Fighting Boys :(

Tinypixi

Tinypixi

Junior Guinea Pig
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Advice needed please.... I have two guinea pig boys... Zeus who will be 4 in Sept and Marvin who's about 13 months. Marvin was introduced to Zeus last year after Zeus' other housemate died. So we went to rescue and Zeus was put with Marvin who was 8 weeks old. Marvin has grown into a very bossy piggy... And the boys do chatter each other quite a lot. But yesterday morning whilst cleaning and doing their veggie breakfast I heard some serious chattering...went back to give them breakfast only to find Marvin had bitten Zeus under the nose and poor Zeus was hiding in a pile of hay... Both still chattering. I split them up as I didn't want Marvin to do anything worse plus I was going away for the night and didn't want to leave poor hubby with guinea pig fights..... So now where do I go from here!?!... Marvin has always asserted his dominance as he's grown and humps Zeus all the time... I'm not sure Zeus is that happy with it......any advice welcome ... As I'm super sad for both boys and obviously want what's best for both and want them to be happy pigs ...thank you
 
Hi. That's a shame. It depends really on how serious the fight has been, and whether blood was drawn accidentally, or whether Marvin really went for it. If it has been accidently, you could try re-introducing on neutral territory now that it has died down, but if not it could just be that Marvin has now come into his teenage years and they may not be compatible. In this case, you could either get them both a friend through a rescue that does bonding, get them neutered and get a wife for each of them, or keep them in cages side by side, so that they can still interact with each other. These links will help you decided:
Bonds In Trouble
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
I hope it works out x
 
I can't add anything to above but send you my support and sympathy. I am going through a similar situation at the moment, I have two boars living side by side - they can't live together but like to be able to see each other and chat through the bars. :hb:
 
Thank you for those links.... My gut feeling is that this has been brewing for a while .... they do an awful lot of chattering at each other and Marvin humps Zeus all the time ..... Marvin has done this since he was little so he's definitely a very dominant piggy. I believe he bit him purposely unfortunately. They are outdoor piggies so Marvin is in the emergency housing next to his brother for the time being....not ideal but hubby is going to build him a bigger pig house that can sit opposite his brother...... I am thinking about options for future pals for them both as well, but it is still early days .
 
Hi, I'm sorry to hear about your two boys.
I've recently had a similar experience and sadly I had to separate them permanently so I can appreciate how you must be feeling.
I wish you all the best and its good to know you have a plan.
 
Richard Pashley said:
Hi, I'm sorry to hear about your two boys.
I've recently had a similar experience and sadly I had to separate them permanently so I can appreciate how you must be feeling.
I wish you all the best and its good to know you have a plan.
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Thank you Richard.... It's heart breaking isn't it.... I just want them to be happy and it's hard to know what is for the best.... It's clean out day Thursday and a week since they were separated, i'm going to let them meet in the neutral pig run with a divider between them and see what happens....but my gut feeling says they aren't meant to be together :(
 
Morning,
I Confess I find it hard even now but it gets easier when you've got things sorted and get back into a routine. I like to think when they are older they might tolerate each other but it sounds like you've made the right choice and they will be happier.

I remember reading all the links and it say that reintroducing is either both full on without dividing or it won't work. I tried this and in minutes I knew it would end in a fight. It's worth a try if you think it might work.

Getting them in a divided run is an excellent idea. I do this my two so they can still be somewhat together. I do this with my boys and its rewarding to see them pinpointing and showing piggy happiness. They will still tumble strut but at least they won't hurt each other.

All the best on Thursday.
 
Hi,

Firstly, sorry to hear about Zeus and Marvin. It's nice to think that all piggies will just get along but unfortunately it doesn't always happen. We were in a very similar situation about a month ago when we introduced Wilbur (4 months) to Bertie (almost 2) after one of our piggies passed away.

We didn't get the opportunity to bond them at a rescue so had to take the chance in choosing a pig who we thought looked mellow and calm which is practically impossible. We took Wilbur home and did the neutral ground thing with Bert. Despite lots of attempted humping from Bert they seemed to settle and started eating together and cleaning themselves, all good signs.

