Another bite so have separated - v fed up

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lauraboara

lauraboara

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Really fed up today. :(
Found another bite on Sudoku this morning - this time on his nose so have separated the 2 boys. Am so v disappointed as I really wanted the pair to work.8...
Have found a temporary hutch for the bully Cheeky to stay in while I think of a plan. Any ideas how to move on?
Bath them and try again? Or start modifying hutch so they live together but with divider? It is hard to split living space because it is a 2 tier hutch.
Any ideas welcomed as v fed up.:(
 
Failed bondings are so very gutting and it is not always easy to decide when to draw the line.

Have you watched your boys after they have been separated? Was one boy noticeably perking up when alone or were they both pining for each other? This is usually not a bad guideline for deciding whether to give it yet another try.

If you reintroduce, please do so on neutral ground and after a bath, so any traces of testosterone have been removed. Also give the cage/hutch a good scrub, including the "furniture"!
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562
 
hey sorry to hear about your boys. I'm by no means an experienced boar behaviour expert but i got 6 boys so ill go by my own experience.

first how old are they? I'm guessing they are in their hormonal stages (usually kick in from 4 - 12 months) make or break time.

you said you found bite marks on one? if its deep give it alittle clean as you dont want any infections happening.

2 of my boys fell out, was really out of the blue when it did as i thought they had settled the ''I'm the boss'' arguement and one got a nasty wound so they were seperated by a mesh wall in their c&c cage so they still saw each other. after a little time apart i tried them together in a new area where neither had been before for a run together to see how that went down.. to my amazement they were fine but after cleaning out their cage so it didnt smell of either pig they werent happy to be that close to each other so again the mesh wall went back up.

after a good couple months of letting them run around together in a good open space and slept in seperate cages, wheeking through the mesh wall at each other i came to the conclusion that was for the best...... until one morning.

i couldnt believe it. one the pigs actually managed to get over the wall into the other pigs cage where i found them cwtched together in a corner fast asleep and they are still together now.


so my advice would be to leave the dust settle alittle, make sure they can see and smell each other so if you can side by side would be great. maybe bath them together then let them run around in a space they hadnt been before, * have a towel ready incase they attack each other* do this for a little while then by your judgement try them together in the cage again.

alot of the time once blood is drawn the chances of being re-introduced without fights are slim but not impossible.

if they really dont work together. then if you have space maybe look into rescues for bonding each of them with a younger boar.

hope this helps
 
We had two little brothers, Sully and Duke, they lived very happily together until.....hormones........UGH......now if i'd been more experienced and had some advice i'd have tried the rebonding.......but what whee came up with was divide their cage with a wire mesh divider........ they'd sit happily beside each other during the day chattering away :)) then i'd come home from work, lift up the divider, well one would come thru and sniff everything and be excited, the other would just go and hunt down the left over food........can you guess the agressor ? yeah the sniffy one (that was Duke) and the food hunter? (yup Sully) they lived this way for a number of years, but each night they'd happily play together upstairs or with their divider up.......they just couldn't live together the whole time.........Duke gave poor Sully hell (humping ugh) rolleyes

I hope you can get past this xx>>>xx>>>xx>>> try all the advice and see how you go xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
ive had the same problem with my boars, i have 3 one has now been separated from the other two and put in a hutch and run next to them...the one ive taken out just seems to dislike the one of the others intensely although i think they are brothers so this may be why. the two ive kept together get along great it just seems to be the naughty one causing the problems.

mine are at the hormonal stage so what ive done is kept them next to each other so they can see each other and touch noses etc when out in their run but they can t fight...they seem quite happy with this for now, however when i clean their hutches ive been putting them together with distractions food and toys and watching them to see how they do with each other now...scooter the naughty one still starts causing problems once he gets bored of the food but he seems to like having a bit of run time with them and it hasnt turned nasty again yet. (I'm always on stand by like a bouncer only armed with a towel lol) :))

so hopefully once theyre about 12 months old if they are kept in touch with each other i can get a huge cage and run made to give them as much space as possible and then try reintroducing them properly.

i dont know what the others on here would reccommend but i figured this was worth a shot and if theyre used to being next to each other and still have some level of contact then they may go back together one day..

If this doesnt work then ill have to find scooter a new hutch mate but for the minute he seems to be quite happy to just be able to chatter away to the other two! :{
 
I had two boys that were fighting - took them in to be castrated, now they get along fine rolleyes
 
Can i just say that cutting off your boys bits does not change a thing other than stop them producing baby guineas =)
 
chrissy88 said:
Can i just say that cutting off your boys bits does not change a thing other than stop them producing baby guineas =)
Click to expand...

I beg to differ - it gets rid of the hormone production that causes the behaviour. Nothing changed in my group apart from them being castrated, there's no other reason for their behaviour change.
 
Thank you to everyone for those posts and ideas

The boys (only 9 wks old) seem both quite sulky in separate accommodation - particularly the one who was doing the biting. The one who received the bites seems OK - sleeping a lot which may show he was v tired of being chased / on alert? They are still eating well:)

The vet saw them both today and give them all clear health check. Sudokus wounds are all fine and the vet could not find any that I have missed. Phew. The vet was very sceptical about them ever getting along.:(

I will try the bath before reintroduction - they are very skittish still so it might be interesting... I am also thinking about how to divide the hutch as per some of the other replies.
Does it ever happen that they can get along as adults after teenage spats?
 
