Bonded Boars Bullying and Biting

[AliceDarke]

Hi,
I’m new to Guinea pigs and the forum. My daughters were desperate for guinea pigs so we have adopted 2 boars from a rescue. Bacon and Toastie.

The rescue said they were a bonded pair. However, the bullying started immediately Bacon would constantly bite Toastie’s behind at every opportunity. They teeth chatter at each other a lot. Toastie had a cut on his nose when he arrived, but the rescue said they had no problems with them.

We have a very large c and c grid cage with 2 of everything. And hideys with lots of exits. After 7 days we witnessed Bacon bite Toastie’s nose and has left a cut. So a brought some more c and c dividers and have separated the cage into 2.
They chat through the bars now. Toastie I think seems happier. Bacon seems okay but lies down a lot more. Both still eating fine.
Today they had floor time together and the biting started again. So after 30 mins we put them back in their respective cages.

So, my question is what do we do now?
Should we keep floor time together? Should we ever remove the divider? Can they live separately? Do we neuter one and get a sow to live with? Although that would mean one going back to rescue as we just don’t have room for 2 cages.
Any advice greatly received!
Thank you

 

[Piggies&buns]

When they move to a new home, they go through a period of reestablishing their relationship so seeing dominance during that time is to be expected, even in well bonded piggies. But the fact that you are reporting bites, one is happier to be away, and that biting started again when they were reintroduced for floor time does sound as if their relationship is problematic.

They will need to live in a divided cage as they can still interact through the bars. If you can only manage two piggies, then they will be fine living as neighbours, they won’t be lonely as they can interact through the bars. But space is a consideration there though as it does obviously require two separate cages and each cage needs to be big enough. 120x60cm as a minimum for each piggy; when it comes to c&c cages though a 2x3 each does meet the 8sq ft minimum, but a 2x4 each would be better

While they are single they need to be kept side by side for interaction but the benefit of c&c cages is that they can be stacked one on top of the other. This means that if you could neuter both and get each one of them a sow to live with, then you can stack the cages and have one pair at the bottom and one pair at the top.
Of course, that’s then four piggies and if you can only manage two but don’t have the space for two cages, then neutering one and bonding with a sow, and then surrendering the other is the alternative. Obviously that is a decision for you to make

Two piggies who cannot live together, cannot have floor time together - they need to be let out one at a time, they can’t have physical contact anymore.

Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Bonds In Trouble

 

[AliceDarke]

Thank you for the advice. We will do floor time separately from now on.
We really don’t want to get two more guinea pigs and we really don’t want to give one back. So that leave us with the divider. We are going to increase the size of the cage a bit- they do have the minimum that you said but would be nice to have more room each.
I do worry about loneliness though. Toastie the underpig has been chewing the bars a bit. Although I did also see him popcorn last night for the first time since the split. Bacon is still lying down a lot.
I think we should maybe watch them closely for the next few days just incase. We are new to guinea pigs so haven’t been able to handle them yet- but they’ve let us stroke them a bit. Hopefully they’ll be happier when we can do lap time.