2 Guinea Pigs, Are They Fighting/mating?

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Luke

Luke

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Hi guys.

I have 2 8 month year old texel guinea pigs.

Over the last hour or so I've noticed Bullet keeps trying to get on Popcorns back.

Therefore Popcorn is reacting and is shoving him off, then I see Bullet snapping and they both a 3 second scruffle by the looks of it.

I have noticed a red mark on both of there backs and Popcorns seems to be worse so I'm going to have a look in a minute and investigate closely.

I got them both as a pair from a Farm, there real brothers so they was born in the same litter. I've never had this problem with them before as they are very close normally. I've put 2 bowels in and 2 water bottles to prevent any friction between them both. They are now happily munching on there greens.

Is it down to boredom? What do I do? How do I deal with this fairly?

I really DON'T want to have to split them up!

Please answer ASAP as needing answers to help deal with this.
THANKS FOR ALL COMMENTS!

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I know that the head lifting situation is a dominance thing but they are doing that as well as having a 2-4 second scruffle/jump. I know there not popcorning because they have marks on them and they both look frightened.​
 
Any answers/help please it's urgent.
 
I have found a YouTube video which looks like it exactly. (
)

I have figured from some research this is another dominance thing. I'm going
to be monitoring it well to make sure none of my piggies get injured or seriously
hurt. I hope I'm right :(
 
If there are bloody bites or signs that there could be, please separate immediately with an oven glove, so you don;t end up with any deep bites to your hand.

Your two boys are at the worst time of the hormonal months. Whether they are litter brothers or not doesn't matter at all - that is unfortunately just a persistent myth; if they are both too dominant, they are bound to clash.

Piggie Owner has given you the relevant threads.
 
Thankyou to everyone that's commented. I've investigated popcorn and I found a little mark on him.
Screenshot_31_zps23497051.png


It's very upsetting me the fact that they was so close a few hours ago during floor time.

What do I do, it's now 8PM. I have Popcorn on my lap and Bullet in the cage(i'm about to investigate bullet).

Shall I leave them for tonight? because it's calmed down a bit but there still having them clashes if they get face-to-face.
 
Have you got a big cardboard box or run that you can turn into a makeshift cage?

That looks unfortunately like it is a bite. Please disinfect with either hibiscrub (if you have some) or with homemade saline solution. Mix 1tsp of salt into 1 pint of boiled, cooled water. keep an eye on it in case there is an abscess; see a vet if necessary.
 
Oh dear that definitely looks like a bite. As Wiebke says you need to clean it out - I would use cooled boiled water with salt if you have no hibiscrub. Then if you have some f10 or bepanthen that can also help. I think it would be best to separate them for their own safety. So sorry you are having these problems but boys will be boys.
 
Hello everyone. UPDATE

I though it was a bite, but wasn't certain as I've not dealt with a situation like this before.
I had a spare cage underneath the cage they was both in, it was my Twixy's cage before she passed.
I've took about 1 hour to 2 hours deep cleaning it etc. Then I put the exact things in the new cage.
So now I have 2 guinea pigs in 2 seprete exact cages. They have the same things to prevent
any unfairity. I'll make sure I clean the wound now thourghly to prevent infection.

Tommorow I'll check up on the wound again after cleaning it now, I'll also try intoducing them
to eachother again at floortime which is supervised (i'll have an oven glove just incase anything kicks off)
Maybe 8-10 hours will do them good apart, so they'll be eating and playing for floortime I hope (most likely will be ok).

Until then I havent got anymore updates.

Thanks to you guys I can know sleep knowing I won't wake up to a very hurt piggie.

If worst comes to the worst I'll keep them sepreated for the long run but maybe let them be together for floortime which is daily. Maybe that's what they need..


Again thanks guys. I'll keep you all updated. Night all! :hmm:
 
All my boys have gone through this stage at around 8 months it is a dominance thing as long as there is no blood shed they will calm down, I was told to give them a time out - no more than 20 mins - cooling period apart from each other, - but they do out grow this, once they reach a more mature age, or even sooner if one of your piggys allows the other to be in charge IE: Rascal and whiskey are brothers and now at 11 months Rascal is boss and whiskey keeps a wide margin from him especially around the food bowl, although they will happily munch grass side by side. Hope this helps put your mind at ease.
 
tmp_2014-03-13 22.54.42-1317943219.webp Hello everyone. UPDATE

I though it was a bite, but wasn't certain as I've not dealt with a situation like this before.
I had a spare cage underneath the cage they was both in, it was my Twixy's cage before she passed.
I've took about 1 hour to 2 hours deep cleaning it etc. Then I put the exact things in the new cage.
So now I have 2 guinea pigs in 2 seprete exact cages. They have the same things to prevent
any unfairity. I'll make sure I clean the wound now thourghly to prevent infection.

