Confusing behaviour

[bigpuzzled]

Hi,

I've ran into a dilemma. My 2 piggies Basil & Kale, both males and around 7/8 months old have all of a sudden done a 180. I've had them for about half a year and up until last week / 2 weeks ago, everything was great, ate from my hand, came to the side of the cage when I called, slept on my lap, didn't mind being handled etc. They've started being a bit snappy towards each other but no blood was ever drawn(I assume territorial behavior) so I decided to give them both a bath as recommended by other posts. A few days after the bath and nail trimming they've started being very dismissive of me and I'm lost as to what's wrong. They actively ignore me trying to hand feed them and go forage in their cage instead, and whenever I pick Basil up, the Kale starts aggressively chattering towards me. To my knowledge they have everything they need, plenty of hiding spaces, hay & veg, occasional pea flakes and fruit. I'm not necessarily a new guinea pig owner as I've owned a herd of 5 females a few years back however I have never dealt with or seen this sort of behavior. For the time being I'm trying to minimize contact with them and will only go into their room to refill their food and water and for cage cleans.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated as they're truly wonderful animals and I want the best for them.

 

[dhill_cb7]

Hello. Are they males? If so they are in their hormonal stage which can cause behavioral issues.

Also, bathes are not reccommended. I asked about this a few months back.

You need to be persistent and keep talking to them. Feeding them from your hand.

1 cup of veggies per day per pig. 1 tablespoon of pellets. Fruit seldomly not daily.

My Cappy rumblestruts Mokey all the time. Dominance behaviors.

Hope you can work this out.

 

[Piggies&buns]

They are teenage piggies now, at the height of hormones and showing dominance behaviours. As long as they want to be together, then they will be fine with each other and they need to be left to show these behaviours and sort their relationship out between them.
With boars space is key - a large cage measuring 180x60cm is best.

Which one is the dominant? You need to always ensure you handle and do anything for the dominant piggy first. If you deal with the submissive first, then it can cause the dominant to feel the need to enforce their dominance more.

Continue to offer food from your hand, talk to them. They will possibly go back to taking food from you in time.

Buddy baths are not recommended. It’s outdated advice to try to get piggies to like each other again but in reality it doesn’t work and can cause problems. Piggies are either compatible and can form a functioning relationship or they can’t and bathing has no effect on that.

A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[bigpuzzled]

Kale is the more dominant one, by far and when it comes to handling or feeding he's always first. Chatters even after he's had his go. They've got a 4x2 c&c which is a bit smaller and both have a hidey and a hammock on each side however Kale doesn't let Basil stay in any of those. Would it be a good idea to separate the piggies for the time being or atleast separate the cage in 2?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Kale is the more dominant one, by far and when it comes to handling or feeding he's always first. Chatters even after he's had his go. They've got a 4x2 c&c which is a bit smaller and both have a hidey and a hammock on each side however Kale doesn't let Basil stay in any of those. Would it be a good idea to separate the piggies for the time being or atleast separate the cage in 2?

If no fights have occurred, then it’s best to leave them together to sort things out between them. Separating is a major step so you need to be sure it’s the right thing to do in the case of a failing bond. If this is just normal teen behaviour then it’s best not to intervene.
You can carry out a temporary separation for a couple of days to let hormones settle if things become too much but it’s not something you want to do often (it can destabilise a bond). Doing a temp separation will give them a chance to make their decision about their relationship (if Basil is happier to be away from Kale then it is usually the deciding factor that the bond isn’t working). Any reintroduction must be done on neutral territory though.
If he is territorial over hideys, then removing the hideys which cause the problems can help. They can be replaced with cardboard boxes with two holes cut in

Splitting a 4x2 would leave each half too small. If they fight then doing so despite the cage size would be essential but the cage would need to be made bigger to accommodate them in each side if they had to live apart permanently.
If they are failing and need to be permanently separated then each piggy will need a 3x2 as a minimum but ideally a 4x2 each and the cages must be side by side so they can still interact through the bars

If they are able to remain together then expanding their cage to a 5x2 would be beneficial. Space really is important for a boar pair and a 4x2 is a little tight teen boars.

Bonds In Trouble

 

[bigpuzzled]

I was eventually planning on getting a 6x2 but that's 2-3 months down the line. I'll sort the new cardboard hideys right away. Should I wash the previous ones as they're plastic and wood respectively and then reintroduce them in the future? I've had to separate both piggies as of this post due to Basil biting Kale's ear (I assume in self defense). Their behavior really threw me off as this seemed to have happened over the course of a few days. I'm off to buy some saline solution as soon as shops open. I'll give them a few hours before I let them roam around in the hallway. As for my interactions with them, I hand fed & handled them once before work and 2-3 times in the evening. Should I keep this up, decrease it or increase?

Many thanks for the advice in advance and I'll try to keep this thread as up to date as I can.

 

[Piggies&buns]

If there has been a bite and you’ve separated, then don’t let them roam around together - they will need to roam one at a time. Give them a few days apart (but living side by side) to calm down and then try a neutral territory reintroduction (dont just remove the divider and let them wander into each others half). It will become clear during the reintroduction whether they can go back together or whether their separation needs to be made permanent.

If they can go back together, then only reintroduce the hides if they have two exits. Single exit hides are where problems occur and aren’t recommended to be used for boars in particular.

Interact with them as much as they tolerate - there's no 'rule' on this. Some piggies like interaction much more than others.