OneDaySale
New Born Pup
Background: Simon and Garfunkel are two young boars. Have had them for about 5.5-6 months, not 100% sure how old they were, but they've grown a fair amount (probably by ~40%).
I've heard them chitter their teeth before when scared, but much of the morning today they've been seeming a bit feisty with each other, with different sounds than usual. I've attached a video, hopefully you can hear them. They have been doing this face off, similar to how when you walk in the same path as someone coming towards you, and neither will turn or shift sideways and you end up chest to chest staring at each other. It's happened a few times this morning, but then they go back to eating hay next to each other or doing laps around the cage (a 5x2 c&c style cage). Sorry for the long background.
My Qs as a noob cavy dad:
1) is this just normal dominance stuff of teenage boars? They've chased each other around before, it just seems to have dialed up in intensity and sound and frequency today.
2) one of the two water bottles started leaking, so they're down to one water bottle, but it's been a few days and they hadn't seemed to have an issue sharing - could it be related to that? (None of the aggressive actions seem to be happening around drinking time/area
3) is there anything I can/should do to deescalate things when it's happening or now, when it isn't? Move stuff around the cage? Add a water bowl? (I did that the last two days, but it just becomes a poopy mess so quickly).
Hopefully you all will tell me I'm just being a nervous Nellie... but I really don't want them to fight and have to separate them.
Thank you!
I've heard them chitter their teeth before when scared, but much of the morning today they've been seeming a bit feisty with each other, with different sounds than usual. I've attached a video, hopefully you can hear them. They have been doing this face off, similar to how when you walk in the same path as someone coming towards you, and neither will turn or shift sideways and you end up chest to chest staring at each other. It's happened a few times this morning, but then they go back to eating hay next to each other or doing laps around the cage (a 5x2 c&c style cage). Sorry for the long background.
My Qs as a noob cavy dad:
1) is this just normal dominance stuff of teenage boars? They've chased each other around before, it just seems to have dialed up in intensity and sound and frequency today.
2) one of the two water bottles started leaking, so they're down to one water bottle, but it's been a few days and they hadn't seemed to have an issue sharing - could it be related to that? (None of the aggressive actions seem to be happening around drinking time/area
3) is there anything I can/should do to deescalate things when it's happening or now, when it isn't? Move stuff around the cage? Add a water bowl? (I did that the last two days, but it just becomes a poopy mess so quickly).
Hopefully you all will tell me I'm just being a nervous Nellie... but I really don't want them to fight and have to separate them.
Thank you!