Taming a Tiny Wild/Feral Pig

[supaflyskye]

[QUOTE=DogIsMyCopilot;8945475]
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 ;).[/QUOTE]
thank you for this info!
yes, his(…? no, I am not 100% sure it’s male. I just think I’ve been able to catch a couple glimpses of some wee little dangly bit down there) colouration is very unique for a “wild” pig. most of our wild hogs here in FL are straight black, and like you said, the babies are most usually blackish w/ brownish orangish kind of spotty stripes on them (or vice versa, orangey brownish w/ blackish spotty stripes). this odd colouration was actually the main reason my sister and I initially thought it was someone’s pet “teacup” pig. however, the other 7 piglets that had been seen w/ him and were presumably his littermates were all black, from the photo I saw a couple of them even seemed to have a bit of stripeyness to them.
it would make sense though that he would be just feral, a few generations away from the farm. though he is just about as hairy as any wild boar I usually see around here.
ADD’TNL: I was just doing some quick research, and apparently the vast majority of our “wild boar” in FL are actually an indistinguishable mishmash of interbred Eurasian wild boar and feral hogs released goodness knows when, and it is actually not at all unheard of for them to come in this black/white spotted colour, as well as brown or brown/black spotted, but most of them are black.

I will look up that “Nutritional Requirements of Pigs” documents and see what I can come up w/ in the way of a good diet for him. You think even Nutrena “Whole Life” pig feed would not be appropriate?
I know all about how fat pigs can get =P the last barn I worked for had a pair of potbellied sows, and the BO always made a big deal out of never overfeeding them; only giving them the commercial pig grain if absolutely necessary (if we were completely out of pig designated leftovers in the fridge), and then only in small amounts, etc, because of how easily they could get fat. I am faaar from any sort of experienced judge of piggie health, but to me this guy looks like he’s probably a little on the skinny side right now.
I’ll work out some healthy diet that he enjoys I’m sure. I’ll read up on it and play around w/ different things.
thanks again for the info!

[QUOTE=snowrider;8945016]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.[/QUOTE]
:lol:

thanks so much for sharing your first hand experience!
man…I guess I have a lot of work to do w/ this piggie before he gets enormous. he is a million miles away from the point of being able to obey basic commands & be walked in a harness. but he shall learn! he is so incredibly attached to Rileigh, my horse; I feel like I could possibly use that to my advantage when it comes to taming/training him. I already kind of have been in some ways – going up to them and giving Riles lots of love & scritches and a couple treats before turning my attention to Wendel and trying to get him to eat out of my hand or putting some yummy stuff down next to me and petting him while he’s eating it. and I did some liberty work w/ Rileigh the other day after I rode him, and Wendel was happy to participate in that w/ us, trailing behind Rileigh. <<-- he even went over a low cavaletti w/ us haha.

and yeah, I’m figuring now that it’s not fully grown and is probably a young’un. we just thought initially, because of his interesting colouring and because he was so relatively friendly, that he may be someone’s escaped pet teacup pig (teacup pigs weigh anywhere from 20-80lbs fully grown). clearly that is not the case.

thank you for the advice! I will be practicing my pig wrasslin’ skills. =P

[Bluey]

Feral hogs here come in all colors and patterns, spot and patches and from black to white and in-between.

They have a little different conformation than domestic hogs and are hairy.

My guess is that most people that have a pig for a pet rarely keep it once it gets big and mature and contrary and can have a trigger happy temper.
Most stories are of young pigs making such good pets.
Those that are still pets as adults, the humans are careful around them, as the fellow in the video was.

Better get it trained to your ways while it is little, that helps once grown.
A vet that will vaccinate and trim feet and tusks is important.

[supaflyskye]

[QUOTE=Alterwho?;8944898]
A hairy horse who poops?? Say it isn’t so!

Pretty please post the pics of little Wendel.[/QUOTE]

aaalright. but please do note the disclaimer on the previous page.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/Lonely_Equine2/piggle2_zpsn8824q9m.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/Lonely_Equine2/piggle1_zpsjsaa73rl.jpg

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=supaflyskye;8946029]
aaalright. but please do note the disclaimer on the previous page.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/Lonely_Equine2/piggle2_zpsn8824q9m.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/Lonely_Equine2/piggle1_zpsjsaa73rl.jpg[/QUOTE]

He/she is cute and past the football looking stage, so my guess would be about four months old?

The trouble with wildlife as pets, some will decide, once mature, to go back to the wild.
We raised a coyote pup like a dog, but one day she disappeared, never to return.
A friend raised a fox and it also left once older, but came back for a couple of years for the winter, finally left and never came back.

