danuutka
Junior Guinea Pig
I have a 1.5 year old boar Benio, who was bonded with little Ozzie who is now around 4- 5 months. They were bonded when Ozzie was about 6 weeks, and seem to get on fine, with some typical dominance behaviour going on.
Since the start, Benio was the dominant pig, with Ozzie usually making submissive noises in response to Benio rumble strutting. However, recently it seems that Ozzie is trying to challenge the hierarchy.. now some blood seems to have been drawn.
I watched Ozzie lash out at Benio when he tried to steal some food from him, which resulted in a bite mark on Benio’s nose (as well as some scratches from earlier on in the day). However, there didn’t seem to be any more aggression between them, just that one lashing out. Today, I came back from a long day out, and Benio has a cut on the underneath of his ear which seems pretty fresh. I can’t tell if it’s a bite mark or a scratch, because it’s only on the underneath of the ear, however there was some blood.
What do I do? Is this normal, or is this becoming the territory where I need to split them up? I’ve checked over both boys thoroughly and those seem to be the only “injuries”.
P.S. the boys have a 120cm cage (as suggested by the pet shop), but since I know this is too small, the boys are free to roam around my entire room all day and night, so they have so so so much space. Most of the time they sleep out of the cage anyway! Also they have two of everything, so I really don’t know what’s going on.
I have attached the picture of his nose after the bite.
Since the start, Benio was the dominant pig, with Ozzie usually making submissive noises in response to Benio rumble strutting. However, recently it seems that Ozzie is trying to challenge the hierarchy.. now some blood seems to have been drawn.
I watched Ozzie lash out at Benio when he tried to steal some food from him, which resulted in a bite mark on Benio’s nose (as well as some scratches from earlier on in the day). However, there didn’t seem to be any more aggression between them, just that one lashing out. Today, I came back from a long day out, and Benio has a cut on the underneath of his ear which seems pretty fresh. I can’t tell if it’s a bite mark or a scratch, because it’s only on the underneath of the ear, however there was some blood.
What do I do? Is this normal, or is this becoming the territory where I need to split them up? I’ve checked over both boys thoroughly and those seem to be the only “injuries”.
P.S. the boys have a 120cm cage (as suggested by the pet shop), but since I know this is too small, the boys are free to roam around my entire room all day and night, so they have so so so much space. Most of the time they sleep out of the cage anyway! Also they have two of everything, so I really don’t know what’s going on.
I have attached the picture of his nose after the bite.
