Dexter And Ezra

Sara’s Piggies

Junior Guinea Pig
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i think Dexter and Ezra are having issues.They are still under a year old (about 9 months) so I understand this could be hormonal. They have always just tolerated each other. Ezra has always been dominant and exhibits dominance behaviors over Dexter on a daily basis. It’s always been pretty mild/ nothing to be concerned about. Dexter seemed happy and was able to relax and eat without Ezra bothering him.

Tonight I woke up to what sounded like a ton of birds chirping at 4am. I was rather confused but then realized it must be the guineapigs. They have never made this noise. Turns out it was Ezra. He’s been doing it a lot.
I didn’t think much of it at first but I later heard chasing and teeth chattering. I’ve been laying by their cage watching them the last few hours and there has been lots of chasing, humping, teeth chattering, ect. No all out fights were I feel I need to separate but basically everything leading up to that. Ezra also seems to be trying to keep Dexter away from food. They have 2 of everything so he is still able to eat but he seems timid to go near either food bowl for fear Ezra will push him away. Things seem to have calmed down at the moment. Dexter is eating and Ezra is laying down.
I’ve always been a little unsure of their bond but there young and they have never been this bad before. I don’t know when/if to make the call to separate them.

Note: they have plenty of room and 2 of everything. I have 2 females (Lumen and Phoebe) but they are kept in a separate room.
 
I got a video of the chirping, I know is not a real common noise. I can’t find a lot of information about what it means. Little seems to be understood about it. Seems like they do it for a lot of reasons perhaps. I do find it odd that Ezra is doing it and all the sudden they are having worse dominance issues.
 
Hi! 8-10 months is another difficult time during the teenage months, but it generally goes only right up to the limit but does rarely cross it and result in a split as the worst personality clashes have usually happened long before.
But they are often some very tricky and nerve-racking weeks!
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Because chirping is so erratic, nobody really knows why. You can go decades without a chirper and then you suddenly have a piggy that does it a lot. It is certainly not quite straight forward and there seems to be a strong situational link. I have made the observation that while my other piggies are quiet, but not upset during a chirping concert by my chirper Heulwen, replaying a video of chirping out of context can spook them. We therefore need to cautious to interpret any chirping. There can be an underlying sense of unease in times of tensions mixed in, but at other times there is no obvious trigger for it at all.
 
It’s such an incredible sound. I have never heard a piggy do it although i know it’s possible.
So envious
 
Was anyone else weirded out by the rabbit in the sink in the “suggested links” following your video?
 
Hi! 8-10 months is another difficult time during the teenage months, but it generally goes only right up to the limit but does rarely cross it and result in a split as the worst personality clashes have usually happened long before.
But they are often some very tricky and nerve-racking weeks!
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Because chirping is so erratic, nobody really knows why. You can go decades without a chirper and then you suddenly have a piggy that does it a lot. It is certainly not quite straight forward and there seems to be a strong situational link. I have made the observation that while my other piggies are quiet, but not upset during a chirping concert by my chirper Heulwen, replaying a video of chirping out of context can spook them. We therefore need to cautious to interpret any chirping. There can be an underlying sense of unease in times of tensions mixed in, but at other times there is no obvious trigger for it at all.

Yes this is what I assumed was going on considering their age. It’s very nerve racking indeed. I lied next to their cage all night to keep an eye on it. They are calmer now. Ezra is definitely still bullying Dexter though. It’s been awhile since I’ve had males. I don’t remember my other pair being this bad, every pig is different though.
 
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