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Opiggy

Opiggy

Junior Guinea Pig
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I just woke up in the middle of the night to one of my guinea pigs relentlessly chasing the other. He was teeth chattering loudly and chased non stop. It looked like he may also have been trying to mount. I don't know if i need to separate them. Should I for there happiness? I am not sure what to do and I feel bad because the piggy I had first when it was just me and him is getting chased and I feel like he has been condemned to an unhappy life of being chased.
 
How old are they? If they are teenagers they may be experiencing a hormone spike
How long have they been together?
How big is your cage?

Please do not separate them unless they have a fight.
Chasing is a normal dominance behaviour. If you separate for dominance then you disrupt their normal behaviours

boureki

Thread 'Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs'

1 List of dominance behaviours in ascending order of aggression
2 What may cause this type of behaviour in boars?
3 When do you see these behaviours in sows?
4 What can trigger fall-outs?
5 Further helpful guide links


I thought it may be handy to have a sticky on typical dominance behaviours for a reference - hopefully it may help humans understand guinea pigs and their behaviour a bit more and hopefully prevent some avoidable problems!


1 List of dominance behaviours...
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Wiebke

Thread 'A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars'

1 Common myths and misconceptions
2 The different ages (including teenage)
- Important biological facts
- The formative 'School Weeks' (3 weeks - ca. 4 months)
- The Teenage Months (ca. 4-14 months)
- The Adult Years (ca. 15 months - ca. 4-5 years)
- The Golden Age (ca. 4-5 years until end of life)
3 What do boars need? (List of boar dos and don'ts)
- Space, space and more space!
- Respecting the hierarchy
- The 'one for each...
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They have a 5x2 c&c cage they have been together for about a year and they so they are both maybe a year or a year and a half. The chasing pig has also been sneezing a lot even when not eating I heard they may be more aggressive when sick
 
I understand I should not separate them, when i did temporarily my other piggy was finally able to lay down and eat hay.
 
Piggies still get hormone spikes even at that age.
Sneezing is typically a sign of nasal irritation - hay dust for example being in the nose.
Sneezing is generally not a first sign of being unwell with a respiratory infection. It can however occur if there has ever been a respiratory infection which was not properly treated at the time.

If you are worried he is unwell, then please switch from the routine weekly weight checks and step in with daily weight checks and also see a vet.

Chasing is not aggression.

If there has been an underlying problem in their bond then if one is unwell it can sometime allow the other piggy to try to take over but that doesn’t seem to be what you are saying.
 
Boars will always have the occasional chase especially at this age its hard to live with anyone without falling out every once in a while. As long as they don't actually fight/draw blood let them do their thing I'm sure they'll figure things out.
 
Hopefully it will just be them being boars and nothing serious 🤞🏻
 
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