I would appreciate any help & advice!
I've had my two bonded males for about 6 months now; one is a year & a half old, and the other is 9 months old. The older piggie has always been Mr. Dominance, and the 9 month old has always easily submitted. I was out of town for one night & my husband took care of them. When I got home late last night & checked in on them I noticed the older male was doing an awful lot of chasing & mounting. Just constant chasing around their enclosure, which I've never seen as long as I've had them. The younger male continued to run away, would stop and allow the older one to mount him, and then run again when the older one wouldn't stop/would become more aggressive. The younger one never fought back, but the older one also never stopped chasing, even with food as a distraction. I separated them for a few minutes to give them a break and they both pancaked (probably from exhaustion as I don't know how long this had been going on before returning home). I checked them both over- no injuries. After about 10 minutes I put them back together and the chasing continued....I know separating males is never a good idea until there is blood because their bond can break, but it seems to me it is already breaking? After watching the chasing for another 30 minutes or so, I divided their encloser in half with grids so that they could still see each other, but have their own space to help them relax & rest as by this point it was well passed 3:00 AM. I just feel so bad for my younger little guy, as he was never fighting back, always running, & my older guy was just constantly on the hunt. They currently live in a C&C 5X4. My plan right now is to create a new temporary enclosure in a new room in my home with clean fleece to put them together while I construct a new permanent enclosure in their room & make it a bit bigger to give them more room to run? Perhaps longer, rather than just a large square? They do currently have two water bottles, but only one kitchen, and they usually share one pellet/veggie bowl with no issue but I plan on buying a second due to this current issue.
This is a lot, but I would SO appreciate any help. I just don't understand the sudden change in my older piggie's behavior.
I've had my two bonded males for about 6 months now; one is a year & a half old, and the other is 9 months old. The older piggie has always been Mr. Dominance, and the 9 month old has always easily submitted. I was out of town for one night & my husband took care of them. When I got home late last night & checked in on them I noticed the older male was doing an awful lot of chasing & mounting. Just constant chasing around their enclosure, which I've never seen as long as I've had them. The younger male continued to run away, would stop and allow the older one to mount him, and then run again when the older one wouldn't stop/would become more aggressive. The younger one never fought back, but the older one also never stopped chasing, even with food as a distraction. I separated them for a few minutes to give them a break and they both pancaked (probably from exhaustion as I don't know how long this had been going on before returning home). I checked them both over- no injuries. After about 10 minutes I put them back together and the chasing continued....I know separating males is never a good idea until there is blood because their bond can break, but it seems to me it is already breaking? After watching the chasing for another 30 minutes or so, I divided their encloser in half with grids so that they could still see each other, but have their own space to help them relax & rest as by this point it was well passed 3:00 AM. I just feel so bad for my younger little guy, as he was never fighting back, always running, & my older guy was just constantly on the hunt. They currently live in a C&C 5X4. My plan right now is to create a new temporary enclosure in a new room in my home with clean fleece to put them together while I construct a new permanent enclosure in their room & make it a bit bigger to give them more room to run? Perhaps longer, rather than just a large square? They do currently have two water bottles, but only one kitchen, and they usually share one pellet/veggie bowl with no issue but I plan on buying a second due to this current issue.
This is a lot, but I would SO appreciate any help. I just don't understand the sudden change in my older piggie's behavior.
