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Hi guys so I have 4 piggies total; Lincoln, Hoover, Teddy and Harry. Teddy and Harry are a bonded pair around 5 to 6 months probably. Hoover and Lincoln are a little bit older and were bonded but I have separated them because they bite each other and I saw fur lost. 😞 Now starting today Teddy and Harry have started doing the same thing and started rumble strutting and just being boars. When do I need to separate exactly? I have then in a 9 sq ft cage recommended by the rescue I got them from. I’m not sure if it’s a size issue or not.
 
Welcome to the forum to you and your piggies. I have two boars who were bonded for two years but fell out. They now live happily side by side.

I'll leave the advice to someone more knowledgeable and with the technical skills needed to paste links to our guides.
 
Welcome to the forum. I hope the guides I have pasted below will help you.

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 'Bonds In Trouble'

1 Causes for bonds to fall apart
2 Bonds in Crisis
- What are the signs of a dysfunctional bond?
- Bullying
- How can I test whether a bond is no longer working?
3 Failed bonds and what next?
- What to do if my piggies have had a major fight?
- When rebonding doesn't work out


1 Causes for bonds to fall apart

Every fall-out has of course its own...
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Wiebke

Thread 'Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?'

1 The hormonal teenage months
- What are the most difficult times?
- What are your boars' chances of making it together?
- What can help to boost your boys' chances?
- What does NOT work?
2 Fighting, bullying and when to separate
- What are the signs of a dysfunctional bond?
- How can I test whether a bond is no longer working?
- What to do if your boars had a bloody fight?
3 Life after...
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I’m sorry to hear you have had a pair fall out. I have also had it happen.

At their age they are now getting hormonal so seeing an increase in dominance is to be expected. If it remains as just mild dominance when leave them to it. You don’t want to intervene unless they actually fight.

Our advice would be that 9 square feet is too small. 10 square feet would be considered absolute minimum for a boar pair (although can often be too small) and 12 square feet is the recommended cage size.

Things you can do to minimise issues is ensure you scatter feed veg and pellets into loose piles of hay (don’t use food bowls); only ever clean half the cage at a time - if you remove all bedding in one go then you are removing all scent which can set them off. By only removing half at a time then the scent remains and it can make it easier for them to cope with

If you choose to increase their cage size then you need to do it carefully. A change in cage space is a change in territory and will cause them to reestablish their bond. That’s fine but the same thing as cage cleans apply - make sure you are using soiled bedding in the cage when you change it’s size so that they recognise it as their space

In addition to the guides piggieminder has added, I have also added another below

Wiebke

Thread 'Reacting to group or territorial changes: Dominance and group establishment/re-establishment'

- What can trigger a new hierarchy sort-out?
- What can I do to mitigate the impact?

With an average life span of only around 3 years and a hostile environment, wild guinea pig social life is much more fluid and eventful, whether that is losses, births, regular leadership changes, new boars being accepted or changes to the territory due to climate extremes, infectious illnesses, predation and the waxing and waning of group fortunes and the amount of territory they can claim around their denning areas.


What can trigger...
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