Biting Gilt

blightowler · Post by **blightowler** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:40 pm

I have 4 kunekune, 3 Gilts and a castrated boar, brother and sisters living together. One of the gilts, who was a runt and hand reared has started to bite. Knee caps usually! Unfortunately she bit my 10 year old daughter and caused her quite a bit of pain. When she has done this in the past I have tapped her on the nose with my hand, is there anything else I can do to stop her biting?

Brian

wendy scu · Post by **wendy scu** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:57 pm

hi brian, the only thing i can think of is make sure you don't feed her by hand under any circumstances and give her a good smack on the snout

blightowler · Post by **blightowler** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:24 pm

Thanks Wendy, I'll let you know how I get on

Marmite · Post by **Marmite** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:51 pm

Hi, I have hand reared a kune and she turned quite nasty. Same problem she kept biting both me and the other pigs.

Probably don't know what I am talking about here but I think because she had no one correcting her as piglet she did not know the order of things.

I hope that you manage to get her out of the habit as I ended up selling my piglet to a new environment where she was not the boss!

blightowler · Post by **blightowler** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:51 pm

Thanks Marmite, I think you may be right. I'm going to try and spend as much time with her so that I can punish her and get her corrected before I let any yougsters near her
Brian

Louise NI · Post by **Louise NI** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:47 pm

One of my pair of gilts is a cheeky rascal and liked to bite her sister's ears and would have attempted to bite humans, allbeit playfully. I used a firm voice, saying 'NO' loudly while pushing her away. If she wouldn't budge a tap on the snout followed. It takes time but she knows I'm boss and now obeys the command 'NO'. Through time she seems to have learned that biting is unacceptable.

blightowler · Post by **blightowler** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:05 pm

Thanks Louise
The problem now seems to be she (Peppa) knows I'm the boss so will not have a go at me. I took my eldest, Emma down today and Peppa started to get the 'I'm going to have a go' look. Emma stood up to her and a tap on the snout with a whipy stick really shocked her and she has been good for the rest of the day. It has also given Emma a confidence boost following last weeks bite

Brian

blightowler · Post by **blightowler** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:11 pm

Just to give you an update. Peppa has now calmed herself down and we haven't had a repeat of her biting. A whippy stick was used on the end of her snout of 3 occasions when she looked like she was going to bite. Both Emma and Katie walked around with a stick in their hand for a while which detered Peppa. they no longer carry the stick and all is fine.
Brian & Katie