to have to catch and shoot pests like feral hogs are, but when you are trapping about 50 a month, as some do here, there is not much choice, no more than setting rat or mice traps in your pantry.
If you ever see whole fields destroyed and fence post pulled out of the ground in a few minutes by rooting feral hogs, you realize you have to do something.

Feral hogs are becoming no better than one more pest species that harm so much, including native species and some carry diseases:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-plague-of-pigs-in-texas-73769069/?no-ist

As with any wild species anyone wants to raise from very young, they make wonderful pets when young, not so much once grown, they just were not bred for pets.

There is a cute video of someone that did just what you want to do, will see if I can find it again.
This is not the one, but another one, first video sets the scene, next video shows the pet pig now bigger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjjobT9blyw

[Callista17]

Is it a wild, never been in captivity pig? Being from the north we don’t have those. I’ve heard of wild boars and hunts, but they were kind of…nappy looking huge pigs with big tusks in the pictures.
Is corn soaked in diesel healthy? I am guessing from your post you shoot them, so I guess that wouldn’t matter, but in general.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=Callista17;8929064]
Is it a wild, never been in captivity pig? Being from the north we don’t have those. I’ve heard of wild boars and hunts, but they were kind of…nappy looking huge pigs with big tusks in the pictures.
Is corn soaked in diesel healthy? I am guessing from your post you shoot them, so I guess that wouldn’t matter, but in general.[/QUOTE]

Ever seen a grown feral hog’s tusks?
They are like a 4" knife blade, two of them.
Pet pigs and domestic ones get those clipped for a good reason.

They don’t eat that much of the corn and no, it would not be good as a steady diet, of course, a few bites don’t seem to be a problem for feral hogs.

Seems that in TX, you can have pet feral hogs, if you test them and keep them in quarantine for 60 days:

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/wild-pigs-as-pets/

[vxf111]

Is it a true wild/feral pig or a pig that someone released that is now a little wilded-out and hard to catch?

[supaflyskye]

sorry y’all! I forgot I had even posted this topic. =/ I have been pretty scatterbrained lately (thanks thyroid), and I am active on so many different forums, it can sometimes be hard to keep up.

anyway, some further info…
I am currently under the impression that it is probably a truly wild pig, and may very well be a baby…my mom said that about 6 weeks or so ago that she saw a large pig that was clearly a nursing mother had become roadkill on a road very near to our property…and it was basically right after that these 8 small pigs showed up hanging around various folks’ property on our street.

RE legality of it – I am having trouble finding anything super specific to “keeping wild boar in captivity” online, but it does clearly state that it is 100% legal to “both hunt & trap wild pigs” and also to “release them on private property” (but not public property), no permit required. I will have my dad (who is a lawyer) look into it more specifically. but because we are not necessarily keeping this pig “in captivity”/keeping it on our property by any means of force or secure containment, I can’t imagine there would be much of a problem.

I have provided the pig (who I’m calling “Wendel” at the moment, unless my other sister, who objects to that name, comes up w/ something better) w/ a sort of “wallow” by simply letting my horse’s large water bucket in the paddock overflow for a bit every time I refill it, to form a large muddy spot nearby. I will look into nipple drinkers, though the little guy has no trouble at all drinking from a small bucket on the ground next to my horse’s large bucket (when he first arrived here, before I put the small bucket out, he was just standing up on his hind legs to drink out of my horse’s bucket when it was filled to the top xP), and I can’t imagine he’d have the luxury of a nipple drinker out in the wild. but I’ll see about getting one; I need to make a trip to our local feed & farm supply store tomorrow and they may very likely have something suitable.

RE tusks – we are planning, once he gets a bit older and if he continues to stick around, to have him neutered and very possibly detusked by a vet. I would definitely like to talk over the aspects of tusk removal w/ a vet though, as I’ve read from some sources that they do not recommend detusking unless it is absolutely necessary. ugh, now especially I am super bummed that my totally wonderful & amazing “farm vet” I’d used for over a decade moved entirely across the country a couple months ago to teach equine reproductive science at the University of Oregon, and the new vet he referred us to is a “sporthorse vet” who I’m sure would not be very well equipped to deal w/ our little piggle.
but honestly at this moment I’m not even sure that it’s a boy hah. I think it probably is just based off what I’ve been able to see…but he’s rather furry and close to ground, it’s quite exceedingly difficult to get a good look at what’s “down there.”

