2 X 6m Boar Brothers Currently Separated - Help!

[Teddy&Patchy]

First time guinea pig owner here and first post on the forum, although I've read a lot of advice already.

We have two 6m old boars (litter brothers). They live in a Pets at Home Bluebell Hideaway, 2 storey hutch, outside. We have put at extra "bedroom" downstairs (wooden slot together box with roof and doorway, also from Pets at Home). There are 2 water bottles (one upstairs, one downstairs) and two bowls for nuggets (one up, one down). We scatter the veg around and put lots of hay in the bedrooms.

Teddy has always been more confident, more difficult to "catch" in the hutch, quicker to come out of the bedroom in the hutch and in the run in the garden (we haven't used this for 2m+ because our grass is very wet and ground boggy - garden currently has a substantial flooded patch from the rain). He has always been more active when held, wandering about and climbing up my daughter.

Patchy has always been quieter, stayed in the bedroom more. When we first got him, he would sit motionless on your knee for half an hour and refuse to eat (Teddy wood tuck into his veg on your knee immediately) - he eats easily now on your knee. He is more skittish and darts into the bedroom more frequently when in the run.

All was well to begin with but we have clearly entered the teenage phase. Over the past six weeks or so, Teddy has become dominant and bullies Patchy. Behaviour such as sitting in front of the bedroom door so Patch cannot leave, chasing Patch out of Teddy's preferred bedroom. Both guineas have displayed increased teeth chattering, yawning, rearing up, rumble strutting etc.

About a month ago, we noticed Patch had a small cut on one of the pads of his front paw. Two days later he had a small chunk of fur missing near his eye. We scrubbed out the hutch (vinyl floor, so urine doesn't soak in anyway), bathed them (first bath; they also seemed very smelly all of a sudden) and bought the second good bowl and water bottle. Things seemed to calm down for a while.

Then it snowed. With hindsight, we made a big mistake here because we brought them both indoors overnight for a week or so of minus temperatures in a small plastic indoor cage. They were in the outdoor hutch during the day but they were cooped up overnight.

This is the standard £35 Pets at Home indoor cage, with bedroom at one end. That wasn't working from the start, so we put the bedroom in the middle and a shoe box in one side, which gave them their own sides. Lots of clacking and a few skirmishes. Teddy claimed the good bedroom; Patch was not allowed in. If Teddy came out to eat, Patch went in (out of the way) only to be chased out when Teddy had finished eating.

We then noticed Patch with a blood shot eye (bleeding eye lid on closer inspection) and following the first full 24 hours back in the outdoor hutch, Patch had a chunk of fur missing and a significant scratch (gouge?) behind his front leg.

At this point (Friday), we took the stairs out, laid a plank over the hole and they have been living separately over Christmas.

We are at a loss what to do. We don't want them to be lonely. We definitely don't want more guinea pigs. Swapping one is not an option as my daughters have one guinea each. I understand that neutering would make no difference. Should we try to reintroduce and hope it was the small indoor cage that was the problem? Should we wait a year until teenage hormones have dropped and then try to reintroduce?

Please help! Sorry for the long post - didn't want to drip feed... I work term-time so we have another good week at home to try things out. Thank you

 

[DM030819]

@Teddy&Patchy You could give it another try seeing as you have the time to supervise. You will need to introduce them in a nice big open space, somewhere that neither of them know. I usually do it in the bathroom.

I know a lot of people like hutches, and it's been many years since I had one, but I found that if you had a pair of boars that we're completely happy living with each other, then hutches can be quite difficult for them. Areas such as the enclosed bedroom part, and the stairs causes funnelling problems, where the pigs have to be near each other. And that's when they fight, when they're stuck near each other.

If you can it would be worth investing in a larger single storey cage, or moving them into a shed so they can have the floor as a living area.

 

[Teddy&Patchy]

Thanks @Jaycey that's certainly food for thought. I agree about the lack of space. I've been discussing it with hubby and we're thinking of taking the back off the hutch and modifying it to make it at least twice as deep. If this doesn't work then at least they'll have twice the space to live their bachelor lives... I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Lexipiggie]

With @Jaycey

Personally have very little experience so cannot give any sound advice.
Hope they manage to figure it out

 

[DM030819]

@Teddy&Patchy That sounds like a fab idea. It's so strange that a little bit of extra space can make so much difference, weird.

Good luck deciding on the changes, it's fun getting to make a new setup for piggies

 

[Little Pips Rehoming]

Don't forget that whatever you decide for your guineas, they will both need an appropriate friend & cannot live alone. They also need their living quarters to be in a warm environment (15 degrees C or above) so indoors in a large cage, probably one of the 140 or 150 cages would be best for them as they are boys who seem to need a bit more space, or at the least in a heated shed.