My hubby made a little mesh divider that we literally slid down between them :) he used some beading and left a gap, this is what the mesh was slid into.....oh yeah and he made sure there was no sharp edges anywhere :)
As for getting along after their teen years? as i said above my boys did get along so much better once they were older, tho i never tried to rebond (experience now tells me that i should've had a go......)
GOOD LUCK xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
For boys to be fighting at such a young age is very unusual. It is more likely that they simply don't like each other rather than it bieing a hormonal reason.

If you do intend to try to reintroduce them I would do it sooner rather than later, if it fails again then wait several months so that their hormones have settled. Hormones can be a problem from 3-12 months, with 6-10 months being the strongest.

I have one young male, Jackson, who was challenging the dominant male at 6 weeks and he would not back down, he had to be seperated and now that he is 8 months his hormones are settling earlier than usual and I'm hopeful of bonding him soon.

This thread may be of use, also see the link to male behaviour.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562

If at all possible the housing should be at least 4 ft x 2 ft on a single level - when bonding I find pigs that can lose sight of each other by being in hideys or on different levels are more likely to fight when in the same space again.

HTH

Suzy x
 
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Thank you to Suzygpr and Glynis for the extra advice.:)

The vet also agreed with Suzygpr that since they were not getting on from such an early age that it was a basic clash of personalities.:(

I have also seen that hideys seem to make it worse for my two boys - one would appear from a hidey and get chased - seem better with open space.

I am trying to get my head around them living separately with barriers - still pretty devasted because it feels wrong for such young, herd animals but reading other recent threads, pairings can go wrong at various stages!

The more aggressive piggy Cheeky seems quite low still after the separation - and they have both gone backwards in confidence with humansmallethead
Any hints to help them settle apart?

Wow - piggies are proving quite a challenge!
 
Just make sure you make a fuss of them alot. They will be fine with people again. They **** felt safer when in a pair (even though they were fighting).
 
Lol i don't know why there's ** i put probably unless my phone decided something else lol
 
Ow

Well after almost two weeks of Brian and Eric being separated and only seeing each otherbin thecrun I thought I would try them together but did not have a towel! :( they immediately went to war I have the most wonderful bite courtesy of brian.pow-pow
I have threevand ernie does not stress out with either boy so am considering having him swap factions on a regular basis, so neither boy gets lonely also the others may get used to sharing ernie as a freind and this may create a bond.
Has anyone tried this. ?/What do people think is it a good idea. They are all hormonal at present.mallethead
 
Simpiggy said:
Well after almost two weeks of Brian and Eric being separated and only seeing each otherbin thecrun I thought I would try them together but did not have a towel! :( they immediately went to war I have the most wonderful bite courtesy of brian.pow-pow
I have threevand ernie does not stress out with either boy so am considering having him swap factions on a regular basis, so neither boy gets lonely also the others may get used to sharing ernie as a freind and this may create a bond.
Has anyone tried this. ?/What do people think is it a good idea. They are all hormonal at present.mallethead
Click to expand...

i'd put this as a totally new thread love........... this is one for the girls/guys who've done a combo like this..
i've not had to deal with this before, sorry
BUT wishing you all the best xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
gplearner said:
Thank you to Suzygpr and Glynis for the extra advice.:)

The vet also agreed with Suzygpr that since they were not getting on from such an early age that it was a basic clash of personalities.:(

I have also seen that hideys seem to make it worse for my two boys - one would appear from a hidey and get chased - seem better with open space.

I am trying to get my head around them living separately with barriers - still pretty devasted because it feels wrong for such young, herd animals but reading other recent threads, pairings can go wrong at various stages!

The more aggressive piggy Cheeky seems quite low still after the separation - and they have both gone backwards in confidence with humansmallethead
Any hints to help them settle apart?

Wow - piggies are proving quite a challenge!
Click to expand...

mmmmmmmm what about getting them a teddy each?
i used a teddy for my boy that lost his mate (the one he couldn't live with! tho they loved to chat to each other all the time thru the mesh)
oh yeah make sure no eyes they can bite off or other bits too ( i had to take off the eyes that were like buttons........i drew on eyes instead with non toxic marker)

give them lots of TLC x)

maybe someone else has some more tips ?
 
Update on separated boys

After lots of thinking and asking lots of questions (Thanks to Millhaven Rescue and Bramley Cavies rescue for advice) I have decided to keep the 2 boys apart. Any attempt at reintroduction went straight to 'fight mode' and I don't want more injuries.

Since they are still only v young and already fighting, the conclusion seems to be they are both dominant males who don't like each other v muchmallethead. The children are already v attached to them and so am I so trying another pairing at this point seemed hard and also may not work if they are both dominant at 10 weeks!

So I have ordered a custom made big, one level hutch and will have a mesh divider between them so they can still chat. If they then calm down a bit I will try a reintroduction in a while. Thanks to everyone for ideas and I will post a pic of their new house when it arrives:)
 
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