We purchased 3 male infant guinea pigs in November (they were together in the shop) and they've been living together relatively happily, until the last couple of weeks. Their names are Ginger, Bowser and Squiggles (kids chose them!)
There had been a little bit of "bullying" between Ginger and Bowser. Bowser was the smallest of the 3 and Ginger would chase him away from the area where he and Squiggles were. It seemed to be a bit of 3's a crowd.
Then a couple of weeks ago, we can only assume Bowser reached his limit, and he attacked Ginger, causing injury. We separated them, but did reintroduce them - perhaps a bit too fast in hindsight after having read more online, and again, they've had another fight where Bowser has injured Ginger. So now we have Bowser and Squiggles living together and Ginger is on his own (and a shadow of his former self which is really sad to see).
Now I don't know what to do. I've come to the conclusion that we need to keep them permanently separated, and so I need to look at getting another piggie to keep Ginger company - considering the other 2 seem to get on fine at the moment, but I don't know whether it's better to try another male of a similar age, or a younger/older one, or should I get a female instead and look to get Ginger neutered?
Me and my husband both had guinea pigs growing up and never encountered fighting between them, and so we never really considered this to be an issue as they're well known to be sociable creatures.
I now know the pet shop we purchased them from shouldn't have sold us 3 bores based on research I've done since, and so I don't really know where else to turn to. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
There had been a little bit of "bullying" between Ginger and Bowser. Bowser was the smallest of the 3 and Ginger would chase him away from the area where he and Squiggles were. It seemed to be a bit of 3's a crowd.
Then a couple of weeks ago, we can only assume Bowser reached his limit, and he attacked Ginger, causing injury. We separated them, but did reintroduce them - perhaps a bit too fast in hindsight after having read more online, and again, they've had another fight where Bowser has injured Ginger. So now we have Bowser and Squiggles living together and Ginger is on his own (and a shadow of his former self which is really sad to see).
Now I don't know what to do. I've come to the conclusion that we need to keep them permanently separated, and so I need to look at getting another piggie to keep Ginger company - considering the other 2 seem to get on fine at the moment, but I don't know whether it's better to try another male of a similar age, or a younger/older one, or should I get a female instead and look to get Ginger neutered?
Me and my husband both had guinea pigs growing up and never encountered fighting between them, and so we never really considered this to be an issue as they're well known to be sociable creatures.
I now know the pet shop we purchased them from shouldn't have sold us 3 bores based on research I've done since, and so I don't really know where else to turn to. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
