Skinny fallouts (help)

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fluffyhippo

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So I have a pair of skinnies that are 6/7 months old now and been together since 8 weeks. They have wildly different personalities/temperaments with the smaller of the 2 clearly showing more dominant traits. The problem i have is that he is often displaying this, which means periodically poor fluff is wearing scratches and nips on his body. I guess I'm asking how bad it needs to get before I separate them, or am I just more worried because these war wound are more obvious on a skinny than they would be on a hairy boy. I don't want to leave fluff keep getting scratched but I also don't want to break their bond. They have oodles of space, 2 of everything and super spoilt so I have no idea what hippos problem is and why he gets so angry....
 
:wel:

You have two teenagers who are hormonal and you will see changes in their relationship.
One needs to be dominant and the other submissive for their relationship to function. You should be seeing mounting, chasing and rumbling as it’s how boars form and maintain a relationship throughout life - it’s not anger at all.

What you don’t want to be seeing is actual fighting, injuries and bite wounds (i believe this can be slightly more tricky with skinnies given they don’t have any hair to protect them so a minor, accidental scratch can appear more than it actually is) or bullying (which is much more than just dominance - bullying is consistent aggressive behaviour which can/will see one piggy lose weight at each weekly weight check through never being allowed to eat, become withdrawn, hide a lot).

If the behaviour remains as and within normal dominance, then there is nothing for you to do - you don’t separate for dominance behaviour. It’s something they need to see through and it is something they will do lifelong as their e affirm their bond.
If there is actual fighting then that is immediate and permanent separation. If their bond is in trouble but not fully broken, then you can do a temporary separation to allow them to settle and then a neutral territory reintroduction to allow them to make up their minds about their relationship. The reintroduction will tell you fairly quickly if they actually want to be together or not.

Can you explain more about their set up please?
How big is their cage (measurements in cm)? Space is very important to boys!
Is there two of every item (bottles, hay piles etc) and do all hides have two exits?

The guides below will help you gauge their relationship.

A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Bonds In Trouble

I have a bonded 5 year old boar pair. They are older now so tend to just be more about companionship than dominance but still get a bit rumbly and still occasionally mount each other.
I also have two 7 month old boars. They were together as a pair initially but their bond broke down when they hit the teens at 4 months old. They launched in a full on fight one day seemingly out of the blue, and now have to live separated as neighbours.
 
Hey, thankyou for your reply!

The boys have a 6x2 c and c cage but for 3/4 days of the week I also give them free reign of my dining room which is pig proofed.

I haven't seen an actual fight yet but yesterday got pretty scary and fluff has a couple of new scratches and nips. I probably wouldn't be so worried if he was a hairy boy and I couldn't see them, but he's not so I feel terribley bad for him having to endure it. I haven't seen bullying yet, it's more just hippo constantly telling fluff he's boss
 
Cage size is good.
Do make sure all hides have two doors in them so neither one of them can get cornered.

Keep an eye on things between them. The teens for boars is a bit of a tense time (probably more for us than them)!
You don’t want him being injured and any actual bites are concerning. Nipping is a dominance behaviour but it’s a power gesture and should not be breaking the skin.

We are always happy to help with any questions you may have but the guides are also there for more in depth information (more than we can explain in every post).

Do share pictures of your boys in the pictures section if you wish! We love to see them!
 
The skin is getting broken 😢. That's my issue here with them being skinnies because they are so much more delicate with no fur and everything looks bad, t's so much harder to determine when to call it a day. I will keep an eye on them today whilst they are out, and hope hippo stops being so mardy! Thankyou x
 
I don’t know enough about skinnies, how much more prone they are for something minor and unconcerning to occur given they don’t have the hair for a bit of protection - we do have a few members who have/have had skinnies on the, I’m just trying to think of any who are regular visitors to the forum and may be able to help with that side of it. @PigglePuggle may be one who could help here.
But generally speaking all i can say is that you are going to see dominance and as long as both are happy, nobody is losing weight and there are no actual fights then you leave them to it. Dominance going to happen lifelong and get more intense at various points. During the teens is amongst the worst - 6/7 months of age is the height of hormone output with another spike at around 9/10 months of age.
 
Nothing I can help with unfortunately, the goblins don't nip - their preferred way of dealing with each other is body checking them out of the way.
 
My skinnies can get scratched very easily when being mounted so I try to make sure everyone’s claws are kept trimmed. Normal dominance behaviour or when somepig is in season can definitely have the skinnies looking more banged up for sure. I have some Leucillin spray on hand to help any scratches heal up.
 
One thing I would consider is not putting them in the dining room until they are more settled. Each time they are moved they will re establish dominance in the new territory. I've even found with some pairs of boars that putting something in the cage in a different place causes a scuffle.
 
Sorry I can't offer any real advice as I have a male/female pair. They do squabble about beds and Dora's usual defence is a back-kick or to spray pee in Ginger's face.

However, i can confirm that their skin is quite delicate and does get scratched easily (even sometimes from stalky hay). They both end up with minor scratches from their own nails sometimes, even though we cut them short.
 
ive two skinnies sisters,you can not mistake a fight,mine two girls were locked on rolling around fight at 8 months.one had two puncture wounds down to the ribs.i had to separate them permenantly.The bites were not scratches but very much worse deep puncture wounds .Two weeks ago, the skinny pig serena was with a hairy pig and had puncture wounds from the haired female guinea pig...and needed to be seperated.its a myth that sows do not have fights,its unusual but it happens.
the wounds are healing,but scars are still there,i will attempt to get some photos later.
 
piggieminder said:
One thing I would consider is not putting them in the dining room until they are more settled. Each time they are moved they will re establish dominance in the new territory. I've even found with some pairs of boars that putting something in the cage in a different place causes a scuffle.
Click to expand...
Thankyou I'll try this. Their cage is also in the dining room but I spread out lots of blankets and hideys so they can really get away from each other and enjoy zoomies. They may need to be grounded if they can't play nice!
 
eileen said:
ive two skinnies sisters,you can not mistake a fight,mine two girls were locked on rolling around fight at 8 months.one had two puncture wounds down to the ribs.i had to separate them permenantly.The bites were not scratches but very much worse deep puncture wounds .Two weeks ago, the skinny pig serena was with a hairy pig and had puncture wounds from the haired female guinea pig...and needed to be seperated.its a myth that sows do not have fights,its unusual but it happens.
the wounds are healing,but scars are still there,i will attempt to get some photos later.
Click to expand...
This is my fear, that must have been so awful for you 😢. I guess it's good news these boys aren't quite there yet but poor fluff is still being bossed around so much and his poor bum looks sore. I don't think he can back down anymore than he is doing bless him
 
These two guides will be the ones to help you determine whether things are within normal levels or whether they are starting to go too far. While you shouldn’t intervene unnecessarily, it is still important to know if things are heading in the wrong direction. A dominant boar who is pumped up on testosterone and won’t leave his cage mate alone is something to watch and potentially prepare to separate.
So a separation doesn’t have to be the end, it may just be that a couple of days apart to allow hormones to settle is enough. You can’t and should not carry out temporary separations often though - doing so can actually destabilise a fractious bond even further. However if the submissive appears to perk up during the separation, and is happier to be away then that can be a sign that it had reached bullying point and that the bond is in trouble.

Bonds In Trouble
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
 
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