Maybe your pig will like it with your horse so much, it won’t want to leave.

[talkofthetown]

Awww they’re besties!

[supaflyskye]

[QUOTE=Bluey;8946039]
He/she is cute and past the football looking stage, so my guess would be about four months old?

The trouble with wildlife as pets, some will decide, once mature, to go back to the wild.
We raised a coyote pup like a dog, but one day she disappeared, never to return.
A friend raised a fox and it also left once older, but came back for a couple of years for the winter, finally left and never came back.

Maybe your pig will like it with your horse so much, it won’t want to leave.[/QUOTE]

yes, that is definitely a concern of mine, and the main reason I would want to give a lot of consideration after very thoroughly looking into it and discussing it w/ a vet before removing his(?) tusks …because if he did one day decide to go back to the life of a wild animal, I worry that he’d be at a great disadvantage w/o his tusks.
at this point though he definitely does seem to be REALLY attached to my horse; I’m hoping, like you said, that will make him want to stick around for a while.

[VFT]

Wendel is so cute.

I have some experience with training and handling a wild hog species called a Red River Hog. He was hand raised so a different situation, but was so smart, so trainable, I just loved him.

I don’t know a ton about hogs but here is a few tips. He was castrated young and it helped to minimize how large his tusks got. Sometimes when people wrangle boar they will use boards with handles on the back to corral them ( think like a shield). I think this guy is still young enough that you will be able to gain his trust and handle him, the red river hog wore a harness and walked on a leash. I would find what treats he likes and start teaching him if he stands on a station or mark ( a square piece of plywood that is big enough for him to stand on with all 4 ) that he gets the treats. Once he gets mark broke, which should not take too long since pigs are so smart, it will be easy to get him to go to places you want him to by putting the mark there and calling him over to it. You can also use that to slowly begin getting closer to him and touching him as he gets more accustomed to standing patiently on the mark.

You might want to get a hog panel from tractor supply or another farm store to attach to the gate in order to keep him in a stall if you want him in there. Their skin is so thick that it is very difficult to give them a shot, so you will want to be able to contain him in a stall so your vet can maybe dart him or use a pole to give him any injections ( like to sedate him for castration). Trust me he will run off after the first time you try and fail to get the needle in and will remember what you have done to him!

Good luck to you and Wendel! He makes me want to get a hog
.

[supaflyskye]

[QUOTE=talkofthetown;8946081]
Awww they’re besties! :)[/QUOTE]

(sorry, the multiquote function does not seem to be working for me right now)
yes, they really are!
Rileigh had been here alone for a few months now, which is of course far from ideal for a horse and concerned me right from the start, so I am very happy that he now has this little porcine friend.
it may not be as good as another equine, but it’s definitely something.
Riles had always liked to frequently lay down and nap/sunbathe during the day, but while he was here alone he almost never laid down out in the open that I could see. since Wendel has arrived I’ve caught the two of them laying out in the sun next to each other several times, so it’s clear that Rileigh is feeling much more comfortable having a companion, which makes me feel a lot better about the whole situation. =)

[keysfins]

I am not fond of the idea of feeding wildlife and making them comfortable around humans…

That said, Wendel would be a great candidate for clicker training, if you are so inclined.

[vxf111]

To me this would depend a lot of whether he’s feral (tameable) or wild (never truly tameable). I would feed a feral cat and encourage it to stay even if it would never be as tame as a housecat. I wouldn’t feed a fox. One is feral, one is wild. There is a difference.

I think it could be very dangerous to have a large, wild animal you can’t control that feels comfortable around humans and comes and goes as he pleases in your barn. I think this could end up with a human or horse getting hurt if the pig gets cornered and/or drops his guard and ends up in a situation where he then feels like he needs to fight out. If this is a feral animal you can tame, then it’s a bit of a different story. He might be skittish but still generally handleable.

[RoughOut]

I raise hogs for meat. Boy do I get tired of them by the time they get to 230 ppuns haha! But I have a wilbra my bottle gilt and she’ll stay here forever.

They are very trainable. I’d say you are on the right track as far as gaining his trust. Snacks and scratches behind the ear go a long way! You may want to castrate sooner rather than later. I do all of my own it isn’t difficult and I do use analgesia. But it might be worth letting a vet be the bad guy.

An all stock feed should work. It’s hard because pigs all are hard wired to gain weight. So teacup pigs are generally some form of malnurished. A hog feed will put the pounds on him.

I use hog panels. You can get them at Tractor supply. I find that they figure out how to root dirt onto electric and short it out. But maybe I just have extra devious pigs. You may find that your pasture becomes a dirt lot so rotation is key!

Good luck with the little fellow. He sure trotted into the right pasture!