Baby boars beahviour - new to guineas

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JayeUK

Hello everyone,

Sorry if this is a repeat - I have looked through the boards and I have read a few posts similar, but thought I would get on opinion on our situation directly.

Yesterday after doing some research an deciding on guineas we picked our guineas up from the breeders. We got 2 boys and named them Squiffy and Squibbles. They were housed together for the previous week along with other babies but they are not litter mates. They are the same size and only a few days apart in age. Currently they are in a smaller habitat whilst we finish building a C&C house for them out in the conservatory. They are the cutest little guys.

Our only present concern is that they seem to bicker a lot. They will wiggle their hips and make a bit of a purring noise at each other. A grumble, maybe you'd call it. Then, there will be a few moments of chasing.

They have 2 houses and will occasionally bicker over houses but will also cuddle up and sleep together. I have seen one nip but not bite the other. No blood drawn and no squealing.

Is this just normal settling in? Will this likely get better when their C&C cage is finished? Is there anything we can do to help them settle in?

Thanks for any help you can give.

~Jaye
 
Welcome to the forum!

How old are your boys?

It could be just normal settling in, have a look at the 'Boars - dominance displays...' thread which is a sticky at the top of this section.

Rumbling and chasing is fairly normal for young / teenage boars, especially if they're still settling in. They do need lots of space and giving them 2 food bowls etc. can help so they don't have to get precious about resources

Sophie
x
 
Dominance is a fact of life in guinea pig society - even with two piggies, you will always get a sort out for top piggy and underpiggy.

WE have a very good sticky thread about about boar behaviour at the top of the behaviour section. http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

You may find a lot more information at the head of the other sections. We also have a collection of informative threads that aim to answer the most frequently asked questions in the "reference" section. It is really worth reading through them first!

Wishing you best of luck with your boys.
 
Thanks for the replies. I think I was unclear on my first post, but I had read the sticky in the forum on boars. I guess I am just looking for a little reassurance....lol.

They are little - 5 weeks old and 6 weeks old, I believe.

I had read in the books that bad behaviour was supposed to happen as they got older, but I guess I was just a little surprised about it when they are so ickle. lol.

I think, if I had to guess, that it is the small environment. They have 2 houses, but I just don't think enough room. That will be resolved in the next 24 hours or so, so I guess I will just hang tight. I was thinking it might be good to make 2 separate areas for each pig in the C&C cage and just have a kind of shared play area sort of thing. That way they can each have their own territory to retreat to, so to speak.

We will also get separate water bottles and food bowls now - I think that may help.

I guess I am just a nervous new owner. I am really worried that we made a mistake getting boars instead of sows. I know it is silly, but we went against our original plan to get sows because these 2 little boys were just so sweet and we seemed to 'click' with them.

Perhaps a bad choice?
 
Read the thread on introductions and you will see that this is absolutely normal and necessary behaviour and actually very low level.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562

You also have to brace yourself for a repeat of this behaviour whenever you put your boys in a new cage or other fresh territory. Males always have to redefine their relationship as soon as vital circumstances change.
 
THis is quite normal for boars even young ones. They will be just be showing off to each other, the purring and swinging there bottom around is sometimes called rumble strutting and the boars use it to show off to the girls and getting ready to mate with them.
As long as they have a big cage with 2 houses/hidey hole, two feed bowls, 2 drinkers then they should be fine and live happy together.
There will be squables like there is with any animal but it should mostly be fine.
Hope the piggies are doing well:)
 
Thanks for everyone's help. The C&C cage will be pretty much finished tomorrow so hopefully the increase in space will help.

They are still doing their little rumbly thing with each other and Squibbles seems to want to make sure Squiffy knows he's in charge. But Squiffy seems okay with it.

We have started to take them out and hold them for a few minutes at a time. We are feeding them goodies whilst we hold them and they seem to like it. Sometimes they will be held quite complacently, but other times they seem quite curious and want to explore our dressing gowns, etc. My 9 year old son is really enjoying them and can't wait until he gets to hold them next, so that is good. We keep 2 hamsters but my son doesn't enjoy holding them because they are dwarf hamsters and far too fast to hold. While we all enjoy watching the hamsters and feeding them treats, etc - this seems much more rewarding. I was shocked to find that they even have little facial expressions!

I will update as things progress - hopefully for the best.

~Jaye
 
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