Hi all,
Well I am experiencing my first time as a guinea pig carer and so far it's been stressful to say the least!
I bought a couple of males back in May however unfortunately one of them died after 2 weeks. These two got on well and slept together etc.
Since this happened the vet and all the information I could find led me to believe that I really needed to get him a friend. I was going to go for castration as advised by the vet, however a few guinea pig lovers I met said they would never do that and males can live together. As it did feel mean going down the castration route as he had already lost a friend, I decided to try another male.
I adopted one about the same age however he was smaller.
I let them see each other through the hutch and cage wires for a few days and then introduced them on mutual ground in a run. This seemed to go as advised on all the information I had read. There was a lot of chasing, mounting, hair standing on end however the new guinea pig backed down quickly. They sat together and seemed quite happy and I left them there for a few hours. I had been told I will know in that time if they like each other.
I cleaned out the hutch and disinfected it etc. and put them both in.This is where the new piggy went mad and started chasing William around the hutch. They bared teeth however William didn't want to attack and the other one blocked him out of the sleeping area. By evening it did seem to have calmed down and they hadn't fought so I left them. In the morning they were together in the sleeping area and on e again it seemed like William was the dominant one. William was doing a lot of mounting bottom sniffing etc. and Hector seemed to just get on with it.
Two mornings later I check them and William has a little blood on his nose. I don't know if this happened from a fight as I didn't see it but I can only assume it is from a fight. William seemed to be annoying hector all day and then this evening hector turned to face William, they did thhead rearing, and I heard little snaps of teeth although neither one bit.
I'm so confused as they seem to get on them get annoyed again. Do I need to stick at this or does it sound too dangerous?
Also to add after they looked face to face I panicked and put William back in his indoor cage. squeaked and did a lot of popcorning!
Any advice from long standing guinea pig owners would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks
Well I am experiencing my first time as a guinea pig carer and so far it's been stressful to say the least!
I bought a couple of males back in May however unfortunately one of them died after 2 weeks. These two got on well and slept together etc.
Since this happened the vet and all the information I could find led me to believe that I really needed to get him a friend. I was going to go for castration as advised by the vet, however a few guinea pig lovers I met said they would never do that and males can live together. As it did feel mean going down the castration route as he had already lost a friend, I decided to try another male.
I adopted one about the same age however he was smaller.
I let them see each other through the hutch and cage wires for a few days and then introduced them on mutual ground in a run. This seemed to go as advised on all the information I had read. There was a lot of chasing, mounting, hair standing on end however the new guinea pig backed down quickly. They sat together and seemed quite happy and I left them there for a few hours. I had been told I will know in that time if they like each other.
I cleaned out the hutch and disinfected it etc. and put them both in.This is where the new piggy went mad and started chasing William around the hutch. They bared teeth however William didn't want to attack and the other one blocked him out of the sleeping area. By evening it did seem to have calmed down and they hadn't fought so I left them. In the morning they were together in the sleeping area and on e again it seemed like William was the dominant one. William was doing a lot of mounting bottom sniffing etc. and Hector seemed to just get on with it.
Two mornings later I check them and William has a little blood on his nose. I don't know if this happened from a fight as I didn't see it but I can only assume it is from a fight. William seemed to be annoying hector all day and then this evening hector turned to face William, they did thhead rearing, and I heard little snaps of teeth although neither one bit.
I'm so confused as they seem to get on them get annoyed again. Do I need to stick at this or does it sound too dangerous?
Also to add after they looked face to face I panicked and put William back in his indoor cage. squeaked and did a lot of popcorning!
Any advice from long standing guinea pig owners would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks
