Submissive piggie rumbling

Emmalou46

Emmalou46

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone, why does my submissive piggie rumble strut? It then makes my dominant piggie mad and start chasing him and then the submissive pig starts squeaking submissively. But it’s like he doesn’t learn because he will then go ahead and start rumble strutting again 🙈 I’ve had them in their cage for about a week and a half now and things have been going well until today they are really going at it :(
Thank you
 
Comet and Blitzen spent 95% of their time rumbling at each other and you could hear them throughout the entire flat. In fact, they could outdo the sound on the television, they were that bad. The other 5% they spent attempting to mount each other, falling off, and then racing the zoomies circuit with happy, excited wheeks and shrieks.

It was never very quiet in that flat, lol.

Boars will be boars. Some of them just really like the sound of their own rumbles and can't possibly imagine any human or pig would disagree.
 
How old is your submissive piggy?

I have two boars. Pepper the oldest and the boss hardly ever rumbles. But Pebble is about 9 months old and has just started rumbling. His hormones are kicking in I think.
 
Rumbling is a dominance behaviour but it doesn’t necessarily mean he is trying to be the dominant - some just rumble at anything!
At a week and a half together they are well into the last stage of forming a bond (it takes around two weeks for a bond to be fully formed after bonding day).
 
Piggies&buns said:
Rumbling is a dominance behaviour but it doesn’t necessarily mean he is trying to be the dominant - some just rumble at anything!
At a week and a half together they are well into the last stage of forming a bond (it takes around two weeks for a bond to be fully formed after bonding day).
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He does seem to like the noise of his own rumble and he’s very loud compared to the other 😄 they were together at the rescue for around 10 days and then I brought them home and they have been together now for 12 days here, I was thinking things were calming down but yesterday there was a lot of chasing, chattering, stand offs, heads in the air, yawning etc again. On the odd occasion the piggie I thought was the submissive (Oreo) as he’s always the one to squeak in a submissive way would chase the dominant one (Coco) off! I don’t know if they are still working everything out? It’s very confusing
 
weepweeps said:
How old is your submissive piggy?

I have two boars. Pepper the oldest and the boss hardly ever rumbles. But Pebble is about 9 months old and has just started rumbling. His hormones are kicking in I think.
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They are both around 10 months old. Can’t be sure as we got them from a rescue. Coco the one who seems to be the more dominant one does rumble on occasion but nowhere near as loud as Oreo. They had a fall out at round about 12 days of being together before, I then took them back to the rescue who managed to rebond them and now we are at that 12 day mark again so worried the same things going to happen again 🙈
 
Hopefully they will sort themselves out soon. They are right in the middle of their teenage months.
 
keep a keen eye on them, they are right in the middle of the “teenage stage” hormones are high, they will have spikes that die down after 24 hours or so. Have they got lots of room in their cage? Good luck
 
Came down this morning to Oreo having a little cut on his lip, which looks like a bit of a bite to me. What are your thoughts? Still just keep a close eye on them? Thank you
 

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Hi everyone so we got to the two week mark and there’s been a big fight this morning. I was at work but my husband said it was just one big fur ball rolling around the cage and Oreo had a bloody nose and mouth and a bite to his ear as well. There was fur everywhere! So we have built two 4x2 cages side by side. I will attach a photo and this is going to have to be life for them I think :(
Should I take Oreo to the vets for his mouth/nose or should it heal ok by itself. Should I bathe with Luke warm water and salt?
Another question is how do I go about getting them out for a run now. Initially (when I thought they might make it together) I was planning on letting them free roam in our open plan kitchen/dining area, which is a massive area but now should I section it off so they never come in contact again.
Thank you for all your help and advice so far 🥰
 

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Hi, I'm so sorry your boys had a fight. Teenage boys are tricky sometimes... You did well building each their own cage. When my boys had a fight I washed the wounds with lots of plain saline solution and disinfected them. If they are very deep and it worries you, a little dab of Manuka honey does help heal them well, but usually the washing+ disinfecting is enough and by the next day they'll have scabbed over.
Unfortunately after a big fight and not sharing a home they can't have floor time together, so it's either sectioning the room like you planned to, or having them take turns. I have all boys & they got used to the turnover :)
Best of luck to you and the boys!
 
:agr:

I’m sorry to hear this
Keep the wound clean with saline, see a vet if you become worried about it.

Any floor time needs to be separately or divide the space. They cannot have physical contact sadly.

I have a pair of separated youngsters (as well as a bonded pair) - the separated boys are 8 months old now but fell out at 16 weeks. They live in my shed and their free roam of the shed floor is taken in turns - alternating days (with the bonded pair getting some time each evening) and the garden run is divided in half so they can both be out at the same time.
 
This is great! Thank you so so much for your advice. It’s so upsetting as I really did want them to get along but at the same time I’m relieved they are apart as I have been on pins for the last two weeks and not slept a great deal either. They have been interacting through the bars so hopefully this will be enough for them 🤞🏻🙏🏻
 
They can be perfectly satisfied even living as neighbours. Now, I don't want to give you false hope because it's near impossible for two boars who had a bloody fight to ever get along again, but perhaps in at least a couple years, if they show affection towards each other, who knows... Watch their body language and trust your gut. It may very well be that once they get older and calmer, the desire for a roommate will make them reevaluate. It's really rare though. What do you think @Piggies&buns ? Is it worth trying?
 
