1 Year Old Guinea Pig Humping His Cage Mate

[mysti77]

I have a pair of boy guinea pigs. They are just over 1 year old. Every now and then one humps the other and it's over quite quickly. Tonight one keeps going at the other and the one being humped is not happy. they keep making chattering noises as well as a lot of other noises. Then after a while the one on top goes away and lays down on the top shelf of the cage for a couple of minutes then goes again. Is this normal? Should I separate them. My mum is worried and says that I may wake up and find them having fought.

 

[PiggySmitten]

Hi I don't really have any experience of this but I hope it went well last night. @MycuteBoys have you had this?

 

[Popcornpiggy]

Hi, I've had this with my two boys, Dandelion and Burdock, Dandelion is older than Burdock and he did all the chasing... it carried on for sometime,. In my case, they eventually stopped when nature took it's course and some guinea pig 'glue' was produced, after that it all settled down. It was very worrying, and the younger boy did chatter, run and get upset and tired however, providing there is no real fighting and blood drawn I believe you should let this run it's course - keep a close eye on them. Males tend to get hormone spikes, which cause this behaviour. Hope this helps

 

[piggyfan]

With guinea pigs one is dominant and they show this through humping and chasing. This is normal behaviour. please read these links to learn more,
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/dominance-behaviours-in-guinea-pigs.28949/

https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/boars-a-guide-to-successful-companionship.76162/

 

[MycuteBoys]

With guinea pigs one is dominant and they show this through humping and chasing. This is normal behaviour. please read these links to learn more,
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/dominance-behaviours-in-guinea-pigs.28949/

https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/boars-a-guide-to-successful-companionship.76162/

I agree with piggyfan my boys were biting each other more than humping when I removed them I would keep an eye on them but humping is normal

 

[PachaPigg]

If it's an occasional thing, I'd definitely keep an eye on them. Is there enough space in the cage for them to "go to their own corneres" when they get on each others' nerves? I tend to see the humping more when I introduce a new, very young, boar to the older ones. The older ones do it as a form of dominance, and when the little ones' hormones start kicking in (around 2 months of age or so), THEY try to hump the older, bigger boars. (at either end.....) THIS can look very funny, as I raise very large boars (vet says they're just big, not fat); and to see a wee baby piggy bouncing away, well, try to keep from laughing!