Need Help Reintroducing

[buddyholly971936]

I have two boy guinea pigs. I use to have a total of five but unfortunately three have passed away. The two I want to reintroduce use to be a pair but during the period of time the other guinea pigs passed away, they had a falling out. It really happened where Gengar instigated really bad until Cataldo had enough and they fought. No matter what I did at the time, they would not get along.

Cataldo turned one year old in March and Gengar will turn one year old in July.

They are currently in one C&C cage with a separator. They can interact through the bars and tend to love laying next to each other, sniffing each other, and such. After 5 months, I decided to attempt a reintroduction. At first it went very well with typical bonding behaviors. Cataldo showed submissive behavior and Gengar showed dominant behavior. Cataldo let Gengar do whatever until he got sick of it because Gengar would not give it a break. It seemed to get intense when Cataldo was trying to lay down to sleep and Gengar kept mounting him. That's when Cataldo gave him a warning nip which Gengar did not listen to. After 10 more minutes, I saw what could lead into another fight and separated them. After this Cataldo laid next to Gengar through the bars as he tried to bite his way in.

I want to know if there's any hope for a reintroduction where they can be within one whole cage again and if so, how do I do this successfully? I've introduced many male guinea pigs with succession in the past however I am not 100% sure on a re-introduction. I took a look on the forum and couldn't find anything very specific to my situation so I figured I would post a thread.

 

[Wiebke]

I have two boy guinea pigs. I use to have a total of five but unfortunately three have passed away. The two I want to reintroduce use to be a pair but during the period of time the other guinea pigs passed away, they had a falling out. It really happened where Gengar instigated really bad until Cataldo had enough and they fought. No matter what I did at the time, they would not get along.

Cataldo turned one year old in March and Gengar will turn one year old in July.

They are currently in one C&C cage with a separator. They can interact through the bars and tend to love laying next to each other, sniffing each other, and such. After 5 months, I decided to attempt a reintroduction. At first it went very well with typical bonding behaviors. Cataldo showed submissive behavior and Gengar showed dominant behavior. Cataldo let Gengar do whatever until he got sick of it because Gengar would not give it a break. It seemed to get intense when Cataldo was trying to lay down to sleep and Gengar kept mounting him. That's when Cataldo gave him a warning nip which Gengar did not listen to. After 10 more minutes, I saw what could lead into another fight and separated them. After this Cataldo laid next to Gengar through the bars as he tried to bite his way in.

I want to know if there's any hope for a reintroduction where they can be within one whole cage again and if so, how do I do this successfully? I've introduced many male guinea pigs with succession in the past however I am not 100% sure on a re-introduction. I took a look on the forum and couldn't find anything very specific to my situation so I figured I would post a thread.

Hi

Your boys are still teenagers and after a failed re-intro they are rather unlikely to make a match.

Please be aware that what you are describing are not exactly friendly but in fact fairly unfriendly territorial behaviours, like especially the mutual 'power lie-in' to mark the border of the territory. Friendship through the bars usually comes in connection with clearly signalled friendly behaviours of which you haven't mentioned any. Most owners are not aware of territorial behaviours and tend to to totally misinterpret what they see or they get confused by the piggies be seemingly friends through the bars but fiends when directly face to face.

Personally, I would recommend to leave them as they are. I know that it is very disappointing for you but it is going to be more more probable that they are going to end up with another fight/kerfuffle even more quickly this time. This way, they can build up a relationship over time but each with his own territory and safe space. We call these kind of pairs 'can't live together but can't live apart' boar pairs. Some will noticeably grieve when their mate through the bars dies.

You may find the information in this link here helpful to decode your boys' behaviour better:
A - Z of Guinea Pig Behaviours (see entry territorial behaviours as well as dominance)

PS: Did you conduct the re-intro on neutral ground outside the cage or did you just remove the divider?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry for your losses.

I have to agree with Wiebke. Your piggies sadly don’t seem to like each other and I also would not advise to attempt any further reintroduction in this case. You are going to see further fights if you try to.
As wiebke has said, laying next to the bars is not a friendly sign or that they are enjoying being close - it’s a sure sign they are in fact marking their territories and don’t want to be together.