Two angry male guinea pigs

[littlewinng]

Hi all,

Two weeks ago I got two male 7 month old guinea pigs, Louis and Charles. They are brothers and I’ve housed them in the same Midwest cage.

Everything was fine and dandy until just tonight I let them out of their cage to play on the living room floor. They were zooming around, eating treats and hay, having a great time until I guess one of them ran into the other while playing and my pig, Louis did not like that. He started chattering his teeth at Charles and getting really aggressive towards him. Charles just wheeked and squeaked back at him but Louis was not stopping with the chattering. They eventually broke it up and continued playing until Charles got near Louis and the chattering started up again. They started moving closer towards each other like they were about to fight but it never happened.

I let them play for a little bit longer and put them both back in their cage and they have been on and off all night bickering towards one another. It’s mainly just Louis doing the teeth chattering but I can tell it’s making Charles uncomfortable. I’m not exactly sure what to do at this point, I don’t have a separate cage currently to separate them and I’m worried they are gonna have a serious fight.

Is this type of behavior normal? And what can normally be done to prevent this from happening and helping the situation?

 

[Lady Kelly]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

Please take a look at our guides in terms of dominance behaviours and fall outs though at this stage I would not separate just for some teeth chattering.
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Unfortunately your boys are in their teenage months which can make them more prone to bickering so I would keep together as much as possible and hope they can make it out the other end without a big fall out.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all,

Two weeks ago I got two male 7 month old guinea pigs, Louis and Charles. They are brothers and I’ve housed them in the same Midwest cage.

Everything was fine and dandy until just tonight I let them out of their cage to play on the living room floor. They were zooming around, eating treats and hay, having a great time until I guess one of them ran into the other while playing and my pig, Louis did not like that. He started chattering his teeth at Charles and getting really aggressive towards him. Charles just wheeked and squeaked back at him but Louis was not stopping with the chattering. They eventually broke it up and continued playing until Charles got near Louis and the chattering started up again. They started moving closer towards each other like they were about to fight but it never happened.

I let them play for a little bit longer and put them both back in their cage and they have been on and off all night bickering towards one another. It’s mainly just Louis doing the teeth chattering but I can tell it’s making Charles uncomfortable. I’m not exactly sure what to do at this point, I don’t have a separate cage currently to separate them and I’m worried they are gonna have a serious fight.

Is this type of behavior normal? And what can normally be done to prevent this from happening and helping the situation?

Hi!

Your boys are right in the thickest of their teenage months when the testosterone output is at its highest. The change in home and the need to re-establish their hierarchy in new territory is acting as an additional stress factor on a bond that it already under the greatest pressure it will ever be.

Please take the time to read this information here. The teenage guide contains a list of what you can do to stabilise a bond , what not to do and how you can evaluate whether a bond is still functioning or not, as well as a discussion of all the options after a boar bond has failed.
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Bonds In Trouble
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics