Ny boys are acting like grouchy old men

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MommaPiggy

MommaPiggy

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My boys have never been overly fond of each other.

They don't sleep together and they always seem to fight if they get too close to each other.
Arnold tends to rumblestrut...Constantly. And this rubs Ralph the wrong way.
Normally Ralph will sit in his Pigloo and whine until Arnold stops but today he took a stand.

Arnold was being his usual, funny, self.
He came out of the log cabin, and began his morning ritual: A rumblestrut around the entire cage.
He does this every day, he'll circle the cage like this, once or twice and then he'll run laps.
Ralph was silent: Which I thought was odd: Because he whines quite loudly when Arnold rumbles.

All of a sudden I heard this yelp and insanely loud teeth chattering.
I sat up (I was in bed) just in time to see Ralph launch himself across the cage and straight at Arnold.
Thankfully no one was hurt but they didn't stop it. I got up and tried to stop them but as I stuck my hand in to grab Arnold, Ralph launched himself again.
Thankfully, he must have seen me at the right moment and he lowered his head: Headbutting my hand, instead of biting it. (he has bitten me before, because of this same sort of thing.)

I have an attic which runs around the edge of the cage (C&C cage), leaving just 2 squares free, so that I can get in and clean it.
I tied the ramp up and then put Arnold in the attic. Since he was the one being attacked and generally, he's a very peaceful little piggy. I thought it would be best to move him and not Ralph.

I figured giving Ralph tons of space to sort out his "issues" was a better idea.
I put them back in together about 4 hours later and they did attack each other AGAIN but this was more like...Faking and Teeth chattering.

You know when it looks like they're going to bite each other but they stop at the last minute?
They were doing that. I don't know what it's called; but I call it "faking", so it at least has a name.

They seem alright now but when they see each other...It's like a stand off.
They chatter at each other and wait for the other one to back down, before continuing their business.

I'm just a little upset about it.
As I said, they were never too fond of each other but they haven't had a fight in about 3 months.
They had a major fight and I had to split them up. It took 3 tries to reintroduce them and thankfully on the last try...It was a success.
They have been totally fine since then.

It worries me because I want to adopt another Piggy in September...And if these 2 are going to fight and scuffle again...It's going to force me to put those plans on hold.

I don't even know why I wrote this. I just got all worried about this because it was just a really big fight...And it was just so random.
 
That's not good :( I haven't had experience with males so I won't offer too much advice, but would it be possible to pair both up with a new male? Not sure how much space you have, etc. Sure someone else will be able to give you some better advice...Not sure if the 'bathtub technique' would work...? Where you clean them both then put them both in a clean cage? Someone more advanced can help you out more! I don't want to give you bad advice!
 
Bathtub Technique?

I've never heard of this.

Oh! If someone could give me more info, I'd love to hear it. This sounds interesting.

Thank you ^-^
 
Oh! If someone could give me more info, I'd love to hear it. This sounds interesting.
Click to expand...

I think she means bathing them both.
 
If you give them both a bath with the same shampoo, (I use Gorgeous Guineas 'Just For Boars' :) ) Then thats supposed to help them change their scent and might help them calm down. Theres a section here http://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm , about half way down on bathing boars...
good luck
x
 
Oh! Thank you!

I'll give it a good read and they try it out xx>>>

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!
 
Okay. I wouldn't exactly call it a "success" but they seem to have actually bonded a bit.
They were huddled together the whole time I was bathing them. So I learned that bathing them together is probly less stressful for them and easier for me...Since they tend to leap about all over the place >.> when I bath them separately.

Poor little Arnold did try to make one escape but he slipped and ended up getting even more soaked that he already was.
If I moved my hand away, they'd both come toward me...They seemed to prefer me having one hand in the water with them.

Afterward, they were grooming each other and they NEVER do this. Not ever.
If Arnold gets anywhere near Ralph...Ralph tends to snap at him or chatter at him.

they're both dry and in their cage now. And although they still won't share a hidey, they're still noticeably closer.
Neither of them seem so jumpy when the other one gets in close.
Before it was like they had their own little space and the other wasn't allowed in it.

So, thanks guys. This helped me out.
And in the future, I'll bathe them together. Who knows! They might bond even more during their next bath time.

xx>>>
 
I have had bad experience with boys, one boy got cut in the process and he hates any boys now and just trys to bite them and two other boys who lived together for over a year, had a big scrap and poor Charlie has flesh wounds on him, they now live seperately, but they seem happy enough on their own and when they go in the run they are always popcorning and running around like racing each other in their seperate runs.
 
This is very interesting... I have boars and have issues in the past with fighting...

My two just now are not fighting... but dont seem too fond of each other..

Does bathing them always tend to work for bonding?

I am movning in a few weeks times aswell.. would making two boars travel together help with bonding aswell?

I was always under the impression that if they didnt like each other it was tough luck....
 
From personal experience...Mine actually fought more when traveling together.

I sometimes have to stay with my mother and if it's for longer than 2 days, I take my boys with me.
It's only a ten minute car journey and it happens only once every couple of months, so don't worry.
But the 3 times I've had them come with me, they've actually had big fights in their carrier but the carriers are kind of cramped, so I guess it's not surprising.

And yeah, I always thought it was "tough luck" if they didn't like each other but mine actually do seem to be getting along better now.
They haven't had a fight since I bathed them together.

Although, back to the traveling thing.
I guess it depends. Back when Louie was still alive, I had to stay with my mother, so I took him and Ralph with me...This was back when they were fighting all the time and they didn't fight at all in the carrier. They both huddled up to each other.

So I suppose that depends on the piggy.
 
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