PerceptorII
Adult Guinea Pig
My two boars, Oti and Dobbins have been getting along since early January of this year. Oti has been the dominant one, but has been pretty magnanimous. He would occasionally kick Dobbins out of a hidey, but Dobbins would vacate and move to the other one and that would be it. Oti would even let Dobbins share a hay rack and water bottle. They would occasionally get ticked off at each other and play "whose nose is higher" but it'd be over a few minutes later and generally they got along well.
That seems to have changed. Yesterday morning I woke up to find Oti hiding in the corner inside the Guineadad fleece pocket, and he wouldn't come out even for the morning veggies. I put some of the veggies in the pocket with him which he ate up. When I came back home in the evening Oti was still hiding in the same corner. I tried to chase him out of the pocket, and he went into one of the hideys, then the other. At this point Dobbins noticed he was out and two began chattering their teeth at each other louder than I've ever heard. Dobbins then chased Oti around a bit before Oti finally went back in the corner. I checked inside the pocket and noticed that there was a lot of poop, most of it quite tiny.
So basically, Dobbins has finally figured out that he's the much larger boar, by about 200 g, and has flipped the hierarchy. And he's become a bully.
Last night I separated them. I put Oti into a temporary enclosure and gave him plenty of hay, pellets and water, plus his share of the veggies. He's been happily eating and this morning his poop looked normal.
I think I'd like to at least try to reintroduce them, but I understand that once there's been a falling out often that's it. I wasn't expecting this to happen as they are past the hormonal stage. Oti is 2 years old and Dobbins is 2 years 8 months. But I do wonder. I've recently been limiting their pellets due to Dobbins gaining weight. That might have been a mistake which triggered this blowup. Or maybe not. I can put a divider in the pen if needed, but I'd much rather they go back to being willing pen buddies.
That seems to have changed. Yesterday morning I woke up to find Oti hiding in the corner inside the Guineadad fleece pocket, and he wouldn't come out even for the morning veggies. I put some of the veggies in the pocket with him which he ate up. When I came back home in the evening Oti was still hiding in the same corner. I tried to chase him out of the pocket, and he went into one of the hideys, then the other. At this point Dobbins noticed he was out and two began chattering their teeth at each other louder than I've ever heard. Dobbins then chased Oti around a bit before Oti finally went back in the corner. I checked inside the pocket and noticed that there was a lot of poop, most of it quite tiny.
So basically, Dobbins has finally figured out that he's the much larger boar, by about 200 g, and has flipped the hierarchy. And he's become a bully.
Last night I separated them. I put Oti into a temporary enclosure and gave him plenty of hay, pellets and water, plus his share of the veggies. He's been happily eating and this morning his poop looked normal.
I think I'd like to at least try to reintroduce them, but I understand that once there's been a falling out often that's it. I wasn't expecting this to happen as they are past the hormonal stage. Oti is 2 years old and Dobbins is 2 years 8 months. But I do wonder. I've recently been limiting their pellets due to Dobbins gaining weight. That might have been a mistake which triggered this blowup. Or maybe not. I can put a divider in the pen if needed, but I'd much rather they go back to being willing pen buddies.