Tommorow I'll check up on the wound again after cleaning it now, I'll also try intoducing them
to eachother again at floortime which is supervised (i'll have an oven glove just incase anything kicks off)
Maybe 8-10 hours will do them good apart, so they'll be eating and playing for floortime I hope (most likely will be ok).

Until then I havent got anymore updates.

Thanks to you guys I can know sleep knowing I won't wake up to a very hurt piggie.

If worst comes to the worst I'll keep them sepreated for the long run but maybe let them be together for floortime which is daily. Maybe that's what they need..


Again thanks guys. I'll keep you all updated. Night all! :hmm:
[/QUOTE]my boys had a bloody fight whilst I was at work ( they are 5 months) I saw no dominance or anything beforehand :/ I found it best to seperate them indefinitely just kept them side by side. They still enjoy floor time together and the more dominant one Poe tends to get fed up with Edgar after about an hour and a half and he starts bullying edgar again.Mine are brothers it's def a myth they always get on. Like everyone here says.. hormones take over. good luck with your 2 little ones. I put Sudocrem on Edgars wounds after cleaning with cooled saline worked wonders! Those wounds have healed with only one scar. tmp_2014-03-13 22.54.42-1317943219.webp
 
Thank You Sara, I've took in what you said but there was a bite on Popcorn which did look a bit saw so I've
made the choice to separate them for the night. Hopefully they can just be best friends and maybe not
roommates/brothers.
 
GloriousGuineaGirl said:
my boys had a bloody fight whilst I was at work ( they are 5 months) I saw no dominance or anything beforehand :/ I found it best to seperate them indefinitely just kept them side by side. They still enjoy floor time together and the more dominant one Poe tends to get fed up with Edgar after about an hour and a half and he starts bullying edgar again.Mine are brothers it's def a myth they always get on. Like everyone hear says.. hormones take over. good luck with your 2 little ones. I put Sudocrem on Edgars wounds after cleaning with cooled saline worked wonders! View attachment 7889
Click to expand...
Thank You and yeah I hope they still are besties! Hormones ay.. well I'll make sure popcorn sleeps without pain tonight, going to go clean his wounds up now.

I'm 99% certain there's only a tiny small wound on Popcorns back but I'll keep a close eye on it. It looks worse on camera as well. I'll get a clear shot tomorrow to hopefully rest some of your minds as well as mine. Thanks all I'm logging off now. Night
 
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Why am I getting the feeling that I've done something wrong? Like I've made a mistake.

Also a question.

Will my guinea pigs forget each other in like 24 hours? I want to wait a day or two before reintroduction, but will they have forgotten eachother? :(
 
if they have bitten each other introduction very rarely works. Please do not leave them unsupervised and if they are having a go at each other in floor time keep them totally seperate. Is there space to have the cages side by side so they can talk to each other so they dont get lonely? They need company even if they cant live together
 
I've monitored Popcorn & Bullets behaviour over the last 8 hours after separating them.
Popcorn seems to be fine, he's very calm & actually looking quite enthusiastic.
Bullet on the other hand doesn't. He's very stressed, angry & lonely. He keeps calling
for Popcorn which is making me very more upset due to the fact that yesterday morning
they snuggled up together eating there greens and was really happy together but now
there's been a little snap and a sudden-change.

I've gave equal love to both of them and they have the same toys in there cage. Well I've tried to
but Bullet who was the quiet one, who I thought would never harm a fly attacked me about 3 times
as trying to pick him up. I tried hurdling him into the tube so he can have some of my attention.
But he doesn't want it and I've suffered a nasty bite which made me put him back in his cage(separate from popcorn).

I real really guilty and crap because of this. I have thoughts going through my head like;
Do I find them both a new home? (it's not in me to find only 1 a new home and the other stays with me).
Am I a good owner? (atm I feel like I'm not).

What do I do? I really don't want to have to give them up as I'd feel like a failure and I'd be guilty for ages.

