My Boys Are Fighting :(

[Jane the piggie slave]

I have an older boy, approx 3 1/2 years who lost his companion just before Christmas last year. I gave him a few weeks to see how he got on, he was clearly lonely so I went back to the rescue where I originally got him from and I took home a young male, about three months old, on her advice, and tried them together. At first they settled so happily together but after about 2 months they started chattering and squabbling a bit. They have plenty of space and at least two of everything. The fighting has got worse and they deliberately seek each other out to fight. I have contacted the rescue to see if they'll take the younger male back so he can be paired with another he gets on with but they won't respond to any communication from me. I don't have the room or facilities for two run areas. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated as I now don't know what else to do and having two stressed and unhappy pigs is not fair on them and my main concern is that they'll seriously hurt each other.

 

[Lady Kelly]

Have you tried calling the rescue directly. They may be busy at the moment and hence not responding to emails. If you could explain what's happened (sounds like the young one hit his hormones) then I'm sure they would help.

I can't give too much info as I don't have experience of bonding boars so hoping someone else is along shortly to chat to you about whether you should separate them now or not.

 

[Wiebke]

Could you see whether a short-term cooling off separation may help?
Here are tips: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/introducing-and-re-introducing-guinea-pigs.38562/

I hope that you can get through to the rescue!

Sadly, you will only know when baby boars hit the big teenage hormones and develop their adult identity whether your two boys are really character compatible. Your youngster is currently at one of the most difficult and confrontational stages during that process where the testosterone is fully on the rampage. A lot of adult/baby combos make it through, but sadly not all.

Could you please add your county to your details in case you need forum help. Please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scrol down to location. Thanks!

 

[Jane the piggie slave]

Thank you for your advice