Hellz
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi everyone,
I am a new guinea pig owner and just have some questions regarding behaviour of boars.
I bought my pigs from Pets at Home, mainly because I wasn't aware there were guinea pig breeders, at the start of June. I chose 2 boars which I assumed were from the same litter because they were the same size, and for the first few weeks they were fantastic. We called them Toffee and Sprinkles and although they weren't particularly cuddly with each other but still seemed to get along. I did loads of reading in books and on various websites regarding behaviour so was watching out for all the signs.
Around the start of July they started to rumble strut and purr and nose off and lots of other little displays of dominance and then I noticed they were having the odd little fight though no blood was ever drawn and it was literally over in a few seconds. Then it seemed to die down and it seemed as if Sprinkles had established himself as the dominant one.
However, in the last week, Toffee briefly started challenging again, though only for a few days. Now he has stopped again, but Sprinkles will not stop chasing him. No blood has ever been drawn and scuffles have been literally about 4 or 5 since I bought them, but I am worried that Toffee is being bullied. He is still eating and drinking, but tenses whenever he hears Sprinkles move and if Sprinkles goes anywhere near him, he runs to the opposite side of the cage. He can only relax and sleep when Sprinkles does. There are in a 2 x 6 C&C cage - is this big enough? I did put a divider in for an hour after Sprinkles had been relentlessly chasing him for over an hour and after having a little sleep, they both started to bite the bars next to each other and wouldn't leave each others sides, so I took it away and all was fine for a little while but then the constant chasing started again. All other dominance displays seem to have stopped, it is literally just chasing now. No fights, no rumbling, nothing else and as I mentioned earlier, they have never even attempted to draw blood.
Basically, I just was looking for some advice on what to do. Does this sound like normal dominance or bullying? Toffee is very very quiet but he still moves around and will still eat and drink and run up to the side of the cage when he hears his veggies being prepared. He just can't stand to be anywhere near Sprinkles and Sprinkles does not seem to want to leave him alone. Should I separate or leave them, and how long is too long for chasing which is constant?
Any advice anyone may have would be gratefully received! Thank you!
I am a new guinea pig owner and just have some questions regarding behaviour of boars.
I bought my pigs from Pets at Home, mainly because I wasn't aware there were guinea pig breeders, at the start of June. I chose 2 boars which I assumed were from the same litter because they were the same size, and for the first few weeks they were fantastic. We called them Toffee and Sprinkles and although they weren't particularly cuddly with each other but still seemed to get along. I did loads of reading in books and on various websites regarding behaviour so was watching out for all the signs.
Around the start of July they started to rumble strut and purr and nose off and lots of other little displays of dominance and then I noticed they were having the odd little fight though no blood was ever drawn and it was literally over in a few seconds. Then it seemed to die down and it seemed as if Sprinkles had established himself as the dominant one.
However, in the last week, Toffee briefly started challenging again, though only for a few days. Now he has stopped again, but Sprinkles will not stop chasing him. No blood has ever been drawn and scuffles have been literally about 4 or 5 since I bought them, but I am worried that Toffee is being bullied. He is still eating and drinking, but tenses whenever he hears Sprinkles move and if Sprinkles goes anywhere near him, he runs to the opposite side of the cage. He can only relax and sleep when Sprinkles does. There are in a 2 x 6 C&C cage - is this big enough? I did put a divider in for an hour after Sprinkles had been relentlessly chasing him for over an hour and after having a little sleep, they both started to bite the bars next to each other and wouldn't leave each others sides, so I took it away and all was fine for a little while but then the constant chasing started again. All other dominance displays seem to have stopped, it is literally just chasing now. No fights, no rumbling, nothing else and as I mentioned earlier, they have never even attempted to draw blood.
Basically, I just was looking for some advice on what to do. Does this sound like normal dominance or bullying? Toffee is very very quiet but he still moves around and will still eat and drink and run up to the side of the cage when he hears his veggies being prepared. He just can't stand to be anywhere near Sprinkles and Sprinkles does not seem to want to leave him alone. Should I separate or leave them, and how long is too long for chasing which is constant?
Any advice anyone may have would be gratefully received! Thank you!
