It's worse than having kids.....when on earth do the dominance issues settle down?

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Teejay

Teejay

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Hi all, well my two 5 month boars are back to bickering again.......90% of the time, they are best friends, but the rest of the time, they're teeth chattering, rumble strutting and nosing off to each other.......if I'm there, I do keep an eye on them, but I generally pretty much ignore it and let them get on with it.

Last night, though, they really went for each other and were seriously scrapping.......there was one big ball of guinea pig fluff careering round the cage.....it was horrible!

Thankfully, we now have the three story cage, so we managed to separate them.......Squeak currently has the top two levels and Pudding has the bottom level. I had to leave them separated like that overnight and they'll stay apart for the whole of today, as I'm out at work all day and I want to supervise them when they go back in together.

Like I said earlier, though, they are BFF for 90% of the time. It's wierd.....there's no clear dominant. Pudding seems to be the dominant, but Squeak never let's it rest, he's always challenging. But Squeak does seem to come out as the underdog - Pudding often has a clump of Squeak's fur in his mouthe after a fight. :(

I'm not liking this, I know it's natural, but does anyone know when they'll finally settle down (if, in fact, they ever settle down)? :{

Tracey
 
i have the same problem with my 5. 1 neutered male and 4 females. one of mine gets chased around everywhere and nipped. its horrible. so i'v split them into 2 groups nowmallethead
 
Fitz and Roy are now 9 and 18 months, and bar the time I put Charlie next to them and set Fitz off, they've been well settled for a couple of months now, my old boys were fine after 9 months really.
 
To fight to the extent of being a ball of rolling round the cage is serious. Does anyone have any wounds? If not they've been lucky.

Spring seems to have an effect, my pair of boys have their moments, they're both over 18 months old & have lived together since the youngest was 6wks old. Thankfully it never escalates into anything more than a few nose-offs.

If you try your boys together when you're there & they're fine again what will you do with them when you go to work or go out? If they were to kick off whilst you were out, they could end up with nasty wounds inflicted on one another. I personally would keep them separated.

Some boars will re-bond to their ex-mates others don't forget their foes.
 
its depends on the pigs you cant rush it sometimes it settles after a week sometimes months
 
Hi, just out of curiosity and being a relatively new piggy mummy, does neutering help in these situations? I'm more familiar with rabbits and I know this works in 99% of cases. Not wishing to hijack the thread, but I'd be interested to know? Thanks.

On topic, I have two girls and the smaller of the two Miss Marple is much more dominant than the larger Agatha Christie. Poor Aggy was having to put up with a little bit of chasing and humping last night, but luckily there has never been any aggression rolleyes
 
I am in the process of introducing two boars as Dale's brother recently died. They have been a few scraps resulting in scrathes and a swollen lip so we separate them when we are at work although they are next to each other so can see/smell each other and then put them together when we are home so we can monitor them. They seem to be getting better.

Like others have said, you need to be careful that they don't huty each other when you aren't at home!
 
Hi all, thanks for the replies.......it seems like this is 'it' for quite a long haul then :(

To Niki, yes, they really properly fought; normally, it's a bit of posturing, a bit of mounting, a bit of fluffing up, and a bit of teeth showing and that's pretty much it, they go back to being best friends again. I had a good look at both of them, and I couldn't see any wounds, just a bit of fur in the cage (and Pudding had some fur in his mouth).

They had a big fall out about 6 weeks ago, and, after some time out, they went back in together happily (until last night, of course).

I know what you mean though; they have to be left unsupervised at some point, and it goes without saying that that's a massive worry, but the only other alternative is to give up on re-bonding them and keeping them separate for good. We could do that in the 3 storey cage, but it wouldn't be ideal, I'd much prefer them to live together if it was at all possible.

To Jules7, I understand that neutering piggies has absolutely no impact on their beahaviour whatsoever. If it did, it would solve all of my problems in an instant :(

Maybe we should do what you do Kimmy619; put them together when we can supervise them and then separate them when we're not around.

Grrr.....why can't they just get along with each other? :(

Tracey
 
Jules7 said:
Hi, just out of curiosity and being a relatively new piggy mummy, does neutering help in these situations? I'm more familiar with rabbits and I know this works in 99% of cases. Not wishing to hijack the thread, but I'd be interested to know? Thanks.

On topic, I have two girls and the smaller of the two Miss Marple is much more dominant than the larger Agatha Christie. Poor Aggy was having to put up with a little bit of chasing and humping last night, but luckily there has never been any aggression rolleyes
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Sadly not. Neutering guinea pigs only stops the ability to reproduce, it doesn't affect behaviour.