LunaticPoodle said:
They can be perfectly satisfied even living as neighbours. Now, I don't want to give you false hope because it's near impossible for two boars who had a bloody fight to ever get along again, but perhaps in at least a couple years, if they show affection towards each other, who knows... Watch their body language and trust your gut. It may very well be that once they get older and calmer, the desire for a roommate will make them reevaluate. It's really rare though. What do you think @Piggies&buns ? Is it worth trying?
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When they are older and testosterone has fizzled out, companionship does becomes more important to them than dominance. It might be possible but generally once they don’t like each other, then that is it sadly. I wouldn’t attempt it before they are 4 or 5 years old though (even then it may still not work).

My bonded pair are just over 5 years old now and they are certainly a lot more chilled than they used to be - I haven’t seen them rumble or mount each other in quite a while actually
 
Aww thank you for this. I won’t get my hopes up but that would be nice! How do your single boars get on when you get them out for their run? Do they still explore and wander around? I was bothered it wouldn’t be as fun on their own as what it would be with a friend and they would just hide
 
Emmalou46 said:
Aww thank you for this. I won’t get my hopes up but that would be nice! How do your single boars get on when you get them out for their run? Do they still explore and wander around? I was bothered it wouldn’t be as fun on their own as what it would be with a friend and they would just hide
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My singles are absolutely fine during their play times. They are still side by side in the run or when on the shed floor have access to the bars of the one who remains in the cage. They have plenty of enrichment during their playtimes and are usually more interested in exploring than anything else
 
Piggies&buns said:
My singles are absolutely fine during their play times. They are still side by side in the run or when on the shed floor have access to the bars of the one who remains in the cage. They have plenty of enrichment during their playtimes and are usually more interested in exploring than anything else
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Ok great, this is good to know. Oreo who suffered the brunt of the attack, his breathing is a little loud and I’m wondering if there’s dried blood up there, he really doesn’t want me touching the area as I can imagine it’s very sore :( so not sure what I can do to help, he’s munching on his hay happily, just not that interested in his veggies as they are harder for him to eat than his hay
 
Emmalou46 said:
Ok great, this is good to know. Oreo who suffered the brunt of the attack, his breathing is a little loud and I’m wondering if there’s dried blood up there, he really doesn’t want me touching the area as I can imagine it’s very sore :( so not sure what I can do to help, he’s munching on his hay happily, just not that interested in his veggies as they are harder for him to eat than his hay
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Hi, I'd say just to be extra safe keep an eye on his weight the next few days (you can use a normal kitchen scale & weigh him at the same time each day), just in case being in pain he's not eating enough. Tomorrow it's probably going to be hard to find a vet (don't know about the UK, but the 1st of May is a big holiday here), but if he's still sore by tuesday I'd definitely see a vet. Keep the wounds clean and disinfected, I usually rinse them and disinfect twice a day for the first few days, depending on how they look. Don't stress yourself too much, fights happen and with two teenage boys it's quite normal. Oreo will be fine in a few days, surely. Once I left my guys in the morning licking each other and snuggling together, only to come home to very angry and wounded piggies and a wounded husband who went to separate them with a bare hand... Teenage hormones are crazy. It's not your fault.
 
LunaticPoodle said:
Hi, I'd say just to be extra safe keep an eye on his weight the next few days (you can use a normal kitchen scale & weigh him at the same time each day), just in case being in pain he's not eating enough. Tomorrow it's probably going to be hard to find a vet (don't know about the UK, but the 1st of May is a big holiday here), but if he's still sore by tuesday I'd definitely see a vet. Keep the wounds clean and disinfected, I usually rinse them and disinfect twice a day for the first few days, depending on how they look. Don't stress yourself too much, fights happen and with two teenage boys it's quite normal. Oreo will be fine in a few days, surely. Once I left my guys in the morning licking each other and snuggling together, only to come home to very angry and wounded piggies and a wounded husband who went to separate them with a bare hand... Teenage hormones are crazy. It's not your fault.
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We are very lucky in the uk that each surgery has out of hours emergency cover by designated practices - even if it isn’t your normal surgery - so we can see a vet on any day, including bank holidays, and at any time of day or night if needed.
 
Piggies&buns said:
We are very lucky in the uk that each surgery has out of hours emergency cover by designated practices - even if it isn’t your normal surgery - so we can see a vet on any day, including bank holidays, and at any time of day or night if needed.
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That's very well organized! I live literally across the street from the only vet ER that is open 24 hours, but they're not piggy savvy and the waiting times for emergencies are honestly ridiculous... For example over 2 hours with a barely responsive pig in GI stasis. Finland is very sparsely populated compared to the UK though, so it's understandable in a way.
 
I went to see my exotic vet regarding Oreos nose/mouth and was given some baytril for 5 days as it started weeping a little bit, it’s all still very crusty but does seem to be healing. Coco the piggie I thought was ok, no bites nothing as there wasn’t a scrap of blood was actually bitten quite deep on his back! I only noticed it last night so had him to the vets today and it’s turned into an Abcess. I’ve been given metronidazole and Quinoflox to give him twice a day. How often should I be cleaning it with salt and water solution and should I bother putting antibacterial powder on it too or not? The vet said it should start to go down by weekend but if it hasn’t by Tuesday he will book him in for an op. I have no knowledge of abscesses In Guinea pigs, is this something that should clear up ok with antibiotics or is it looking like an op 😭
 
Oh, poor babies... I haven't got any experience with abscesses, sorry, I think it might clear up with an antibiotic if you're lucky but the vet might need to open it and clean it/flush it if it doesn't. I'm just guessing though.
 
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