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Male Guinea Pigs Fighting

Words-Of-Fate

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I would really appreciate some advice regarding one of my male guinea pigs. I am a new guinea pig owner and I've been having issues with one of my male guinea pigs from day one.

Just to get this out of the way, let me explain what their cage is like: the cage is 2.5 feet wide and 5 feet long, so definitely enough room for 2 males. They have 2 food bowls, 2 hayracks, 2 water bottles, and 4 different hideys all with multiple entrances. Despite all this, my one piggy insists on always picking a fight with the other. I've had them both since April and I made sure to properly introduce them both. At first, they both would go at it with each other to assert dominance but after a month or so, my nice one eventually calmed down, yet my other one has not. If anything, his behavior only got worse.

If the nice pig is in a hidey, the mean one will run in their and chase him out and take over it and the moment the nice one goes to a different one, the same thing will occur. If the nice one tries ignoring him, the mean one will start attempting to bite him and a lot of teeth chattering occurs. Same goes for food; when I put down their veggies bowls at dinner time (which are placed on opposite sides of the cage to try to reduce fighting) the mean one will keep chasing the nice one away from every bowl he tries to go to. It's getting to the point where he's really starting to stress the nice one out.

It's not just the other guinea pig he's mean to either. He bites me every opportunity he gets. At first, I assumed he was just mistaking my hand for food, but once he bites me he'll continue to bite me harder and harder until I eventually give up and pull away. He's drawn blood on multiple occasions and during none of them did I ever corner him or try picking him up. I was simply just trying to feed them. And just the other day when I was refilling their food bowl, they both ran over to me and started sniffing my hand waiting for me to finish up and just as I was about to, the mean one bit down hard on my wrist, harder than he ever had before. I was bleeding a lot and I still have a huge welt from it.

At this point, I'm honestly not sure if he's going to get any better or not. I'm contemplating giving him up to a rescue organization and getting a new companion for my other guy, but the mean one is still my baby and it pains me to even think about giving him away. Before I do so, I just want to see if there's anything else I can possibly do to make him a little nicer, or if he should just be a solitary guinea pig. I just don't want to see my other guy always in constant fear of the mean one.
 
I would say maybe separate them for a day or two and see how the underpig is. What was too pigs’ situation before he came to you? Just wondering if he came from a not very good home? Are you also able to put the hides at separate points in the cage? And maybe try hand feeding them he can’t chase the other away.

Lastly how old are they?

I’ll tag @Wiebke
 
I would say maybe separate them for a day or two and see how the underpig is. What was too pigs’ situation before he came to you? Just wondering if he came from a not very good home? Are you also able to put the hides at separate points in the cage? And maybe try hand feeding them he can’t chase the other away.

Lastly how old are they?

I’ll tag @Wiebke
I got them both from two different pet stores. And yes, I have 4 hides in total, 2 on either side of the cage. As for hand feeding, that's typically how the mean one is able to get some pretty nasty bites on me. I don't know their exact ages, but I know they're both under a year.
 
I would really appreciate some advice regarding one of my male guinea pigs. I am a new guinea pig owner and I've been having issues with one of my male guinea pigs from day one.

Just to get this out of the way, let me explain what their cage is like: the cage is 2.5 feet wide and 5 feet long, so definitely enough room for 2 males. They have 2 food bowls, 2 hayracks, 2 water bottles, and 4 different hideys all with multiple entrances. Despite all this, my one piggy insists on always picking a fight with the other. I've had them both since April and I made sure to properly introduce them both. At first, they both would go at it with each other to assert dominance but after a month or so, my nice one eventually calmed down, yet my other one has not. If anything, his behavior only got worse.

If the nice pig is in a hidey, the mean one will run in their and chase him out and take over it and the moment the nice one goes to a different one, the same thing will occur. If the nice one tries ignoring him, the mean one will start attempting to bite him and a lot of teeth chattering occurs. Same goes for food; when I put down their veggies bowls at dinner time (which are placed on opposite sides of the cage to try to reduce fighting) the mean one will keep chasing the nice one away from every bowl he tries to go to. It's getting to the point where he's really starting to stress the nice one out.

It's not just the other guinea pig he's mean to either. He bites me every opportunity he gets. At first, I assumed he was just mistaking my hand for food, but once he bites me he'll continue to bite me harder and harder until I eventually give up and pull away. He's drawn blood on multiple occasions and during none of them did I ever corner him or try picking him up. I was simply just trying to feed them. And just the other day when I was refilling their food bowl, they both ran over to me and started sniffing my hand waiting for me to finish up and just as I was about to, the mean one bit down hard on my wrist, harder than he ever had before. I was bleeding a lot and I still have a huge welt from it.

At this point, I'm honestly not sure if he's going to get any better or not. I'm contemplating giving him up to a rescue organization and getting a new companion for my other guy, but the mean one is still my baby and it pains me to even think about giving him away. Before I do so, I just want to see if there's anything else I can possibly do to make him a little nicer, or if he should just be a solitary guinea pig. I just don't want to see my other guy always in constant fear of the mean one.

Hi!

How old are your boys? Boars go through the teenage months between 4-14 months of age; this can be a very difficult period.
Please take the time to read the information in these links below. You should find it very helpful:
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Biting is an attitude issue which you can easily correct with a little piggy whispering by inviting your boys into the herd you are leading (i.e. you are the top pig but they are welcome to join); making sure to tell them that you love them and then tell them off in piggy body language when they are misbehaving. Always follow that up with ensuring that you still love them and want them to stay members of your group. This behaviour copies how savvy piggies deal with and integrate difficult piggies - and as you are putting the problem into a frame that your piggies will instinctively understand, it is actually very effective.
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips
Who is the boss - your guinea pig or you?
" Biting" And What You Can Do (Biting, Tweaking, Nibbling and Nipping)
 
Hello and welcome

Hope these tips work for you and your boys, they are very offer very sound advice and really do work x Don’t give up on your naughty boy yet, you may be able to turn him around x
 
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