Hello all
I’ve had guinea pigs for around 7 years now and always had a pair. Henry sadly passed away in July and we were left with 3 year old Ralph. He was looking very lonely so we decided to go to pets at home after a few days and get two babies. We thought they would then have each other when Ralph passes away in a few years and we won’t be left with one again. We picked the two who looked like they were getting on the best, integrated them gradually with Ralph and for 2 months they’ve been getting on fine. Ralph was happy to have two new pals. However last week the two babies (around 4-6 months old) all of sudden started fighting, Dougal lost a tooth and some fur under his chin and Archie had a bit missing from his ear. Both had bites on their sides. This fight happened in the middle of the night. It looked like Dougal was the more dominant one so we put him in a separate cage in another room for a night. The next day we moved the cage in beside the other one which is a 2x4 C&C cage with a ramp up to another level where their hay is. Since then we tried letting them out in the hall in neutral ground where they were gritting teeth and nipping at each other (not drawing blood though). We kept dougal in the separate cage for 3 nights after believing him to be the instigator. Each night we let them all out in the hall to try and integrate them but by the 3rd night Dougal had become very submissive and ran away anytime Archie went near him. He did the high pitched squealing “I’m no threat, leave me alone” sound and had completely backed down. However Archie was constantly going for him, head butting and nipping. We then cleaned the cages and separated Archie. Tonight we bathed them all to see if that would help things settle. We let them round around the livingroom while I scrubbed the cage and set it up with no furniture in. The 3 of them went in, Dougal ran away from Archie a few times but then seemed to settle. Ralph has been very protective of Dougal and is acting very dominate towards Archie who has accepted him as the most dominant. We then put two wooden igloos in which have open ends but Archie went for Dougal when they were both up at the hay. He had him by the fur and Dougal did not fight back, he ran away and Archie kept chasing him. We’ve put Archie back in the other cage. I’m now worried they won’t be able to live together. We really don’t want to have 2 cages as we don’t have the space but also don’t want to give any of them up. Has anyone had any experience like this before and can offer advice? Do we keep persevering to try and get them living together? We obviously don’t want to cause any stress to them though.
I’ve had guinea pigs for around 7 years now and always had a pair. Henry sadly passed away in July and we were left with 3 year old Ralph. He was looking very lonely so we decided to go to pets at home after a few days and get two babies. We thought they would then have each other when Ralph passes away in a few years and we won’t be left with one again. We picked the two who looked like they were getting on the best, integrated them gradually with Ralph and for 2 months they’ve been getting on fine. Ralph was happy to have two new pals. However last week the two babies (around 4-6 months old) all of sudden started fighting, Dougal lost a tooth and some fur under his chin and Archie had a bit missing from his ear. Both had bites on their sides. This fight happened in the middle of the night. It looked like Dougal was the more dominant one so we put him in a separate cage in another room for a night. The next day we moved the cage in beside the other one which is a 2x4 C&C cage with a ramp up to another level where their hay is. Since then we tried letting them out in the hall in neutral ground where they were gritting teeth and nipping at each other (not drawing blood though). We kept dougal in the separate cage for 3 nights after believing him to be the instigator. Each night we let them all out in the hall to try and integrate them but by the 3rd night Dougal had become very submissive and ran away anytime Archie went near him. He did the high pitched squealing “I’m no threat, leave me alone” sound and had completely backed down. However Archie was constantly going for him, head butting and nipping. We then cleaned the cages and separated Archie. Tonight we bathed them all to see if that would help things settle. We let them round around the livingroom while I scrubbed the cage and set it up with no furniture in. The 3 of them went in, Dougal ran away from Archie a few times but then seemed to settle. Ralph has been very protective of Dougal and is acting very dominate towards Archie who has accepted him as the most dominant. We then put two wooden igloos in which have open ends but Archie went for Dougal when they were both up at the hay. He had him by the fur and Dougal did not fight back, he ran away and Archie kept chasing him. We’ve put Archie back in the other cage. I’m now worried they won’t be able to live together. We really don’t want to have 2 cages as we don’t have the space but also don’t want to give any of them up. Has anyone had any experience like this before and can offer advice? Do we keep persevering to try and get them living together? We obviously don’t want to cause any stress to them though.
