Help! Dominance or hate

[Kirsten1505hunter]

Hi, I recently bought two male guinea pigs ( uzi and manny) they are still quite young the man at the pet shop didn’t tell us how old but from size I would guess a few months old - I’ve had them just over a week and over the last couple days I’ve noticed they are having small fights at first I was terrified but done a load of research and put it down to dominance “battles” as everything my boys are doing is what I’ve read they do trying to become the dominant one although I’m still unsure and would love some help or opinions, I’m still not sure who is the more dominant piggie but it looks to me uzi, he makes this noise that I could only describe as growling as he walks around the cage and whenever manny is near him I find him making this noise majority of the day unless they are asleep. Whereas manny makes a noise that sounds a lot like crying which makes me feel absolutely horrible like he is in pain or is terrified of his brother! I’ve found uzi humping manny on many occasions both his back end and his head which I read was normal but manny let’s out this horrible scream when it happens. Only today while in their bed ( where they sleep side my side without problem) that one of them I’m not sure who is chattering his teeth, they both repeatedly sniff one another’s bums and manny gives uzi a chase around sometimes but I’m just so scared that something bad is going to happen as when I was a young girl my dad had guinea pigs and this happen but during a fight one sadly passed away, and I don’t want to think about that happening to my boys I’m loosing a lot of sleep as I’m so scared to sleep in case a fight breaks out and when I do sleep I’m awoke by the sound of manny “crying”. But my boys get on well 50% of the time eating hay beside one another, sleeping with one another and when they are out playing they looked for one another they walk aside one another, Please could someone help me out and let me know if this is likely to be dominance or something worse as I’m a New Guinea pig owner and want to do what’s best for my boys.
tia x

 

[Piggies&buns]

It sounds as if they are working out a relationship and hierarchy and all sounds fine at this point.
The squealing when he is being humped it also normal. It is called submission squealing and is something you need to happen. The submission is literally saying he accepts his position and that the other piggy is the boss. This is good. If he wasn’t allowing himself to be humped then it would be possible they were not able to work out their hierarchy and then it means they may not be able to stay living together. This will go on for another week or so Until they have sorted things out between them.

They will shortly hit their teens which Is 4 to 14 months of age and during this time you are going to see a lot of dominance behaviour. As long as one is dominant and one submissive, they will be absolutely fine.
However, given they are pet shop piggies, it’s always a good idea to have a plan b in place of a spare cage in case character incompatibilities come to light down the line. Unfortunately pet shop piggies aren’t always sold with their compatibility in mind and are just put together for sale. This means problems can sometimes occur and it’s good to be prepared so you can act fast.

Ensure the cage you have them in is big enough - that is a boar pair need a cage of 180x60cm (150x60cm at a minimum) as they are more territorial and need lots of space. Ensure all your hides have two exits so they cannot trap each other inside of one and that you have plenty of hides (at least one each). Make sure you have multiple of all other items as well - two bottles, two hay piles. Two food bowls or instead (which is my preferred method) scatter feed veg and pellets amongst large hay piles on the floor. It has the benefit of encouraging natural foraging behaviours and keeps ghem occupied, plus it means the dominant piggy cannot food hog.

A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs

 

[Guinea pig love123]

Make sure they have a large especially with boars!