Gus&Arlo
New Born Pup
Hi all!
I am a new Guinea pig owner and new to the forum (so I might be doing this all wrong!). I have had my pair of boar brothers, Gus and Arlo, since September. They are now 6 or 7 months old and over the last 2 nights some extreme dominance behaviours seem to have come out of nowhere!
(Just to note, Gus and Arlo both have plenty of hidey/bed areas all with multiple exits, 2 x feed bowls, 2 x water bottles and 2 x hay feeders and have free roam of our living room with lots of areas designated just for them, so they have A LOT of space!)
The two of them have lived harmoniously and been absolutely inseparable, until yesterday! Arlo has always been the dominant piggy but until now the only real “dominance” type behaviours I’ve seen the two of them do is a little bit of rumble strutting and Arlo humping Gus, which normally lasts seconds and is over before they both will happily popcorn off and then go into their preferred hidey to sleep (together!).
Since yesterday Gus seems to have decided to take on the dominant role, and it seems as though Arlo is submitting to that - he is letting Gus hump him and is just sitting pretty still and squealing. But Gus is incessant - he just will not leave him alone and it seems to just be pushing Arlo too far, to the point he is fighting back (I think through exhaustion and frustration).
This lasted only about an hour yesterday evening before they seemed to sort it out between them, but this evening it’s getting on 5 hours and it’s been constant - Gus just will not leave him alone. (I will say though if Gus walks away… Arlo follows him! So he may not be doing himself any favours there, bless him! But I figured he can’t be too scared/upset as he just seems to follow/chase after Gus and set the whole pattern off again?!)
As an anxious piggy mum I have been watching them intently for 5 hours terrified they might hurt eachother and have picked them up a few times just to double check they aren’t doing eachother any harm and neither one of them has even a scratch on them - despite what has turned into what looked and sounded like a couple of quite fearce scuffles (teeth chattering/standing on back legs/lunging at eachother). They both seem absolutely fine!
After 4 hours tonight I decided enough was enough and seperated them with a C&C cage barrier and they just seemed even more stressed to be seperated! I thought Arlo may appreciate the break from Gus but both paced up and down the barrier wheeking at eachother and furiously bit at the cage bars for over half an hour before I decided it seemed to just be stressing them out more - but they just went straight back to squabbling again!
I just don’t know what to do with them. This has gone on for hours this evening and now, finally, at 11:30pm they seem to have settled!
Will this be temporary maybe given it’s spring plus the hormone spikes boars get at this age? Should I just leave them to it and let them work it out? If Arlo seems to be submitting to Gus’ newfound dominance, why is he still continuing to terrorise poor Arlo?!
It’s so hard to watch especially when the squealing is just so loud and sounds like they are in pain!
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Hannah - a very stressed piggy mum! X
I am a new Guinea pig owner and new to the forum (so I might be doing this all wrong!). I have had my pair of boar brothers, Gus and Arlo, since September. They are now 6 or 7 months old and over the last 2 nights some extreme dominance behaviours seem to have come out of nowhere!
(Just to note, Gus and Arlo both have plenty of hidey/bed areas all with multiple exits, 2 x feed bowls, 2 x water bottles and 2 x hay feeders and have free roam of our living room with lots of areas designated just for them, so they have A LOT of space!)
The two of them have lived harmoniously and been absolutely inseparable, until yesterday! Arlo has always been the dominant piggy but until now the only real “dominance” type behaviours I’ve seen the two of them do is a little bit of rumble strutting and Arlo humping Gus, which normally lasts seconds and is over before they both will happily popcorn off and then go into their preferred hidey to sleep (together!).
Since yesterday Gus seems to have decided to take on the dominant role, and it seems as though Arlo is submitting to that - he is letting Gus hump him and is just sitting pretty still and squealing. But Gus is incessant - he just will not leave him alone and it seems to just be pushing Arlo too far, to the point he is fighting back (I think through exhaustion and frustration).
This lasted only about an hour yesterday evening before they seemed to sort it out between them, but this evening it’s getting on 5 hours and it’s been constant - Gus just will not leave him alone. (I will say though if Gus walks away… Arlo follows him! So he may not be doing himself any favours there, bless him! But I figured he can’t be too scared/upset as he just seems to follow/chase after Gus and set the whole pattern off again?!)
As an anxious piggy mum I have been watching them intently for 5 hours terrified they might hurt eachother and have picked them up a few times just to double check they aren’t doing eachother any harm and neither one of them has even a scratch on them - despite what has turned into what looked and sounded like a couple of quite fearce scuffles (teeth chattering/standing on back legs/lunging at eachother). They both seem absolutely fine!
After 4 hours tonight I decided enough was enough and seperated them with a C&C cage barrier and they just seemed even more stressed to be seperated! I thought Arlo may appreciate the break from Gus but both paced up and down the barrier wheeking at eachother and furiously bit at the cage bars for over half an hour before I decided it seemed to just be stressing them out more - but they just went straight back to squabbling again!
I just don’t know what to do with them. This has gone on for hours this evening and now, finally, at 11:30pm they seem to have settled!
Will this be temporary maybe given it’s spring plus the hormone spikes boars get at this age? Should I just leave them to it and let them work it out? If Arlo seems to be submitting to Gus’ newfound dominance, why is he still continuing to terrorise poor Arlo?!
It’s so hard to watch especially when the squealing is just so loud and sounds like they are in pain!
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Hannah - a very stressed piggy mum! X
it sounds quite stressful and if you weren't used to it you'd be forgiven for not knowing what's happening - but an all out fight, you'd know about it. If one pig was getting too stressed and is happier at being separated that's one thing and it's a sign they're better off as neighbours but from what you've said, I don't think you're at that point either.
I’ve read a couple of different solutions and just keen not to do anything that’s going to make it worse!
