male guinea pig help

[princessamy]

Hi all iv just joined this forum in search of some advice.

So I brought 3 male guinea pigs yesterday from pets at home .I have a 2 storey hutch with 3 compartments .I can shut the upstairs area off from the downstairs,

Now one of the GP's seems to be bullying the other 2 he seems to be chasing them and they seem terrified of him.I'm pretty sure He was chattering his teeth to one of them too .So anyway when the other 2 were upstairs i shut them off from him.Is this the right thing to do.? or should i give them more time I'm just worried when I'm not there they might fight ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated xx

 

[Wiebke]

No, it wasn't the right thing. Your three boys are establishing a hierarchy - it looks like a lot of bullying, but is simply a very graphic way of sorting out the dominance. It actually follows a strict protocol in which piggies work out who is the top boy (phase 1); how far he can push the others (phase 2); how far the underboys allow the top boy to puch them (phase 3). Interrupting that process only means that they will have to start all over again when you put them back.

Please let them get on with it unless there are real fights with bites to the head or back or there is constant (and I mean constant) humping for more than a day. Everything else is normal and needs to be sat out. It will take a few days or even weeks to settle. The more space they have, the better!

I hope that these links will help you figure out what is going on:

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=36239

 

[princessamy]

Thank you very much for your reply.I have opened the door back up.Not sure any of them noticed it was shut anyway all to busy hiding away! xx