hellsbells82
Teenage Guinea Pig
These piggies are causing me much worry this week!
Basically I had two pairs or boars, they've never seen each other on the advice of people on here, and live above one another in the kitchen.
Charlie (4 months) lost his brother on Weds and seemed a bit lost without him, many people suggested that I put Charlie where he could see my other boars, Fitz and Roy, so he felt less lonely- so on Friday I put Fitz and Roy in the indoor run, and Charlie's cage on the floor next to them, they seemed fine and stayed out for most of the day. However in the evening, when back in their cages I heard a lot of noise and rushed through and found Fitz sat up in one corner of the big boys cage and poor Roy had lifted the hay tray up and was trying to hide underneath it, so was obviously scared, I got both boys out alone and checked for bites/teeth/nails etc and couldn't see any signs of harm, however I suspect that seeing Charlie had triggered some dominance behaviour and Roy had been given a good fright by Fitz.
As no blood was drawn I left the boys in the cage together and went to bed (Friday night), Saturday morning I came down and hardly any food looked to have been eaten, both boy were camped out in seperate corners and wouldn't come out to me when I took veggies to the cage, I picked Roy up and he was all wet and smelt of wee round the bum so had obviously kept sitting in his own wee on the hay in the corner. Anyway I took Roy out, with a tray of hay and some food etc and set him up in the next room, he was fine pottering about and eating etc and seemed much happier. After a couple of hours
I was sure he didn't seem ill injured so decided to set up the indoor pen and try the boys together again, initially in a totally empty pen, then added two food bowls, two hay trays, beds etc, both boys were running around, wheeking, taking food and went to sleep cuddled up together under a sort of fleece tent I made, I decided that as they seemed so much happier to leave them in there for a while and they slept in there last night and stayed in there this morning, seemingly getting along fine again with no signs of dominance.
So this afternoon (Sunday) I cleaned out their cage, totally rearranged it all and put them back, both boys have barely moved since, Roy was camped out on the upper level and Fitz underneath and neither came out for food etc, I've put food, hay, water and veg in reach of each one and they're both eating, but Roy especially seems very nervous and doesn't look happy at all, he's just come "downstairs" for the first time in hours but is huddled as far away from Fitz as possible.
Obviously I want to keep them together, but don't want them to be unhappy, and I'm quite worried today about how "different" they both seem, as they were fine in the pen I'm wondering if it's the cage that's an issue and whether to switch their cage with Charlie's- both are 120cm/4 foot cages, but the bigger boys have two mezzanine levels so actually have more breathing space (Roy is camped upstairs at the moment) so am wondering if putting them in the single tier cage will make things worse as they'll have less room.
I suppose I'm just wondering how long to leave it before intervening, I know some people say not unless blood is drawn, but they do seem pretty miserable right now.
Basically I had two pairs or boars, they've never seen each other on the advice of people on here, and live above one another in the kitchen.
Charlie (4 months) lost his brother on Weds and seemed a bit lost without him, many people suggested that I put Charlie where he could see my other boars, Fitz and Roy, so he felt less lonely- so on Friday I put Fitz and Roy in the indoor run, and Charlie's cage on the floor next to them, they seemed fine and stayed out for most of the day. However in the evening, when back in their cages I heard a lot of noise and rushed through and found Fitz sat up in one corner of the big boys cage and poor Roy had lifted the hay tray up and was trying to hide underneath it, so was obviously scared, I got both boys out alone and checked for bites/teeth/nails etc and couldn't see any signs of harm, however I suspect that seeing Charlie had triggered some dominance behaviour and Roy had been given a good fright by Fitz.
As no blood was drawn I left the boys in the cage together and went to bed (Friday night), Saturday morning I came down and hardly any food looked to have been eaten, both boy were camped out in seperate corners and wouldn't come out to me when I took veggies to the cage, I picked Roy up and he was all wet and smelt of wee round the bum so had obviously kept sitting in his own wee on the hay in the corner. Anyway I took Roy out, with a tray of hay and some food etc and set him up in the next room, he was fine pottering about and eating etc and seemed much happier. After a couple of hours
I was sure he didn't seem ill injured so decided to set up the indoor pen and try the boys together again, initially in a totally empty pen, then added two food bowls, two hay trays, beds etc, both boys were running around, wheeking, taking food and went to sleep cuddled up together under a sort of fleece tent I made, I decided that as they seemed so much happier to leave them in there for a while and they slept in there last night and stayed in there this morning, seemingly getting along fine again with no signs of dominance.
So this afternoon (Sunday) I cleaned out their cage, totally rearranged it all and put them back, both boys have barely moved since, Roy was camped out on the upper level and Fitz underneath and neither came out for food etc, I've put food, hay, water and veg in reach of each one and they're both eating, but Roy especially seems very nervous and doesn't look happy at all, he's just come "downstairs" for the first time in hours but is huddled as far away from Fitz as possible.
Obviously I want to keep them together, but don't want them to be unhappy, and I'm quite worried today about how "different" they both seem, as they were fine in the pen I'm wondering if it's the cage that's an issue and whether to switch their cage with Charlie's- both are 120cm/4 foot cages, but the bigger boys have two mezzanine levels so actually have more breathing space (Roy is camped upstairs at the moment) so am wondering if putting them in the single tier cage will make things worse as they'll have less room.
I suppose I'm just wondering how long to leave it before intervening, I know some people say not unless blood is drawn, but they do seem pretty miserable right now.
