Are They Ever Going To Be Friends? Guinea Pig Fighting

AlbertePedersen

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hjørring, Denmark
Hello everyone, my name is Alberte and I am from Denmark. I have two Guinea pigs, Alfred (9 months) and Anton (around 5 months).
First i had Alfred and took care of him the best that i could, and then i decided that he needed a friend, so i got Anton. Alfred is very loving, and loves cuddles, he comes up to me very time i open the cage. Anton is very different, he is very scared of me, and dont like me holding him, so i dont (should i? even tho i does not like it?). Anton is very scared of me even when i have food, he will take the food as fast as possible and run and hide.

My biggist problem is that they are not the best of friends, they have never been. I was told that if there was not blood drawn, and they were not fighting too much, that they would get along just fine. But they will not be in the same end of their cage. btw i have this cage Gnaverbur Lounge | zooplus.dk , but Alfred is scared of going up, so only Anton has a lot of space. It is around 110x58, on both floors.
Recently i had to seperate them, because their fighting became really bad (tho no blood), and now every time that i put them together, they will fight and be very aggressive. They will fight really bad (but no blood) but i get to scared that i seperate them. Should i leave them to it? or are they just not the right fit for each other, please help.
 
Hello everyone, my name is Alberte and I am from Denmark. I have two Guinea pigs, Alfred (9 months) and Anton (around 5 months).
First i had Alfred and took care of him the best that i could, and then i decided that he needed a friend, so i got Anton. Alfred is very loving, and loves cuddles, he comes up to me very time i open the cage. Anton is very different, he is very scared of me, and dont like me holding him, so i dont (should i? even tho i does not like it?). Anton is very scared of me even when i have food, he will take the food as fast as possible and run and hide.

My biggist problem is that they are not the best of friends, they have never been. I was told that if there was not blood drawn, and they were not fighting too much, that they would get along just fine. But they will not be in the same end of their cage. btw i have this cage Gnaverbur Lounge | zooplus.dk , but Alfred is scared of going up, so only Anton has a lot of space. It is around 110x58, on both floors.
Recently i had to seperate them, because their fighting became really bad (tho no blood), and now every time that i put them together, they will fight and be very aggressive. They will fight really bad (but no blood) but i get to scared that i seperate them. Should i leave them to it? or are they just not the right fit for each other, please help.

Hi and welcome

Unfortunately your two boys are currently both in some of the most difficult phases of he teenage months. Around 6 months the testosterone output is at an all time high. Between 8-10 months boars are constantly pushing the limits (although they most often do not cross it).

Please take the time to read this guide. It is very detailed and contains lots of tips for all scenarios together with information on the various phases of the teenage months. As long as there are no deep bites, the bond is not broken, so you can still live in hope that your two boys can make it through the roughest bit to a more settled adulthood.
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Since we have members from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country to your details, so we can always tailor any advice in ways that are most helpful for you straight away. Please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. Thank you!
 
Hello, welcome to the forum! :) Sorry to hear your boys are fighting

Am going to link you to this thread to have a read of Bonds In Trouble I am also tagging in @Wiebke for you as she is like The Piggy Whisperer when it comes to behaviour
 
@Wiebke @sport_billy
Would you suggest that I keep trying to reintroduce my guinea pigs or should I let them be seperated for a longer period of time?
I have noticed a little different behavior in my youngest piggy Anton, when he is alone he likes to talk more, and "scream" more loudly after food. He is also less shy, but still shy, but i can hand feed him when he is alone. Do you think that he maybe is unhappy in their relationship?
 
@Wiebke @sport_billy
Would you suggest that I keep trying to reintroduce my guinea pigs or should I let them be seperated for a longer period of time?
I have noticed a little different behavior in my youngest piggy Anton, when he is alone he likes to talk more, and "scream" more loudly after food. He is also less shy, but still shy, but i can hand feed him when he is alone. Do you think that he maybe is unhappy in their relationship?

The longer you leave them separated, the greater the chance that they won't go back together. You should get the answer when you try to re-introduce them. If they are not happy with each other, you will know very quickly!
Please make sure that you have several hours time to observe them on neutral ground and then back in their cage. Make sure that they are happy sleeping and waking up together in the re-introduction area before you move them to their cage. Remove any houses with just one entrance. As they have a chance to get away from each other, which is the most important bit, they are hopefully still fine.
There are no hard rules; you have to judge each bond and each situation on its own merits and take it from there. Getting two boys right in the middle of the worst of the puberty through it is a constant balancing act. But if they manage it now at the worst period, their chances of staying together as hormonally much more settled and much less confrontational and bullish adults are actually very good.
 
@Wiebke I reintroduced them today on neutral ground, they were fight a lot and then it stop for a couple of hours. Now they are in their cage (i cleaned it), but they are still fighting a little bit. Anton (the youngest) will run after Alfred and push him with his nose, he will continue until Alfred gets angry and attacks, is this normal? And do you think that they will be alright?
 
@Wiebke I reintroduced them today on neutral ground, they were fight a lot and then it stop for a couple of hours. Now they are in their cage (i cleaned it), but they are still fighting a little bit. Anton (the youngest) will run after Alfred and push him with his nose, he will continue until Alfred gets angry and attacks, is this normal? And do you think that they will be alright?
They will only leave each other alone for a few minutes and then one of them attacks or pushing to the other one. I don't know if this is normal, they have been together for almost 5 hours now, and they are both very tired. I guess I am in doubt if they are going to be good friends or not, or if they would have a better life with another pal.
 
They will only leave each other alone for a few minutes and then one of them attacks or pushing to the other one. I don't know if this is normal, they have been together for almost 5 hours now, and they are both very tired. I guess I am in doubt if they are going to be good friends or not, or if they would have a better life with another pal.
Okay so, I have now seperated them because they started fighting and Anton was bitten pretty serious, but no blood. I'm scared to let them be all by themselves now. :((
 
Okay so, I have now seperated them because they started fighting and Anton was bitten pretty serious, but no blood. I'm scared to let them be all by themselves now. :((

You did right to separate. They are obviously not able to come to an agreement anymore. :(
 
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