Blood has been shed.. Help

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Its been a bit manic hear recently trying to match bores up. And now blood has been shed.

I have recently got two rescue bores. I put one (Benjamin) in with Franklin who had to leave his brother after his brother really hurt him badly.

They are doing ok still a bit of Franklin trying to prove he is boss but no fighting just a bit of humping.

And the other rescue I got (Thomas) I put in with Leo. All was going well till tonight. They had a bit of a tiff and it has resulted in Thomas having a nice hole just above his left front leg. So blood has been shed.

Does this mean all hope is lost? I have seperated them in their cage by sticking some C&C across the middle, they both have their own water and hay and food now, can see each other and keep going up to the C&C to see each other and sniff each other. No chattering or grumbling.

Should I try and re-introduce them tomorrow or is it likely to end in more blood shed?

Both have antiseptic powder on the wounds and the wounds have been cleaned. Will keep an eye and see a vet if needed.

I am currently making the box room under the stairs in to a guinea pig room and I am seriously thinking of doing the room out in C&C if Thomas and Leo cannot be put back together.

I am still concerned that Franklin and Benjamin will not last as a pair. They had a neutral and slow introduction that went very well. Leo and Thomas on the other hand never seemed interested in each other during the slow introduction so I just ended up putting them in together and they never showed any interest in each other.

I have had 14 guinea pigs over the years and NEVER had any problems bonding bores. And now I am having serious problems with Leo and Thomas and after there little tiff Franklin and Benjamin have been very vocal towards each other as if they are picking up on the upset of the other two.

I just want them to all be happy. :(
 
Oh the little monkeys Alex! When Twinkle made Sunshine bleed Sunshine would never accept him back! Twinks was sorry he wanted to be friends but Sunshine just wouldn't have it! It was very sad I had such high expectations for them!...lol

I would try again in a very neutral area, perhaps the bath. Be on hand with a spray gun of water and a towel just incase. If they still fight I wouldn't bother again for a while. Maybe in time they will get over it. How old are they now? If teens it could just be that and they will get over it once they are older.

Can you position the cages so they can at least see one another? This is what i did last winter and come spring I was able to get Radley and then later Milo for Twinkle.

Good luck! Give you wrinkles don't they!

Louise
x
 
Thanks for such a quick reply.

Thomas is about 12 weeks, Leo is just over a year in age. I have currently split the cage in half with C&C so they are in the same cage together but cannot physically get to each other but can see and sniff each other.

I will get them in the bath in the morning and see how it goes, trouble I had with their introduction last time was in a bath or out on a blanket they just ignore each other and show no interest, even bad interest! But its worth another shot.

Thomas is the big problem, I can see that. He is so skittish and has real issues with everything. If I open the cage to top up hey or try and show him a bit of love he gets very grumpy and chattery. I was told he was just an unwanted pet from an accidental pregnancy but I think he has had a bad experience to be so skittish and grumpy towards me so I think he started the fight.

In the other cage across the room I have...

Franklin is almost 3 and Benjamin is 9 to 10 weeks and they are doing ok 99% of the time. They have not had any tiff's yet just the normal humping LOL. But I am not holding my breath that the pairing is going to work. I don't know why, just a feeling.

Never had any bonding issues in the past I guess I am just unlucky this time.

I have put both cages in my bedroom for the past week so I could keep a close eye on them, and the night before I move them to the new piggy room they all kick off LOL.

As for the wrinkles, they sure do and grey hair! LOL
 
Hiya sorry they had a fight! sometimes with realy agressive boars i have found it helps to take them away from all other guineas and be there friend for a bit.this effectively makes them castouts of the herd and so when introduced to boars again after a while they form a "batchelor" herd as would naturally occur.it seems to help with bonding
 
That's a good point Jessica, I did that with Twinkle and I think it helped him bond with Milo better. :)
 
It seems a bit mean to have on alone but they are fine if you give them lots of attention.i use it a lot here as the dynamics are constantly changing.
 
Sorry to hear that they are not getting on.

If the introduction does not work this morning you could try giving them a bath together.

This would hopefully instill their 'need' for each other, as they would both be in a strange / unknown situation and create some kind of bond.

If that did not work then I think you would have to keep them separate permently.

good luck :)
 
Thanks for the replies

Things did not go well this morning, Thomas managed to pull a chunk of Leo's fur out and they just wanted to scrap.

Anyway I finished the guinea pig den (box room under the stairs) and have put Leo in there and kept Thomas in my room. In 48 hours time we will try again!
 
My advice would be seperate them ideally dividing a large cage with a mesh wall so they still can interact but not hurt! When they are fully grown, especially if they are used to each other from livin side by side there is a chance they could be carefully introduced. If you keep trying now things might go past the point they could ever be introduced. Most of them seem to be a bit mellower as they age although one of my piggers Rainbow remained hostile to all other boars forever he is the only one that did.
 
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yep I would leave them for now Alex and wait until the little fella is fully grown. This is what I did with Sunshine and Twinkle and although we never did get them back (their personalities are very similar) it gave us the opportunity to pair them with smaller boars.

Living in cages next to each other helped a lot, they weren't lonely and couldn't kill one another! :))
 
LOL yeah I think your right and its what I am going to do. :)

Thanks everyone
 
Yeap, it is always really worrying when you have two piggies that seem not to get along. Very upsetting when blood is shed.

I agree with housing them separately if you can, but within eye contact of each other.

Boars are strange things sometimes! rolleyes
You think they are happy living together and then wham ... they have a fall-out, big time. It is sometimes difficult for them to be friends again, but it is certainly worth a try when hormones have settled down a little.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Leo is about a year old and Thomas is 10 to 12 weeks. How mature should I let Thomas be before I try and re-introduce?
 
Personally, I would have thought that a mix of ages such as that would have been ok :{.

I guess that the older one was having a dominance thing about him.

I am afraid that it does come down to personalities ... sows are the same, but boars tend to be more aggressive in their pecking order.

Hope all goes ok. Keep us posted.
 
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