Advice Needed: Male Group Fighting

[Dakar]

Hey all,

Currently we have five male guineas together; 4 are the same age and from the same litter (around 12weeks old now), with the fifth being 2 weeks younger and a runt.

All five of them have been housed together for a month now with no problems, although sadly as of yesterday two from the same litter began fighting; scar and rafiki -- we believe that scar is the most dominant of the group.

All of them have been health checked, Rafiki is the only one with injuries: small cuts on his ears, by his eye and on his nose. At the time they were fine, so we placed them all together in the run while we cleaned their hutch out. A fight broke out, of which we witnessed this time and broke up. Rafiki now sadly has some small cuts on his back.

We've placed Rafiki in a carrier for now; the others are all fine together. So our problem is, what do we do now? We've attempted placing Rafiki back with the others, but instantly him and Scar start fighting. We have no idea what caused this change in behaviour or how best to try and amend it.

Any and all advice would be much appreciated! Thanks.

 

[7squeakers.]

I think your boars have reached their hormonal stage and have started to sort out the dominance hierarchy. As you will see, if you read through some of the threads on here, it is VERY difficult to get more than 3 boars to live peacefully all the time. Whenever they are moved to a new area, they have to sort out who is the Boss again. I'm afraid that you will have to split up Scar and Rafiki, as they are the troublemakers at the moment. Remove them from the other three, so neither can pick on someone else instead The three boys left MIGHT get on together okay on their own. They will probably start squabbling later on but hopefully it won't be as serious as the other two. Good luck.

 

[MerryPip]

Hello,
Ads 7squeakers has said it's very very difficult to get more than two boars to live happily together after they start to get to their hormonal teenage stage at 10 weeks -18 months or so. It's very unlikely that even if your boys are all related that you'd end up with a stable group.

The best plan would be to spend some time watching them and work out who gets on with who but you definitely need to separate Rafiki and Scar as they will just continue to fight. Unfortunately in piggies as in life, being siblings doesn't mean they will be friends.....

The other issue you will have is space. The minimum for any pair of piggies is 120cm x 60cm but a pair of young feisty boars will likely need more and the space to get a trio to coexist happily is much bigger again. The space needed for 5 boys would be absolutely huge! The more space the better is always the case with boys as well as lots of bowls, water bottles and hideys so no-one is pushed out or bullied away from food and shelter.

I personally think it might be best if you can get the boys into at least one happy, stable pair and possibly try a trio with the other three although this will be tricky as they are all at the age where they are trying their luck and there will be a lot of arguing for dominance. Try not to change cages/play areas too often as every new area will lead to another battle for dominance as it smells new and territory is important. Just be careful as it would be awful to end up with 5 single boys none of whom get on...... If you do end up with a single piggy, consider bonding him with a new friend at a rescue by boar dating, that way you know the new piggy is someone compatible.

Good luck and I hope some of that helps. I don't mean to sound negative but boar groups are notoriously tricky especially at this age when they are little raging bundles of hormones...

 

[Goth Mummy]

Oh gosh. Definately keep your two troublemakers separated, I think its unlikely they will go back together. As MerryPip says try to work out who gets on with who, I think the best bet is to go for the two most stable pairs and house those separately to each other. You will then end up with a "spare" boar who you could try to boar date at a rescue xx

 

[MerryPip]

Here's a few links to threads that will help you iron things out with your boys and so you can understand a little more about what is happening in their relationship...
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/boars-a-guide-to-successful-companionship.76162/
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/dominance-behaviours-in-guinea-pigs.28949/

Unfortunately there are many myths around about boars and their companionship needs, from things like 'all boars must be kept alone' through to people who say boars can live in groups. There are some people who have had success with groups but usually they are very carefully selected individuals and usually include older males who unlike your lads, are past their most hormonal phase and are a bit more laid back. They also tend to work better in places where the group is housed in huge free range enclosures or outside spaces so there is less dispute over space and territory. This usually isn't practical or possible indoors or with juvenile/teenage groups.

Hopefully you will be able to find some stable combinations within the group and end up with some happy piggy pairs. A bonded pair of boars is something very special. I love watching my guys snuggle, interact and converse with each other

 

[Dakar]

Thanks everyone for the advice!

We ended up placing Rafiki in a carrier and then placed the carrier in the run for awhile. After an hour we tried them all in the run together again and there were minor dominance displays (judging from what we have read on the forum), but no more fight to the degree we had yesterday and after health checks, all injuries are old and healing well.

They have been back in their hutch together until now, although we are keeping a close eye on them. We do and always have had a spare hutch, so we will separate them if push comes to shove -- neither the pet shop or breeder we got our boys from indicated housing males in a group would be an issue, but we are certainly reading up now to ensure our group has the best welfare. We are first time owners, so we do have much to learn and are really open to advice!

Typically Scar stays on the bottom floor of our hutch with Mufasa, whilst Rafiki, Timon and Pumba are upstairs, so we have a rough idea for groupings if we have to separate them. Although we would prefer this as a last resort if it is plausible to have them grouped together safely. With this said however, they are completely fine in groups of four either as Scar/Mufasa/Timon/Pumba or Rafiki/Mufasa/Timon/Pumba. Rafiki is always instigating the fights; aside from scar, the others are all really laid back and just get away from him.

Currently we have them in a pets at homes rose cottage hutch, with run separate to the main hutch. The external dimensions of the hutch are W152 x H122 x D61cm. We were informed this was enough space for our group, although we can move things around to have the run attached to their hutch if space will help, as it is the matching run to their hutch and is designed to be attached.

We've always provided ample food -- two bowls for dry food, scatter feeding fresh food, two water bottles and multiple hiding spots with 2+ exits at all times. Is there anything else we could potentially do with our setup to make things better?

Also, after speaking with our local vets, they suggested for us to get Rafiki castrated, since he is the only one having issues with the others in the group. Would this help the situation, given that currently he is the only one actively causing fightings?