I know most guinea pigs hate living on their own, are my two going to have a lonely sad life?
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It's very hard for me because as being under 16 I rely on my parents who help me with financial sides of things.
We were planning on building a c&c cage for them.. but I can't really calculate the full costs.
If your good with c&c cages costs can you tell me an average price to get a c&c cage like
'piggiepigpigs' on YouTube? - i'd appreciate it loads.

As I clean them out everyday as their in-door pets.. it's going to cost me double the amount I normally
pay. Which is going to suck a lot. Also it's going to take more time to clean them out etc with 2 cages.
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I'm really stuck on what to do, I need some help ASAP and honesty please. :( :(.
 
I'm going to see how things go for the next few weeks, hopefully build a c&c cage and half it so they still have contact just not physical contact. In the mean time they'll be loved by myself.
 
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It's nothing to do with you, what you have or haven't done, Luke. :) Rest assured its all to do with the piggies themselves. You may just have a dominant/dominant bond and this is what causes the fight. Usually two piggies will try and become dominant but the weaker or less after the role one gives in and takes the submissive role. Sometimes both refuse to give up and they end up fighting as your two boys have done. I've gone through this myself with the boy in my avatar and his cage mate. My avatar pig, Romano was the dominant but his submissive male friend, Arthur then decided he wanted to be dominant one day and started trying to hump and dominate Romano. Romano wasn't happy and kept running away and rumbling. Romano is a very placid and gentle yet dominant pig and wouldn't give in so once Arthur kept humping him nonstop he'd run away and eventually they ended up fighting. Arthur did most of the attack, Romano did the final attack with a bite to Arthur's mouth. The boys were split and I took Romano to a rescue and he ended up bonding with a very submissive, loving guinea pig. They're still together now.
All your piggies need are the right partner for them, a submissive piggie.

I'm sorry this happened to you. It can be hard to watch and sad when you have to make the choice on keeping both, giving one away and what to do. I cried a lot when I gave Arthur away but I knew it was best for Romano (I owned him first and got Arthur as a friend for him when Romano was a baby)

You can either keep your boys and get them a friend each, recommended by a rescue as they can 'boar date' for you to make sure the pigs get on and are a matching pair or you'd risk another fall out, neuter both and get one a girl each or give one away and either get the remaining a friend or wife.

CC cages are a lot cheaper than pet store cages. Pet store cages can go in the hundreds. I bought a mat, placed newspaper and then a bedding on top with the C&C bars around the cage size I wanted. This didn't cost much at all. I can't remember the exact price but possibly 30-50. I'm sure someone can answer better. You can make these cages any size you want whereas spending far more money you would get a 'tiny' pet store cage that wouldn't be big enough.

Male guinea pigs tend to need bigger cages then females too and two of everything unless extremely close bonded.
 
its nothing you have done and you have no need to feel guilty. You sound like a great owner. I have 10 sows in two groups because one out of both groups is very dominant and they had a full on fight within five minutes of meeting in neutral territory.In my group of six i have 4 babies and i know there is a chance of fights when they get older. If this happens i will have to split the group of six but i know it wouldnt be my fault.They may be fine side by side.
 
It's nothing you have done Luke. It happens to many of us. It's entirely down to the pigs themselves. The forum has so many threads with other people in the same position. Don't blame yourself at all.
 
Thanks for the support. I really can't give one away if I had to give up it'd be both of them as I had them together from the same litter.

I'm really stuck on what to do at the moment.
 
UPDATE

I've got a better perspective on things now I've slept a bit, I'm going to still build there C&C cage and I'm going to keep them separated but side-by-side to talk to each other if needing company. In the future we may be thinking of getting each of them neutered and getting them a girlfriend to keep them from getting lonely.

There now side-by-side on my bed for 8 hours so they have a little company, eating there greens and talking to each other so it's all looking good.

I'm not going to bother reintroducing them both as they seem fine talking to each other without physical contact. I'll keep you guys updated around the C&C Cage and around the 2 guinea pigs.

Here's a snapshot of them both munching on greens talking to each other, enjoying to be in there own space.

Thanks to everyone who helped/supported me. Means alot :yahoo:

IMG_1606_zps1d3834ae.jpg

Cant wait to sort them out a C&C cage and a possible girlfriend :P
 
My Edgar has def taken of the submissive role but Poe still tries to bully him and they were bonded brothers :( they live side by side and seem very happy with this. Edhar for a few days was scared and a bit snappy with me but after a few days settled again.prob like this because of what Poe had put him through. It's no reflection on you dear so please don't beat yourself up.. its nature taking its course
 
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