My Guinea Pigs Are Being Dominant

[Grant]

hi.

so recently (about 3 weeks ago) i rebonded my two male guinea pigs (theyre about 20 months old so should be past their hormonal teenage phase)

and they seemed happy until today when, for no particular reason, the least dominant one started displaying a lot of dominant behaviour (rumblestrutting, teeth chattering, yawning)

i know these behaviours aren’t too serious and no blood has been drawn so i’m not separatig them yet but as theyve fought before, obviously i want to reduce dominance as much as possible.

their cage set up is pretty minimal to reduce dominance as we just rebonded them so there are two hay trays and two blankets hanging over it (so they can shelter without fighting over hideys)

i was wondering if there was anything else i could do to reduce dominance?

 

[Wiebke]

hi.

so recently (about 3 weeks ago) i rebonded my two male guinea pigs (theyre about 20 months old so should be past their hormonal teenage phase)

and they seemed happy until today when, for no particular reason, the least dominant one started displaying a lot of dominant behaviour (rumblestrutting, teeth chattering, yawning)

i know these behaviours aren’t too serious and no blood has been drawn so i’m not separatig them yet but as theyve fought before, obviously i want to reduce dominance as much as possible.

their cage set up is pretty minimal to reduce dominance as we just rebonded them so there are two hay trays and two blankets hanging over it (so they can shelter without fighting over hideys)

i was wondering if there was anything else i could do to reduce dominance?

Here are our tips for boars (including what you can do to stabilise a bond as much as possible):
Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

If there are underlying issues from before, these can break out again. All you can do is create the best conditions and take it from there. You cannot make them live together if they turn out not get along when the chips are down and are happier as a 'can't live together but can't live apart' bonded boar couple in adjoining cages/pens.