I have attempted, but have not actually been successful when it comes to actually securely containing the pig. Even our stalls are really not “pig proof” – they have sliding wooden doors in front of course, but they also open to the main paddock in the back, and have only pipe gates to secure the back doorway. I tried to make one of the gates more solid by sort of attaching some paneling to it to cover the gaps between the pipes, but still the pig managed to wriggle it’s way out. However as far as I can tell, it has not even once set foot off our property since I posted this topic. He is extremely attached to my horse. Even when I ride, Wendel hangs out in the cross ties while I’m tacking up, and hangs out in the ring while I’m riding, on/off following Rileigh around depending on what we’re doing (and it doesn’t seem to bother Rileigh at all :lol:). it would appear that he is here to stay.

the main issue I am having at the moment is keeping them separated during meal times. for 1) Rileigh really needs to put on a little weight, and Wendel eats so much of his food that I feel his weight gain is being slowed down (though of course I do provide “extra” food); and 2) I’m sure all that horse feed is not the best thing for a pig to be eating. but just as I can’t keep him in the stall, nor can I keep him out of it if Riles is in there. I’ve tried putting the food for the pig & the food for the horse in opposite corners of the stall, even adding in some horse food (which he seems to much prefer over all the more pig friendly wetted down leftovers we’ve been giving him) to try to entice Wendel over to his own corner and away from Rileigh’s food, but he just cannot bear to be even 10’ away from Riles it would seem. =/
when I go to the feed store tomorrow I’m planning on picking up a bag of pig appropriate feed (not sure if “All Stock” feed would be suitable? but will find out the best option when I talk to the owners of the feed store – they have all sorts of livestock there, including pigs, and I’m sure they can tell me what would be best feed wise), which I’m hoping will be so delicious to him that I will be able to lure him away from Rileigh’s food.
and of course, another obvious option is to just raise Rile’s food bucket up so that it is out of reach of the little pig…but I really much prefer him to be able to eat at ground level w/ a more natural position. we’ll see though, I’ll raise it if I have to. hmm…perhaps another option would be to feed the horse out of like, a muck bucket, w/ high sides you know. so that he could still eat “off the ground,” but for now at least, the sides of the bucket would be too high for Wendel to be able to get at any of the food in there. that might be a good compromise.

anyway, I just wanted to update you guys on the pig situation!
Wendel is still a little shy of people, but is getting more friendly – he’ll let me pet him a bit while he’s eating now, and doesn’t really move away from me anymore unless I’m coming at him “aggressively,” like w/ my arms outstretched, or in a way that it seems to him that I’m “chasing” him, or etc.

[Bluey]

Good, seems that you are getting yourself another Squeaky:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc0fY3BstdU#t=11

[supaflyskye]

[QUOTE=Bluey;8944577]
Good, seems that you are getting yourself another Squeaky:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc0fY3BstdU#t=11[/QUOTE]

oh my gosh, how amazing is that!
Squeaky really does remind me of Wendel. :lol: he also seems to really like pizza, and perhaps has a bit of a herding instinct in him as well hah. <<-- at least based off the way he was chasing Rileigh around when he first showed up here. =P and of course they both have a rather similar colouration (though I must say, Wendel is much hairier).
I hope that over time he becomes just as friendly and “tame” as Squeaky seemed to be in that video.

[supaflyskye]

I have a couple more very cute photos of Wendel & Rileigh together…but honestly, I’m scared to post them for fear of being jumped on…because I took the pictures when I was just out there feeding them breakfast the other day, and the stall had not been mucked yet and there is poop visible in the picture, and also Rileigh’s forelock is FULL of burrs. ugh. burr season is fully upon us, and since I closed off the big paddock to keep the grass from being destroyed while it’s not growing season, Riles has been spending most of his time in the back paddock where all the burrs are and is accumulating them at a truly shocking rate, much faster than I can remove them (which I do probably a couple-few times a week), and he has SO much hair right now. =/ I’m planning to pick up some conditioning/detangling spray at the farm store tomorrow and once I have his mane nice and silky & thoroughly detangled (and burr free of course), just roach/hog the whole thing off. because I just cannot keep up w/ these burrs holy crap. I think he’ll pull off the “mohawk” look quite well though.
but anyway, yeah, everything’s just kind of sloppy looking w/ the burrs in Rileigh’s forelock, the poop in the stall, and all that. and knowing COTH I’m sure people would be all too ready to berate me for this “obvious neglect” of having an unmucked stall and burrs in my horse’s mane early in the morning.
but the pictures are actually pretty cute, despite all that. :o

[Alterwho]

A hairy horse who poops?? Say it isn’t so!

