Cait_lin
Junior Guinea Pig
My two boars, Moss and Pumpkin, are 6-8 months old and seem to be going through a testosterone spike. Pumpkin has always been the dominant piggy and Moss has always been very submissive so it works quite well. The boys rumblestrut and teeth chatter a lot and sometimes toss their heads at each other but it never goes beyond that. Moss stands up for himself briefly and then backs down and retreats, and Pumpkin never chases him once he's left his territory. This morning I was trying to video Moss eating some hay because he looked really cute and then Pumpkin just came up and nipped him (video down below). Since then, Pumpkin's been rumblestrutting more, following Moss at times which he doesn't usually do -- it's always Moss goes somewhere where Pumpkin doesn't want him to be, then Pumpkin rumbles at him, Moss rumbles back and then retreats and Pumpkin is happy and leaves him alone. There's been more intense head-tossing and sort of rearing up as though they're about to fight. I'm keeping an eye on them but I can't be with them all hours of the day and I'm just worried about it escalating to more aggressive behaviour or a full-on fight where someone gets injured. While typing this, Pumpkin was moving towards Moss, who was drinking at one of the water bottles (I have two specifically so they don't get territorial over one and I've never seen Pumpkin be territorial over the water bottles before), and looking like he was about to nip him again so I quickly moved which frightened them both, unfortunately. Moss ran into a hide and a few minutes later Pumpkin also ran into the hide (he wasn't scared, which is the only reason one of the boys has ever gone into the same hide as the other before now, and there was another hide nearby so there was no reason for him to go in there other than to annoy Moss) and then ran back out again, leaving Moss chattering his teeth at him.
Took a break writing this to take Moss out of the cage because he was still in the hide and very quiet. Checked on him and put him in a carrier with some hay while I weighed Pumpkin, then weighed Moss. After I put them back in the cage together Pumpkin has been a bit less aggressive and now it's completely cooled down. They were eating hay together a few minutes ago and Moss has even been popcorning. They're basically back to their normal dynamic but I don't know when to expect it to go downhill again for a bit. I've been reading the guides Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs and Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next? but I still want to ask, to anyone who has or has had boars, how do you deal with the testosterone spikes? What do you do when you have to leave them alone and don't know if there will suddenly be aggression again, and is there a point (other than a full-blown fight or bad bite where blood is drawn) where you have temporarily separated your boars for their safety? Thank you so much.
Took a break writing this to take Moss out of the cage because he was still in the hide and very quiet. Checked on him and put him in a carrier with some hay while I weighed Pumpkin, then weighed Moss. After I put them back in the cage together Pumpkin has been a bit less aggressive and now it's completely cooled down. They were eating hay together a few minutes ago and Moss has even been popcorning. They're basically back to their normal dynamic but I don't know when to expect it to go downhill again for a bit. I've been reading the guides Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs and Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next? but I still want to ask, to anyone who has or has had boars, how do you deal with the testosterone spikes? What do you do when you have to leave them alone and don't know if there will suddenly be aggression again, and is there a point (other than a full-blown fight or bad bite where blood is drawn) where you have temporarily separated your boars for their safety? Thank you so much.