Fighting?

[Topsytim]

Hi I am new to this forum! I have 2 male guinea pigs that are roughly a year old, we got them together from a pet shop. One has always been very timid and the other is very sociable. I understand there is usually a dominant one (he's always humping his poor friend)
But recently it's become more aggressive and the timid one can't even pop his head out of their little house without one going in there and putting him in his place! He's always got first dibs on the food as well and doesn't seem to let the other poor one get much of a look in! Is this normal behaviour? I have decided to separate them for a few hours to give the other guy a bit of a break from his bully pal! Any advice would be great, thank you!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi I am new to this forum! I have 2 male guinea pigs that are roughly a year old, we got them together from a pet shop. One has always been very timid and the other is very sociable. I understand there is usually a dominant one (he's always humping his poor friend)
But recently it's become more aggressive and the timid one can't even pop his head out of their little house without one going in there and putting him in his place! He's always got first dibs on the food as well and doesn't seem to let the other poor one get much of a look in! Is this normal behaviour? I have decided to separate them for a few hours to give the other guy a bit of a break from his bully pal! Any advice would be great, thank you!

Hi and welcome!

Please take the time to read through this very detailed boar problems guide. It tells you exactly what you can do to prevent bullying, find out whether a bond is still functional or not, how to stage re-introductions after a temporary separation and what to do if your boars don't work out as a pair.

Guinea pigs always need to re-establish their hierarchy in any new territory. That can lead to problems even in some supposedly stably bonded pairs.

Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[Toffee321]

Try washing them together as that happened with my two sows but may be different with boars.
Still I would give it a try
Mine are now firm friends!

 

[A-M]

don't worry, the exact same thing happened to me with my guinea pigs. once they reach maturity males will fight. we were told if any blood is drawn they must be separated. for a while I let it carry on, hoping they would sort it out but the fighting continued and the smaller pig was constantly bleeding and was covered in scratches under the fur. in the end we decided the best thing to do would have been to split them up so that's what we did.