Hi,
I’m wondering if anyone can help me with a bad situation I’m having with my guinea pigs at the moment as I am so worried?...sorry if I go on a lot, I’m just really upset about it and chewed to bits! I have 3 male guinea pigs Max, Bradley and Bobby and everything has been great up until about 2 months ago. I’ve had Max and Bradley since February 2010 and they get on great! Bradley is the dominant one and Max has never been interested in being the boss so it worked out great….then along came Bobby which has set off loads of strange behaviours! I had read that it was fine to add a baby boy pig into a pen with 2 male adults and everything did seem fine at first….we got him in February this year and Bradley just loved him, but shortly after started to act strange with Max! At first he wouldn’t let Max anywhere near Bobby and would teeth chatter at him a lot and sometimes he wouldn’t let him off his snug to even eat….it just had to be him and Bobby alone all of the time. Eventually this stopped and everything seemed great and all of them were getting along fine, until it all switched and Bobby ‘this little dot of a guinea pig’ decided to turn against Bradley and favour Max. Now Bobby is going for Bradley and he is best of friends with Max. It’s been awful cos Bradley seems to be on his own all of the time now and when him and Bobby get too close, Bobby will lunge at him like Kung Fu guinea pig. Bradley has not seemed himself since it all started and the worst thing is Bobby has got to the point where he has caught Bradleys ear and back and made him bleed which I didn’t know about till I found the scabs on his little ear, also I am finding little tufts of Bradley’s hair sometimes. They had a big pen but I decided to get an even bigger one to see if that would help and made one of them c&c cages with more than enough space and 3 of everything, which I only did this last week. At first it seemed to have worked and they all seemed happy with their new home , but that only lasted 1 day and bobby was lunging at Bradley again…only last night he has caught his ear again and it was bleeding and I just thought enough is enough, it’s just devastating and I feel terrible, when all I wanted was for them to have a new little friend…I just thought they would all get along and having a new addition would be lovely. I took Bradley out and bathed his ear and put some anti-septic cream on and then I separated Bobby from Max and Bradley, but left it so they can all still see each other but Bobby can’t go attacking Bradley. I have read that Bobby could be going through puberty as he is now around 5 months old and that he is challenging Bradley for dominance….only thing is that Bradley doesn’t seem to want to fight him back and only does to defend himself and just doesn’t like the animosity at all and it seems to me like he would happily let Bobby become the boss if it meant the fighting would stop? I just want to know if this is true and will Bobby calm down and stop doing this to Bradley as I don’t want to keep them all apart like this? Max is not happy that Bobby is away from him and keeps going up to the bars to see him, but I think it is unfair to put Bradley alone when it was him and Max together from day one, plus Bradley is quite a sociable little thing when he isn’t down in the dumps because of Bobby. Also does anyone have any advice on how long I should keep Bobby separated from Max and Bradley and is there anything that could help the situation when I do attempt to put them all back together? Any advice would be much appreciated as I’ll do anything to have them all living together happily.
I’m wondering if anyone can help me with a bad situation I’m having with my guinea pigs at the moment as I am so worried?...sorry if I go on a lot, I’m just really upset about it and chewed to bits! I have 3 male guinea pigs Max, Bradley and Bobby and everything has been great up until about 2 months ago. I’ve had Max and Bradley since February 2010 and they get on great! Bradley is the dominant one and Max has never been interested in being the boss so it worked out great….then along came Bobby which has set off loads of strange behaviours! I had read that it was fine to add a baby boy pig into a pen with 2 male adults and everything did seem fine at first….we got him in February this year and Bradley just loved him, but shortly after started to act strange with Max! At first he wouldn’t let Max anywhere near Bobby and would teeth chatter at him a lot and sometimes he wouldn’t let him off his snug to even eat….it just had to be him and Bobby alone all of the time. Eventually this stopped and everything seemed great and all of them were getting along fine, until it all switched and Bobby ‘this little dot of a guinea pig’ decided to turn against Bradley and favour Max. Now Bobby is going for Bradley and he is best of friends with Max. It’s been awful cos Bradley seems to be on his own all of the time now and when him and Bobby get too close, Bobby will lunge at him like Kung Fu guinea pig. Bradley has not seemed himself since it all started and the worst thing is Bobby has got to the point where he has caught Bradleys ear and back and made him bleed which I didn’t know about till I found the scabs on his little ear, also I am finding little tufts of Bradley’s hair sometimes. They had a big pen but I decided to get an even bigger one to see if that would help and made one of them c&c cages with more than enough space and 3 of everything, which I only did this last week. At first it seemed to have worked and they all seemed happy with their new home , but that only lasted 1 day and bobby was lunging at Bradley again…only last night he has caught his ear again and it was bleeding and I just thought enough is enough, it’s just devastating and I feel terrible, when all I wanted was for them to have a new little friend…I just thought they would all get along and having a new addition would be lovely. I took Bradley out and bathed his ear and put some anti-septic cream on and then I separated Bobby from Max and Bradley, but left it so they can all still see each other but Bobby can’t go attacking Bradley. I have read that Bobby could be going through puberty as he is now around 5 months old and that he is challenging Bradley for dominance….only thing is that Bradley doesn’t seem to want to fight him back and only does to defend himself and just doesn’t like the animosity at all and it seems to me like he would happily let Bobby become the boss if it meant the fighting would stop? I just want to know if this is true and will Bobby calm down and stop doing this to Bradley as I don’t want to keep them all apart like this? Max is not happy that Bobby is away from him and keeps going up to the bars to see him, but I think it is unfair to put Bradley alone when it was him and Max together from day one, plus Bradley is quite a sociable little thing when he isn’t down in the dumps because of Bobby. Also does anyone have any advice on how long I should keep Bobby separated from Max and Bradley and is there anything that could help the situation when I do attempt to put them all back together? Any advice would be much appreciated as I’ll do anything to have them all living together happily.
Thank you so much Wiebke, i'll do just that and see what happens but i'm pretty sure that Max and Bobby are wanting to be together and I know that if i can get Bradley paired up with a compatible little friend it will give him a new lease of life. I think he just needs a little freind who is going to give him some attention and affection back, other than being left on his own while watching the other 2 interact. I feel reassured on what I am doing now and i'll try what you have in each case scenario. As for Bobby going over board when he sees Max I completely understand, I think he has hated every second of it and I can just imagine what he is going to be like so i'll keep a close eye on them. If it all works out then hopefully in the next week or so i can get the pen extended and contact the rescues....it will be great if they let me take Bradley along with me as he can then pick for himself which I think would be a good thing for him. In the meantime i'll keep Bobby separated from the both until I can get it all arranged. Thanks for everything, its very much appreciated!