Male Guinea Pigs - some reassurance wanted

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rahhmaster

rahhmaster

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Hi,

I have recently bought two boars from a breeder. They are brothers so have always been together. I have been over reading about the fact that males may fight. At present they are getting on fine. Jenson seems to be the more dominant and has been displaying signs of dominance.

Can I be reassured that there is a chance that they may live together happily.

Thank you.
 
Try not to worry too much! Males do go through the dominant stage when they are about 6 months old and this is normal for all boars to go through.

Have a look at this thread.

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

I have two boars that arent brothers living together and have been for the past 2 years. :) Also many members on here have boars living together happily. Its kind of a myth that all males will fight, so try not to worry and enjoy your boys.

Also Wiebke is very good on behaviour issues and I'm sure she will reply to this thread with information for you.

Forgot to add that also boys need plenty of space and they should be in a cage that is 4ft by 2ft so they have their own space and have two of everything so they dont have to share anything, but they make want to share as my 2 boys share a veg bowl happily and take turns choosing veg. :)
 
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Thank you for your reply, have only found this forum today and it has been really informative. Will set up two food bowls and water bottle straight away. So far they have been getting along great, and are hilarious to watch. Just hope it will continue.

Thanks
 
I would say at least 4'x2'...I had two pigs who ended up with very similar personalities. They didn't fight as such, but were very stroppy with each other at times (other times, they would lie next to each other to sleep...boars eh?!rolleyes). They also grew into big pigs - both weighing around 3lb each so space was at a premium in their Nero 4. In the end, they lived in a made up enclosure that was about 5'x3' which gave them room to escape each other! Ben has since passed away, but Dave is now living in a Rabbit 150 cage (5'x2.5') with his new friend and it suits them down to the ground!:)
 
I have lots of pairs of boars here, and they live in the same space (although it's quite large) as my groups of sows (I run a rescue) and *touch wood* even despite that I've never had a pair of boars fall out at mine. I do get boars in for rehoming because they have fallen out with their cage mate, and it does happen - but if you manage things right then it makes it less likely.

Sophie
x
 
Hi, my boys are about eighteen months and even though Bubbles was obviously the dominant one they never had any probs until this summer. They did have a fungal infection and were boarding while we were on holiday and I think the stress got to them a bit especially as they're equivalent to teenagers. We had a biting incident and then a couple of weeks later we had the less dominant (George) get his own back. We have had to separate them a couple of times but only very briefly and making sure they can see and smell each other and then moved the run onto a long bit of grass to reintroduce them ( too busy eating to remember their quarrel) But on the whole and most of the time they like to be with each other and touch wood they'll be fine.
After that long ramble I hope you're still awake and just enjoy them it's the joy of Guinea Pigs:)
 
Just seen Boureki has a very good info page at the top of the behaviour section. This forum is a mine of wonderful information, I couldn't have coped without the site:)
 
Hi Rahhmaster :-)

I have two boars who are both just over 5 months old. At first, they were very happy with each other.

Then pubity hit at around three months and they've been awful. The people on here were very helpful and we have so far been able to keep them together.

Sometimes boys do fight and MUST be separated because they just don't get on. But sometimes, as long as they don't do any real physical harm to each other, it's part of their grwoing up and their relationship with each other.

For us, at first, we were terrified, but when you can recognise aggression and tension brought on by hormones and the need for dominance as opposed to real fighting, you will feel must more reassured.
 
I have 3 males together very happily :)

Two are about 7-8 months old and one is at least a few years old. They have a very big cage and lots of places to get away from each other (different houses to go into) and they get along fine. :) Sometimes there's a bit of dominance behaviour but that's all.

Boys are more likely to fight with each other, but there's definitely a very good chance yours will stay friends. :)
 
I had a pair of brothers who happily lived together from babies until nearly 4, when one passed away. You can see them in my avatar.

As long as they have enough space and maybe a food bowl each, you will hopefully be fine.
 
Thanks for all your comments, they have been really helpful. Defo took on board all the info about space and seperate houses to escape each other when needed etc. I have ordered the makings of a C & C cage tonight so that I can give them a bigger space to live in. Hoping the parts will be delivered before the weekend as can't wait to start construction. :)
 
My first two piggies were a pair of brothers, Sam and Snug, who lived together happily unitl Snug died aged 4 - they barely even rumbled at each other. After Snug died, I got Rupert as a new friend for Sam, introduced them slowly and carefully; they lived together happily for the rest of Sam's life.
Meanwhile I adopted another pair of boys - Tom and Jerry - but they fought and I had to separate them. (yes, it can happen) They lived side-by-side in separate cages until Tom died, which happened to be only two weeks after Sam.
So then I tried introducing Rupert (Roo) and Jerry (Jez) and they also lived together happily...until now Jez has died and Rupert is alone again.

So, out of my (small!) sample of boar pairings, I've had 3 happy friendships and only one falling-out. :(|)
 
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