Unhappy pig :(

[GuineaPigg]

As I've already mentioned in previous posts I have two baby boars who are supposed to be brothers. Barney (the bigger one) seems to still be bullying Bradley alot. There is only one house in the cage which is a large log cabin style house, we bought it specially for both of the boys to sleep in together and still fit in it when they're older (they going to grow quite big as we've been told they're rex's) Anyhow, Barney seems to be stopping Bradley from entering the house and there's been alot of loud purring going on. Bradley is now just sat alone by his food dish looking sad. Things seem to be going from bad to worse and they're only 5 weeks old! The first day or so we had them all was fine as they were both a little scared of their new surroundings. Although Barney is the dominant one he is also the most scared of people. He will run into the house when anyone goes near whilst little Bradley is content in just sitting there. It's coming to the point where we may need to give one of them back to the rescue and try another piggy pairing.

Sorry for all my ramblings but I am worried, as the cage is in my bedroom I can hear them fighting and jumping around in the night. Does anyone have any tips on how I can cheer up Bradley and stop him from being cast out?

Thanks.

 

[Wiebke]

All boars should ideally have two huts, bowls (far apart), water bottles hay racks etc. because they can be very territorial. That way the underboy can't be shut out of anything and be excluded from eating.

Shutting a piggy out of the prime property is typical dominance behaviour. I'm sure that your boys will be best friends again once they have worked out their relationship; but it can last for a few days to weeks. Afterwards, they may even sleep together again.

You can easily make a makeshift hut for Bradley from a shoebox or a soap box. That will cheer him up!

 

[Joey&Gizmo]

I had the same problem when I had one house and Gizmo would just sleep outside,so I took the house out as it was the large one from the Nero 4 cage and made them two cosies each. They love them and always popcorn when I put them in at night. I know they should have had a place to hide but Joey the shy one would just sit in the house all day and was scared of us so was advised to take it out. They don't mind as they have a tunnel and willow bridge if they feel the urge to hide,but to be honest he is ok, but is still rather shy and Ive had him for a year now. I guess it depends on there personality.
I have two of everything and that seems to work well for both of them. Try not to worry and like wiebke said they will soon sort it out once you put 2 of everything in the cage. x x x

 

[lovelygirl]

mine quite like a wine cardboard box that held 6 bottles of wine stuffed with hay