Pretty please post the pics of little Wendel.

[snowrider]

Oh god, I’ve actually done this. One of my the many misadventures my horsey friends have gotten me into. OK, first things first: get ear muffs. Their squealing can actually damage your ears in close proximity and you will be wrestling that pig at some point in the near future if you keep it and especially if you neuter it. Trust me on this. If you shoot, gun ear muffs are good. Ear plugs are a weak second best. Both is ideal. Second thing: food. Pigs love food. Taming a pig is basically the same as taming a feral cat, ie you feed it and you give it ear scritchies until it accepts you as it’s new overlord. Except pigs are pretty social and understand the concept of overlords better than cats ever will. I would not count on being able to easily lure it into a stall though, they are not stupid. Third thing, that is not a full grown pig. There is no such thing as a miniature pig far as I know, they all grow to massive size eventually if you feed them. So while it is small you need to train it to lead in a harness and to obey some basic commands. This is where then ear muffs and the pig-wrestling come in. They can chew up anything and destroy anything so training is good.

On the bright side pigs are very smart and very social and once they are not afriad of you are very, very trainable. You will find yourself thinking “I wish my horse was as smart as this pig” quite soon. They are also wildly destructive so if you’re going to keep it train it soon! They love studmuffins. Pigs will do anything for studmuffins.

If all else fails they are also delicious.

[Russinka]

The drinker nipple is because pigs have a tendency to knock over/wallow in/destroy buckets or similar containers. By keeping it contained in the pipe until they drink it, you ensure they have water at all times otherwise they spill it everywhere. In the wild they’d drink from puddles, creeks, rivers and dams or they’d die of dehydration. Electric tape at ground level may also help with containment. I probably wouldn’t worry too much about the horse feed, as long he doesn’t have the runs, pigs pretty much eat everything and do okay.

Sounds like he on his way to becoming a member of the family.

[poniesinthenight]

You do know they carry brucellosis.

[Callista17]

[QUOTE=poniesinthenight;8945274]
You do know they carry brucellosis.[/QUOTE]

Wouldn’t a farm vet know that? Can you vaccinate for that?

[DogIsMyCopilot]

I second that this is NOT a fully grown pig, expect him (her? are you sure it’s a male?) to get much larger. It is also not a fully wild pig, maybe 2nd/3rd generation feral. Wild pigs have dark pigment, longer hair and the young piglets are striped. Feral pigs will eventually revert back to wild phenotype over a few generations.
In captivity, pigs are weaned at around 21-28days of age (10-15lbs), so a time line of 6ish weeks since the mother was killed makes sense.
Pigs are true omnivores and love to eat a lot of things. Since their domestication pigs were the animals that you could feed everything to. They can digest cellulose too.
I would probably not buy commercial hog feed for this guy, since hog feed is optimized for fast growth to slaughter weight with maximum protein. It also usually contains feed antibiotics.
The National Research Council publishes “Nutritional Requirements of Pigs” - I would look into that and desgn a mostly plant-based diet with relatively low calories. Pigs tend to get really fat, which is a big problem if you intend to keep them for long.

Ours loved marshmallows as treats ;).

[supaflyskye]

[QUOTE=poniesinthenight;8945274]
You do know they carry brucellosis.[/QUOTE]

well clearly I didn’t.
the research I’ve just started doing on this would seem to indicate that I’d have to actually eat the pig, or at least come into contact w/ the raw meat, in order to catch brucellosis.
even if I did have it I’m sure I’d probably never know…I pretty much already have all those symptoms as a result of my dying thyroid & the possible early menopause I’ve been dealing w/.
I’ll see about contacting a vet to inquire about this as soon as possible. I hope my old vet hasn’t yet changed his phone number and I can get a farm vet recommendation from him…otherwise I’ll ask the folks at the feed store.

[snowrider]

Bring ear protection for vaccinating it too!