Please help, new guinea pig owner and very aggressive behaviour

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baboushka

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I brought home two male guinea pigs on sunday and today one of the guinea pigs has started being very aggressive towards the other, constantly chasing him round the cage, swaying , chattering loudly and generally stressing the other pig out by attacking him. They are both around 12 weeks old, I am very worried about this, is it normal? At what point would it be considered excessive?
They have two seperate igloos and a fair bit of room to run around.
 
Hi welcome

What is the actual size of the cage they are in? boars as you have found out are rather dominant, they need lots of space and 2 of everything so there is one each.


Where did they come from?

To say its not normal isn't really correct, but its not unheard of, boars go through a hormonal stage where they can fall out, but what seems bad to us is normal to them, the chasing, teeth chattering swaying etc is all a dominance display, they'll be establishing their roles, be prepared to separate if a really serious fight breaks out with wide open mouth and up on hind legs kind and where blood is drawn, generally speaking when blood in drawn that is it they cannot go back together, so be prepared with a spare cage just incase this happens and you have to separate permanently.
 
Good morning and thank you so much for the replies, the cage is 94 x 54 centimetres, we got the rabbit sized cage in the store as thought that would give them lots of room, but I have already been looking online for the supplies for a C and C cage as I want to give them as much room as possible.

The aggression has died down a bit but there is still a lot of the bum wiggling and raised hair going on. Thank you for the link, I was reading that last night before I posted but thought I would ask the experts as owners you all would have the best advice. I think the best solution is a bigger living space then. Thank you all for your help :)
 
That cage is far too small, the sooner you can get them into something bigger the more chance you have of saving their bond. Sadly what pet shops sell as suitable for animals is outrageous, they just want the money.

Glad it seems to have died down, B&Q have the cheapest grids out there, give your store a call to make sure they have some though as they are few and far between, but these will be much better for your boys xx
 
Yes I realise now that I was very stupid in buying this cage, I naively thought it would be suitable, plus time they would have outside of it, but this is not the case. Feel terrible now for causing stress to them both but I will get this sorted ASAP. Many thanks again for your help.
 
Dont worry honey, we've all made that mistake somewhere along the time, luckily your here now. x
 
Hi and welcome!

Piggies always need to establish a hierarchy in new territory. Yours sounds like pretty normal, if intense dominance to me - frightening for any new owner though! It will hopefully die mostly down over the next few days. You will have to get used to boars rumbling and mounting each other; many do it regularly.

You may find our boar guide helpful: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=76162

Please take your time over a new cage and suss out your options and best bargains; have a look at our cage gallery for inspiration. The cage is not so disastrously small that your boys need a new one right this moment. You will probably see a renewal of the dominance in a new cage. Most pet shops are sadly not good on animal welfare and qualified advice; they are sales orientated.

Where are you from? Depending on the country, you will need different links. We would be very grateful if you could put your country/state (US) or county (UK) in your details to save time. You can do that in User CP/edit profile/location.
 
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I have just updated it there, apologies for that, I joined up last night in a panic and forgot to fill that part in. I am from Belfast, I have been looking online and there seems to be delivery from the US but not the UK. I will have a look on Amazon today and hopefully get sorted. Is correx easy enough to find as well then?

Thank you for your reassurance on the cage, as I will need to keep them there for a few more days, will try to give them as much floor time as I can in the meantime.
 
I know you have a small cage at the moment but if you can squeeze in two of everything (water bottle, feeder etc.) it will also help slightly while you wait for larger accomodation - at least they'll have slightly less to fight over.

Boars can be a nightmare together or they can be fantastic together and you will find out over the next year or so how these two are going to go. There's plenty of information on the posts above and under the behaviour section here but a lot of us have been through it so if there's something you're not sure about just ask.

I know there was an offer at zooplus (online) on larger cages (1.4m) which would be more suitable for pairs but I don't know if it's still on.
 
Just a little update, well I was able to get a refund on the cage from the shop which I was most surprised about. My boyfriend rang and told them what was happening and they said it would be no problem if I wanted to get one of the bigger ones I could return the smaller one.
We were able to find a 10ft square hutch which seems to have made them both very happy, the little one that was being aggressive was even doing laps last night! Also have made sure that they have two of everything and it all seems to have calmed down completely fingers crossed. Still some dominance displays but very little chattering and they are snuggling together for sleepy times so it all seems to be working itself out. I have been very grateful for all your advice, this forum is great , so much information, and I am loving learning all about these great little guys :)
 
baboushka said:
Just a little update, well I was able to get a refund on the cage from the shop which I was most surprised about. My boyfriend rang and told them what was happening and they said it would be no problem if I wanted to get one of the bigger ones I could return the smaller one.
We were able to find a 10ft square hutch which seems to have made them both very happy, the little one that was being aggressive was even doing laps last night! Also have made sure that they have two of everything and it all seems to have calmed down completely fingers crossed. Still some dominance displays but very little chattering and they are snuggling together for sleepy times so it all seems to be working itself out. I have been very grateful for all your advice, this forum is great , so much information, and I am loving learning all about these great little guys :)
Click to expand...

They are great little animals. I spent last night with my mates and they all took the you no what out of me about he piggies.

Its like a different life I now lead, thanks to the five piggies, soon to be eight.
 
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