A week or so later (and I posted on here about it), there was obviously a fight. Both pigs had cuts under their noses and Bert also suffered a badly torn ear. We didn't want to split them up so did our best to arrange their cage (which is a brand new DIY cage) so that neither piggy felt trapped or cornered. We added a little house with two exits, two bowls for dry food and we give them their food in two separate piles. We also added a little stuffed piggy toy called Steve. This we're sure allows Wilbur to think he's control of another pig and he humps Steve quite regularly. Bertie is in control of Wilbur and Wilbur is in control of Steve. It seems to work.

Since then there's still been the odd bit of chattering and whinging from Bert but we very rarely see him chasing Wilbur anymore. They have definitely mellowed out and I would actually go so far as to say they're friends now. It could also be that Wilbur is growing up and becoming less hormonal.

Whilst you will read that it's usually a good idea to split them up straight away after they've had a bad fight I would say that that it is worth keeping an open mind and allowing them to sort out their differences. There are risks involved obviously and if it carries on then I would say follow that advice. Monitor it as much as you can and do what you think is right for your pigs.

I hope that helps somewhat.

David
 
Sorry to hear about this.
I do want to add more piggies to my current family but this is the reason why I am a bit hesitant.
 
David&Carly said:
Hi,

Firstly, sorry to hear about Zeus and Marvin. It's nice to think that all piggies will just get along but unfortunately it doesn't always happen. We were in a very similar situation about a month ago when we introduced Wilbur (4 months) to Bertie (almost 2) after one of our piggies passed away.

We didn't get the opportunity to bond them at a rescue so had to take the chance in choosing a pig who we thought looked mellow and calm which is practically impossible. We took Wilbur home and did the neutral ground thing with Bert. Despite lots of attempted humping from Bert they seemed to settle and started eating together and cleaning themselves, all good signs.

A week or so later (and I posted on here about it), there was obviously a fight. Both pigs had cuts under their noses and Bert also suffered a badly torn ear. We didn't want to split them up so did our best to arrange their cage (which is a brand new DIY cage) so that neither piggy felt trapped or cornered. We added a little house with two exits, two bowls for dry food and we give them their food in two separate piles. We also added a little stuffed piggy toy called Steve. This we're sure allows Wilbur to think he's control of another pig and he humps Steve quite regularly. Bertie is in control of Wilbur and Wilbur is in control of Steve. It seems to work.

Since then there's still been the odd bit of chattering and whinging from Bert but we very rarely see him chasing Wilbur anymore. They have definitely mellowed out and I would actually go so far as to say they're friends now. It could also be that Wilbur is growing up and becoming less hormonal.

Whilst you will read that it's usually a good idea to split them up straight away after they've had a bad fight I would say that that it is worth keeping an open mind and allowing them to sort out their differences. There are risks involved obviously and if it carries on then I would say follow that advice. Monitor it as much as you can and do what you think is right for your pigs.

I hope that helps somewhat.

David
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Hi there, I have also had the same problem, I just wondered if you could recommend which soft toys to get/upload photos of suitable toys as I would like to try this...
 
David&Carly said:
Hi G&C, we bought this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00C2Q8H96/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We snipped the whiskers off as they're made out of a very thin plastic. Wilbur licks the toy's eyes and bites his ears so he definitely sees him as something other than a toy. Quite cute really. Until he drags him off into a corner and humps him!
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Hi, thanks for the link :)) do you leave Steve in the hutch all the time? And does he go places with them? Ie into the run and/or during floor time? Sorry for all the questions.
 
G&C said:
Hi, thanks for the link :)) do you leave Steve in the hutch all the time? And does he go places with them? Ie into the run and/or during floor time? Sorry for all the questions.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay in replying. Steve is spending less time in the cage with them but does go on the floor with them when it's time for them to stretch their legs. I think Wilbur is mellowing out slightly, we're seeing fewer times where him and Bert are coming face to face and sort of both lifting their heads together. There is less teeth chattering too.
 
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