Father And Son Boars Fighting After A Year

[PiggyOinkOink]

Snoopy & Cappuccino have been fine together for about 8 months. Originally they were with Cappuccino's brother/Snoopy's other son Snowy and their cousin Silly Billy. Eventually they ended up fighting so I gave away the other two.

They have never had any problems, although Snoopy has the dominance bug and always shows it. Cappuccino has always let him be dominant and does dominate back but always gives in. Last week I cleaned the cages and instead I put S & C in the big 120cm cage that used to house my 3 girls as I gave away one of them. The cage had been cleaned but the girls had been in there an hour or two before I put them in there as I have to clean the cages sequentially. For the 1st time ever, S & C started chattering and fighting and I had to separate them.

I have tried to put them in their original cage right at the bottom below 2 cages but they still fight. The cage already had bedding with my other couple Benji/Rebecca so I thought I should take it out and put new bedding in - i.e not cleaning it as that is too labourious. They were still fighting so I separated again. This evening I have put them in the play pen with fresh newspaper/pads and they still have been fighting to the point where they were jumping at each other and I have just separated them again.

They were bonded closely before and would squeak at each other in communication if I was handling one outside the cage and they still do this.. I don't know what happened but Snoopy is so dominant that I noticed him annoying Cappuccino and keep mounting him. Cappuccino probably just had enough and having Snoopy's genes he can give as much as he gets. I am having to come to the conclusion that I can not house them together anymore thus now urgently need to give them away as I don't want them to be alone and I just do not want to have 4 cages again! I just got rid of 2 pigs and was hoping someone would take S & C but that doesn't appear possible

Can anyone please give me any advice or alternative things to try or does it appear that this bonding is now unmendable?

 

[Wiebke]

You can try a re-introduction on neutral ground and after a buddy bath after a suitable cooling down period ideally overnight. Hopefully that will work out. Please put them back in their normal cage and clean it out freshly.

Please follow the intructions in this thread here. Best of luck! You can unfortunately never tell whether they will go back together or not, but you can try!
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/introducing-and-re-introducing-guinea-pigs.38562/

 

[PiggyOinkOink]

Thanks. Is there a kind of max time of separation before it is more likely they might not get on again? I note that it says that don't keep them separated too long. I am probably not going to be able to give them a haircut/wash/cage cleaning/reintroduction until Thurs night.

I have actually put Cappuccino back into their normal cage and Snoopy in a smaller cage on the floor below so they are at least close and can smell and sense each other.

 

[Wiebke]

Their bond won't break until Thursday, but generally 2-3 days would be ideal.

 

[PiggyOinkOink]

Well I stretched it until very early this morning and had them in the playpen in my bedroom after a good shampooing. Initially they were chattering and aggressive but I distracted them with food and play. Eventually I fell asleep and woke up to see them quiet and tolerating each other.

I have scrubbed and cleaned out their cage and now they appear to be back to normal and not annoying each other anymore so that's a relief! ..thou I am so find of them now I really will be heartbroken to give them away as they are the most loveliest and sweetest piggies I have. Strangely. Snoopy has calmed down immensely and hasn't bit me for months but I make sure I am slow and predictable with him when getting him out of the cage and only when he is ready as he will stop and let me pick him up now. He also does purr but not as often as Cappuccino.

Actually, they are the only ones of my piggies that purr so that's another heart break lol Benji doesn't exactly purr but he makes the rumblestrutting noise when I pet him so don't know if that would means same thing.