Girls can be as bad & sometimes worse than boys especially when they're in season rolleyes
 
Teejay said:
Grrr.....why can't they just get along with each other? :(

Tracey
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I have asked myself this question over & over again over the years. At one point i had 5 single pigs (4 boars, 1 sow).

I'm glad neither boy had any wounds, i have seen some horrific injuries inflicted & not just boar to boar but sow to sow (none of my own).

I really do hope the boys will re-bond & having them together whilst you're around, separate when you're not is a good idea - it may just work & if you don't try it you'll never know. There is no hard & fast rule with them, they are all individuals. Good Luck. :)
 
There is a new hormonal implant (Suprelorin) for boars. It takes approximately three weeks to take effect, and lasts up to 2 years in Guinea Pigs.

The implant costs around £80 and is a bit bigger than a micorchip, my vet who is piggy Savy, said it is very effective in other animals. What it does is effectively block the Testerone.

I don't know anyone that has tried this and like anything I'm sure there will be risks involved.

It was one of the most interesting arcticles in the Guinea Pig Magazine was quite disappointed that they decided to neuter rather than try this option as I would be intrigued to know if it worked.
 
flintstones said:
There is a new hormonal implant (Suprelorin) for boars. It takes approximately three weeks to take effect, and lasts up to 2 years in Guinea Pigs.

The implant costs around £80 and is a bit bigger than a micorchip, my vet who is piggy Savy, said it is very effective in other animals. What it does is effectively block the Testerone.

I don't know anyone that has tried this and like anything I'm sure there will be risks involved.

It was one of the most interesting arcticles in the Guinea Pig Magazine was quite disappointed that they decided to neuter rather than try this option as I would be intrigued to know if it worked.
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oohh that's interesting to know, if any of mine were to fall out I would give that a go provided it was deemed safe, as I hate the idea of neutering them and really don't want any more piggies- so does the dominant boar have it then or both of them?
 
Teejay said:
Maybe we should do what you do Kimmy619; put them together when we can supervise them and then separate them when we're not around.
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Please don't keep seperating them and then putting them back together, they have to start from square one and it doesn't help.
Sadly I think your boys just don't want to live together.
I've been through it with twins George and Gerry. They were fine together a lot of the time but Gerry would bully and peck at George. They then had a big fight and were one big bundle of fur. I found tufts of hair in the cage and on close inspection of George found bite marks and scabs. One of the bites got infected and turned into an absess and had to be drained under GA.
Please don't let them carry on fighting. As my vet said, a bite is one thing but it could be an eye next time that gets hurt in a fight then we'd have a much bigger problem.
Since the boys have been seperated I've seen George blossom into a lovely happy pig who's always popcorning and happy to see you and is the loudest most confident pig I know, a far cry from the nervous, silent little pig always in the corner.
Although it's a really hard thing to do there can be a positive out come.
 
flintstones said:
There is a new hormonal implant (Suprelorin) for boars. It takes approximately three weeks to take effect, and lasts up to 2 years in Guinea Pigs.

The implant costs around £80 and is a bit bigger than a micorchip, my vet who is piggy Savy, said it is very effective in other animals. What it does is effectively block the Testerone.

I don't know anyone that has tried this and like anything I'm sure there will be risks involved.

It was one of the most interesting arcticles in the Guinea Pig Magazine was quite disappointed that they decided to neuter rather than try this option as I would be intrigued to know if it worked.
Click to expand...

This is very interesting, something I'd like to find out more about. I've been considering getting Gerry neutered but I'm not convinced he would match with even a girl. He's agressive towards even the most laid back guinea pig.
 
Hi Niki and katiepops......last night, we did (very briefly) put the ramps back up so they could find each other if they wanted to (i.e. we didn't actually force them to be together), but the teeth chattering and the stand offs started immediately, so we split them back up before the fighting started......and it would've started, no doubt about it.

So, we'll be keeping them apart for the time being........when I get the chance, I'll give them both a buddy bath and try one more time in a completly stripped out and disinfected cage, but, if that doesn't work, that'll be it, no more pushing the issue.

Actually, I know it's early days, but they really don't seem even slightly bothered about being alone. They can hear each other, but not see each other, but they seem quite happy. Pudding, who wouldn't let me touch him at all when they were together, now lets me stroke him in the cage! So that's a good develoment.

To flintstones; that's very interesting about the implant! If it's an implant, they may be able to do it under local anaesthetic, so less risks. Hmmmmm...

Tracey
 
Both pigs have to have to have implants, I believe it is done under GA but carries less risks than neutering.
 
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