Father & Son fighting! HELP.

[Kiki93]

Hi,

So tonight has been a difficult one! I've adopted my mother in law's guniea pigs for the moment until they find a permanent home as she is allergic to them. They are both boys and I have two girls.

Tonight, I let my girls run around their play pen and the boys went mad! It has never bothered them before and I've had them a week now! It's obvious they wanted to attract the females! I put my girls back because the boys started trying to attack each other !

Now, they won't stop fighting! Dad, used to always hump his sons face, guessing this was a dominance thing? Now he's trying to do the same and his son just isn't accepting it like before! I really don't want them to fall out as they've always been together!

Any help and advice would be brill! I've removed their hidies to hopefully help them sort their differences.

Thank you.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,

So tonight has been a difficult one! I've adopted my mother in law's guniea pigs for the moment until they find a permanent home as she is allergic to them. They are both boys and I have two girls.

Tonight, I let my girls run around their play pen and the boys went mad! It has never bothered them before and I've had them a week now! It's obvious they wanted to attract the females! I put my girls back because the boys started trying to attack each other !

Now, they won't stop fighting! Dad, used to always hump his sons face, guessing this was a dominance thing? Now he's trying to do the same and his son just isn't accepting it like before! I really don't want them to fall out as they've always been together!

Any help and advice would be brill! I've removed their hidies to hopefully help them sort their differences.

Thank you.

Hi!

Please put a divider between father and son and let them cool down for a couple of days in an environment that is free of sow pheromones. Introducting bonded boars into a room with sows or vice versa is NOT a good idea. Letting the girls play around the boy cage is exposing them to a bath of female pheromones and kicking off their male instincts. Guinea pigs react much more strongly to pheromones than we human do; we ignore that at our and our pets' peril.

Please follow the tips in these guides here and hope for the very best that you haven't broken the bond permanently.
Bonds In Trouble
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

Can you get the boys into one of these rescues where they will be experienced hands?
UK: Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues
Some other countries: Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues