I have two females, part of the reason we got girls was to avoid the issues with boys fighting with them being our first guinea pigs. We have a 4x2 C&C with a 2x2 loft so 6x2 total. We have an outdoor enclosure, floor size is 133cm by 115cm, with the upstairs part being 60cm by 115cm. Our girls swap between their indoor and outdoor space regularly and I move the outdoor pen each time to give them fresh grass to eat (it also saves me cutting it so much).
So scene set. My wife's work friend asked us if we could look after her two young boars. We thought, no problem, we have 2 spaces, one pair can be outside and one inside then swap them round every few days, easy enough. It would be have been nice if they could mix but we don't want babies so they can't. The boys are about 3-4 months I think and we have seen them fighting in both the indoor and outdoor spaces. There are plenty of hides with multiple entrances in, 2 water sources, 2 food bowls, 2 large piles of hay. This morning we found one boy with blood around his mouth, the other with teeth marks in his back and some fur on the ground. Clearly they had been fighting through the night.
I now don't know what to do, in all honesty I don't know much about boys other than they need a bit more space than girls. They do seem to spend their time on different levels of whichever enclosure they are in so they are avoiding each other. I am worried that any chance of them bonding is now gone, but they aren't ours, we just have them for two weeks. It's only day 3. Could it be the new space for them causing more stress and they will calm down? I do have some more C&C panels so could increase my indoor cage to 4x2 + 3x2 and remove the ramp to keep them separate. I would then worry they are lonely. They aren't our pets, so I also don't want to completely destroy any chance of them ever being happy together again.
I'll take any advice at this point.
So scene set. My wife's work friend asked us if we could look after her two young boars. We thought, no problem, we have 2 spaces, one pair can be outside and one inside then swap them round every few days, easy enough. It would be have been nice if they could mix but we don't want babies so they can't. The boys are about 3-4 months I think and we have seen them fighting in both the indoor and outdoor spaces. There are plenty of hides with multiple entrances in, 2 water sources, 2 food bowls, 2 large piles of hay. This morning we found one boy with blood around his mouth, the other with teeth marks in his back and some fur on the ground. Clearly they had been fighting through the night.
I now don't know what to do, in all honesty I don't know much about boys other than they need a bit more space than girls. They do seem to spend their time on different levels of whichever enclosure they are in so they are avoiding each other. I am worried that any chance of them bonding is now gone, but they aren't ours, we just have them for two weeks. It's only day 3. Could it be the new space for them causing more stress and they will calm down? I do have some more C&C panels so could increase my indoor cage to 4x2 + 3x2 and remove the ramp to keep them separate. I would then worry they are lonely. They aren't our pets, so I also don't want to completely destroy any chance of them ever being happy together again.
I'll take any advice at this point.