Reason that 2 boars don't get along?

[Jenine_NL]

Hi all !
I'm new to the forum, but glad to have the support. Long this may be long to explain the context...

I have two boys, Charlie and Linus, that I adopted in Sept 2023. Off and on, they chatter their teeth at each other and wiggle their bums as a sign of dominance. Linus has always been the one telling Charlie to back up, however Charlie is the one that always wants to play and hang out/lie next to Linus. Charlie sometimes licks (or tries to lick) Linus' eye to re-confirm the bond (so to speak) .

In January, I found out that Linus suffers from malocclusion (unaligned teeth). He had dental work work done in Jan-Feb and I have a chin sling to try long term. One day into the chin sling, Linus was snoozing eyes closed (dreaming) - I had never seen him so relaxed. I believe Linus has had chronic pain (teeth and jaw aching) up until now. Before we continue the chin sling, Linus has had an under-jaw abscess lanced and "rinsed" out last week at the vet and given anti-biotics to help it so I am holding off on using the chin sling for now.

In terms of Linus always telling Charlie "to back off", is it possible that Linus was like that towards Charle because he was in pain and wanted to be left alone? Just wondering if others have experienced this? I think I will also make this cage bigger to avoid arguments - right now my cage is 5x2 CC.

I'm feeling for Charlie as well... he is very social and while I try to heal Linus, it's hard to give Charlie enough attention :(

Thanks in advance! For any and all advice or comments.

[Lynx]

It is possible for illness to disrupt order. I think your plans to increase cage size is a good idea. More ideas for visually breaking up a cage can be found in the useful links on this page:
https://www.guinealynx.info/companionship.html

I especially like the fleece fringed divider. I hope you can get his pain under control.