Crazy behaviour of adult mâle around baby

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beautiful_day

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi, so we had adopted two male guinea pigs, (young adults, lived together quite peacefully) but one died only after about a month.

The other seemed sad and so we thought we’d get him,a friend. I read up on options, and it seemed that a baby male would be best.

So we have one.

I laid out plans for initial intros - neutral territory, in a pen, with a barrier between the two. Well, I hadn’t realized that the baby was so small he can squeeze through the bars! So he did, big guy went loopy, lots of chasing and humping, I didn’t want to intervene as no actual fighting... but what made it worse was that baby didn’t seem that bothered and kept popping in and out of his side, which drove big guy insane because he couldn’t get to him. however, it wasn’t long before baby squeezed out of the pen all together. So that was the end of that.

Now they are in separate cages next to each other. We’ll find a solution to the pen, and retry tomorrow.

However (sorry for the long history!) now big guy seems to be losing the plot. He’s tearing around his cage, biting everything, including the bars, which he never does, squeaking and wheeking like mad. He hasn’t stopped wheeking for the past few hours. He is super agitated, looks like he’s searching for the other. But I can’t put them in the same cage safely yet. Baby is totally zen around him - keeps going up to the bars and sniffing away, doesn’t mind the noise and agitation of big guy.

SO what do I do? Separate the cages overnight? Are we screwed for the intro? If baby isn’t scared, does that mean he is not going to happily be dominated? He is literally a third of the size, if that, of big guy. I’d be scared!

Any advice welcome!
 
beautiful_day said:
Hi, so we had adopted two male guinea pigs, (young adults, lived together quite peacefully) but one died only after about a month.

The other seemed sad and so we thought we’d get him,a friend. I read up on options, and it seemed that a baby male would be best.

So we have one.

I laid out plans for initial intros - neutral territory, in a pen, with a barrier between the two. Well, I hadn’t realized that the baby was so small he can squeeze through the bars! So he did, big guy went loopy, lots of chasing and humping, I didn’t want to intervene as no actual fighting... but what made it worse was that baby didn’t seem that bothered and kept popping in and out of his side, which drove big guy insane because he couldn’t get to him. however, it wasn’t long before baby squeezed out of the pen all together. So that was the end of that.

Now they are in separate cages next to each other. We’ll find a solution to the pen, and retry tomorrow.

However (sorry for the long history!) now big guy seems to be losing the plot. He’s tearing around his cage, biting everything, including the bars, which he never does, squeaking and wheeking like mad. He hasn’t stopped wheeking for the past few hours. He is super agitated, looks like he’s searching for the other. But I can’t put them in the same cage safely yet. Baby is totally zen around him - keeps going up to the bars and sniffing away, doesn’t mind the noise and agitation of big guy.

SO what do I do? Separate the cages overnight? Are we screwed for the intro? If baby isn’t scared, does that mean he is not going to happily be dominated? He is literally a third of the size, if that, of big guy. I’d be scared!

Any advice welcome!
Click to expand...

Hi! Put them back together, remove any hideys and let them work it out of their system. Your big boy is just super excited of having company and your little one is desperate for it - the bouncing off their mutual happiness is just creating a huge piggy party.
But there is nothing for you to worry about; the baby won't come to any harm - he is far too agile and your big boy can only hump if the little one lets him. ;)

It is going to be one happy boar bond, I promise you! :tu:

You can see better from this video when I dated my mild mannered adult Dylan with two 3 weeks old babies just in how little danger the babies are with an adult. Boars get humpy and rumblestrutty when they are happy and some can lose control over their emotions/gonads (can happen just the same when a freshly neutered boar is meeting girls for the first time), but they don't attack babies and they don't harm them. If necessary, have a small chube that the baby but not the big boar can get into or anything else suitable with exits on opposite sides.
PS: Dylan spent 2 years in a tiny hamster cage and is still in process of building up his atrophied and weak bum end. He and one of the boys have been living happily together since this intro; little Llelo is teaching him how to have fun and let rip.
 
Thanks !
So it was a bit late last night, but this morning I built a cardboard fence around the pen and put them back in. This time after the excitement of spending the night in separate cages next to each other, the intro was calmer. Still plenty of chasing and humping and rumblestrutting, backside sniffing and a bit of nipping, but they seem happy enough.

When the dominant one lies down next to the little one, does it mean he is accepting him? He is almost snuggling, which he never did with his former partner.

I think we’ll be ok! :-)92BE9F1E-73FB-4077-9D05-417BE7C7B4A5.webp
 
Yes it looks like he’s glad of the company. Sounds like they will become good friends.
 
beautiful_day said:
Thanks !
So it was a bit late last night, but this morning I built a cardboard fence around the pen and put them back in. This time after the excitement of spending the night in separate cages next to each other, the intro was calmer. Still plenty of chasing and humping and rumblestrutting, backside sniffing and a bit of nipping, but they seem happy enough.

When the dominant one lies down next to the little one, does it mean he is accepting him? He is almost snuggling, which he never did with his former partner.

I think we’ll be ok! :-)View attachment 97288
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Your boy really loves his little new friend and wants to be with him. ;)
 
Are they both confirmed males? I'm sure they are but it's just a thought that crossed my mind.

Fab video above from wiebke, loved watching them bond and have a mad half hour
 
Nick G said:
Are they both confirmed males? I'm sure they are but it's just a thought that crossed my mind.
Click to expand...

Gosh, I hope so. I trusted the woman we got them from because she seemed responsable and to know her animals, and these babies were the result of a surprise pregnancy of a female she acquired without realizing.
She did show us, but he’s very small, so it could have been wrong. I’ll have another look.
 
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