Guinea Pig Injured/boar trio

[Gelain]

Hello,
My name is Heitor and own 3 male guinea pigs, whom I will refer to as Panda, Piccolo, and Pina Colada, of almost 2 years of age (I've had them for a little over a year now).

They have a 100cm by 50cm enclosure with 2 stories. I let them out to exercise in my backyard 2 - 3 times a week (depending on the season and weather).

They have always displayed territorial aggression towards eachother and occasional fights but never injured one another. However, today, when i was cleaning their setup I saw that one of them (Panda, whom also used to be the biggest and meanest) was blind of one eye. I removed him to examine and had recent bruises, scratches and bites all over his body. He has lost a lot of weight.

I've applied a safe antiseptic to his wounds and separated him from the other 2. (I have closed the stairway entrance in their enclosure forming 2 separate spaces).

It is currently night, however, I plan to take him to a vet as soon as possible.

What can I do? If he recovers, can he be mixed with them again? If so, how do I stop this from happening again?

Thanks in advance.

 

[weepweeps]

Welcome to the forum. I’m so sorry Panda has been injured. You’ve done the right thing by separating them. They will not be able to go back together now serious injuries have occurred.

I really think you should take him to the emergency vets this evening. At the very least he will be in pain and need some pain medication. Also eyes go downhill very quickly and if you delay he may lose sight in the eye. A quick diagnosis may result in saving his eye. Good luck. I hope he’s ok.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please see an emergency vet tonight.
All UK vets are covered by an out of hours service so it doesn’t matter that it is night time now - he can be seen.
Call your normal practice number and their answerphone will provide details on which vet practice covers them out of hours.

If he has lost weight then also step in with urgent syringe feeding. Our emergency guide is below

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

I’m sorry to tell you that your cage is nowhere near big enough even for one piggy, let alone three boars. That could explain why they have had issues previously.

A 100x50cm cage is unsuitable for guinea pigs and doesn’t meet minimum welfare requirements. Two storeys does not count towards a the cage size as piggies need their cage to be big enough on a single ground.
120x60cm is the smallest size for a single piggy or a pair of sows but for boars that size increases greatly.

For two boars, the cage needs to be 180x60cm on a single level.

Due to the fact boars find it very hard to make a functioning and long lasting relationship when you try to keep more than two together, the space required increase greatly.
For anybody attempting a boar trio they need to provide a cage on a single level of a minimum of 300x100cm.

So, unfortunately now they have had such a serious fight they must never be put back together. Their bond is sadly broken.

You should increase the cage size for the pair to the recommended 180x60cm on a single level.
For the single piggy, he cannot remain above them long term as it removes the ability to interact.
Even if they cannot live together in the same cage, they must still be able to communicate through the safety of bars (to prevent loneliness in the single piggy). Therefore he needs to be on the ground level alongside the pair and his cage needs to measure a minimum of 120x60cm to comply with minimum welfare requirements.

I hope he is ok

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

 

[Gelain]

Update on my guinea pigs.

I have posted previously regarding the health of one of my guinea pigs which I believed was beaten up by the other 2.

I ran him (panda) over to the vet after the incident and he is now recovering fine. Unfortunately he is still blind of one eye, however, the bites and cuts are looking good now.

Ever since I had to separate the 2 (piccolo and Pina colada) from panda, I have let them out for 30 minutes every day on the garden to see how they got along and if panda was able to socialise with any of them. I noticed that panda would stay close to Pina colada but would run from piccolo. Similarly, I noticed Pina colada too was avoiding piccolo. I decided to put Pina colada and panda together and separate piccolo to test it out and, as it turns out, it seems they still have a bond. Piccolo was the one who bullied panda and, seemingly, Pina colada too (he had a single bite wound on his lower back of which is now recovering).

I am currently building an enclosure that is 2 meters by 2 meters and is 3 stories high. I will probably take another 2-3 weeks to build it.

Will I be able to keep them all together in this new setup? Or should I entirely separate piccolo from the other 2 as he has grown too aggressive? Will the aggression tone down given time away from the other two?

Thank you for reading and for your concern,

Heitor.

 

[Julie M]

Hi, boar trios rarely work out and if they've been fighting it's recommended not to put them together, they could seriously injure each other. It's best to have a pair that get along and a single that lives alongside. It's not that your boy is "aggressive" it's simply that boars aren't wired to live in trios. You could also take your single boar dating to choose his own friend at a reputable rescue. Guinea pigs don't do "playdates" and every meeting is seen as a bonding to them, this could cause the stable pair to fall out so I recommend keeping them in their normal pairings.

 

[Piggies&buns]

They must remain separate at all times - living as a pair and a single piggy. No putting them together at all.
The failure in their bond isn’t because of aggression, he isn’t aggressive. They simply are not character compatible. They will never be able to live together as a trio due to incompatibility.

To add though a three storey cage is not how piggies need to live.
They need single level living, and now they are separated they need to be side by side.
So you need a single level enclosure measuring 180x60cm for the pair; and a single level enclosure of a minimum of 120x60cm for the single piggy. Their cages need to be side by side so they can interact between the bars at all times. A single piggy cannot live above the others as it removes the ability to interact and the single piggy will become lonely.

So I would split the cage in half so each side measures 200x100cm using mesh panels up the middle so they can still see each other and interact between the bars, and leave it on one level - put the pair on one side and the single on the other.

I have merged your two threads and moved them to the behaviour section of the forum.