Baby Guinea Pig Attacking Senior

[frankiethepiggie]

Hi everyone, I wanted to share my experience today with my attempt of bonding my senior pig (Frank, age 5.5) with my newest adopted pig (Luca, age 1 month). I heard so many success stories about older pigs being compatible with babies because the baby is seen as the submissive one and the elder one will assert their dominance but that was the complete opposite. My sweet pig Frank is so patient and passive. I introduced them in completely neutral territory, I lined my bathtub with fleece and a huge pile of hay right in the center. I put the two of them in together at once and things seemed good at first, great actually. They were grooming each other and following each other, no rumbling, chattering or anything. After about ten minutes, things took a turn for the worse. The baby pig, Luca, began humping my senior pig excessively. I’ve successfully bonded two males before and I know what it looks like. I understand they hump and chase and nibble to assert dominance but this was out of hand. My senior pig was so out of breath from constantly running away from the baby and being mounted and humped nonstop. The nonstop chasing and humping from Luca went on for hours, but they would stop and even lay down together which I thought was a good sign. After they got up from laying down I noticed a pool of blood from underneath my senior Frank. I immediately removed him and noticed the blood coming from his private parts. Could he have been humped so much that he actually bled? I’ve never seen or heard of this before. He wouldn’t ever fight the baby back or anything. I looked at his bum and couldn’t find any open wounds so I figured it was coming from the inside of his bum somewhere? After this I put them back together and they groomed each other again and layed down so I figured it was all fine. Then i moved them to a 2x5 c&c cage I made for them. The humping continued and he bled from his bum again and at this point my older pig looked so stressed I decided to separate them. I don’t know what I did wrong and feel terrible for putting him through that, I was so hopeful it would work out. If anyone has anything to say about this please let me know. I’m 18 years old and have owned pigs since I was twelve and want to learn more and more, this is something I’ve never ever heard of and I tried doing research but couldn’t find anything about stuff like this. I know it’s important to wait things out when introducing males but this was excessive. If the baby was this dominant with such a passive guinea pig, what does that mean for his future, I know his hormones are all over the place and I hope I can find a cage mate for him in the future. As for my senior, I figured having them side by side with a safe and strong barrier is enough interaction for him. He didn’t seem interested in another cage mate after his first one passed over a year ago. Thanks for all the help I really appreciate it.

*I had two of EVERYTHING in the c&c cage with hidey houses with two entrances and exits so during their chases and fights they could exit safely.

 

[LilyandNugget]

Wow... I’m so sry to hear that. I recently just took up guinea pig ownership. If there r other signs of him bleeding, mayb take him to a vet. I don’t rlly know how to help, but good luck!

 

[Piggies&buns]

You did not do anything wrong, please don’t think you did

While it is usually the case babies will be submissive, it is not a given that it will always happen. We do see adult/baby bondings fail. Humping and dominance behaviours will continue for several weeks after the initial introduction as it takes them that long to fully establish a relationship.

If you decide to find either of them a new friend then if at all possible, it’s best to use the help of a rescue centre as they can help you ensure character compatibility before bringing a new piggy home, or at least give you to option to return the piggy if the bonding fails.
Luca will hit his hormonal teens at 4 months of age (until 15 months of age) so trying to bond during that time can be trickier and the help of a centre, if possible, will be valuable so you don’t end up with multiple piggies in separate cages.

Please do take Frank to a vet if he has been injured

@Wiebke - perhaps you can help here

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars

 

[weepweeps]

I’m really sorry the bonding didn’t work out.

 

[frankiethepiggie]

You did not do anything wrong, please don’t think you did

While it is usually the case babies will be submissive, it is not a given that it will always happen. We do see adult/baby bondings fail. Humping and dominance behaviours will continue for several weeks after the initial introduction as it takes them that long to fully establish a relationship.

If you decide to find either of them a new friend then if at all possible, it’s best to use the help of a rescue centre as they can help you ensure character compatibility before bringing a new piggy home, or at least give you to option to return the piggy if the bonding fails.
Luca will hit his hormonal teens at 4 months of age (until 15 months of age) so trying to bond during that time can be trickier and the help of a centre, if possible, will be valuable so you don’t end up with multiple piggies in separate cages.

Please do take Frank to a vet if he has been injured

@Wiebke - perhaps you can help here

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars

Thank you so much for the advice. I was so hopeful it would work out between them but not everything works out as we want it to. Just one last question, do you think separating was the right thing to do? I saw blood was drawn and made up my mind to have them separated. I figured they would get enough interaction through the c&c grids until I’m able to sort out finding them each cage mates.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you so much for the advice. I was so hopeful it would work out between them but not everything works out as we want it to. Just one last question, do you think separating was the right thing to do? I saw blood was drawn and made up my mind to have them separated. I figured they would get enough interaction through the c&c grids until I’m able to sort out finding them each cage mates.

Blood being drawn usually refers to a full on fight occurring due to the piggies not liking each other and being incompatible. But it doesn’t sound like that is what actually happened here?
Humping, chasing etc is going to happen whenever two piggies meet (and for considerable time after while they establish their relationship, but also lifelong while they affirm their relationship).
It sounds as if Frankie may have been taken aback by Luca being so forward and Luca may have just gone overboard. Whether this constitutes a failure or whether it is something they can overcome would require Wiebke’s experience.