My guineas seem to hate each other.

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Koalabears

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I've never written one of these before, but I don't know what to right now.They never seemed to like each other, they kept to themselves, but now my guinea pigs are always bickering.! I feel so sad that they might be unhappy. What do I do? HERE IS AN EXAMPLE VIDEO. I didn't know how to put video on here so I just made a YouTube video. (Also, if you think the cage is too small, I'm getting an add-on so it will be 2x5 instead of 2x4, so pls don't get mad at me.)
They also do the teeth chattering thing alot, whether it is waiting for food or snacks, when I try to pick them up, or with eachother. And they also seem to groom a lot, as shown in the beginning of the video.
 
Koalabears said:
I've never written one of these before, but I don't know what to right now.They never seemed to like each other, they kept to themselves, but now my guinea pigs are always bickering.! I feel so sad that they might be unhappy. What do I do? HERE IS AN EXAMPLE VIDEO. I didn't know how to put video on here so I just made a YouTube video. (Also, if you think the cage is too small, I'm getting an add-on so it will be 2x5 instead of 2x4, so pls don't get mad at me.)
They also do the teeth chattering thing alot, whether it is waiting for food or snacks, when I try to pick them up, or with eachother. And they also seem to groom a lot, as shown in the beginning of the video.
Click to expand...

Hi

Could you please give us a bit more helpful backgrund information in order to put the video into a wider context: do you have boars or sows and how old are they and how long have you had them?
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

Could you please give us a bit more helpful backgrund information in order to put the video into a wider context: do you have boars or sows and how old are they and how long have you had them?
Click to expand...
They are boars. The white and brownish yellow ones name is Mico, and the brown one with longer hair is Tuco. I got Mico from a pet store about 2 years ago, but after more research I kept seeing they needed a companion. I adopted Tuco a year later, and they said he was probably 3 years old. They've been together for almost a year now, so Tuco is nearly 4 years old and Mico is nearly 3 years old. In the beginining they did fine with eachother, they usually kept their space, but this behavior has been coming more frequent.

Was the behavior on the video concerning? Do I have to separate them?
 
Koalabears said:
They are boars. The white and brownish yellow ones name is Mico, and the brown one with longer hair is Tuco. I got Mico from a pet store about 2 years ago, but after more research I kept seeing they needed a companion. I adopted Tuco a year later, and they said he was probably 3 years old. They've been together for almost a year now, so Tuco is nearly 4 years old and Mico is nearly 3 years old. In the beginining they did fine with eachother, they usually kept their space, but this behavior has been coming more frequent.

Was the behavior on the video concerning? Do I have to separate them?
Click to expand...

Hi

Thank you. There seems to be a bit of an issue with Mico being the dominant one and reinforcing that more emphtically. Tuco is obviously not quite happy with it. Has Mico always been the leader or has he taken over more recently?

At the moment, the behaviour is still on the milder side and most definitely not requiring having a separator on standby. Your boys are nowhere near the line where there is a risk of actual serious confrontations. Mico is just a touch on the fear-aggressive side but that is likely because he is quite a bit smaller than his mate and a little insecure in his position.

Boars can be more dominant in Spring when in their wild ancestor species the breeding season would start up. Our long since domesticated guinea pigs no longer have a distinct breeding season over the summer months when fresh grass is in plentiful supply but the old instincts have not completely died down yet. Perhaps that is what you are currently experiencing?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs

PS: If you want to extend the cage, please start a new thread for tips on how to do so in a way that minimises any group re-establishment hierarchy sort-outs in new territory.
Reacting to group or territorial changes: Dominance and group establishment/re-establishment
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

Thank you. There seems to be a bit of an issue with Mico being the dominant one and reinforcing that more emphtically. Tuco is obviously not quite happy with it. Has Mico always been the leader or has he taken over more recently?

At the moment, the behaviour is still on the milder side and most definitely not requiring having a separator on standby. Your boys are nowhere near the line where there is a risk of actual serious confrontations. Mico is just a touch on the fear-aggressive side but that is likely because he is quite a bit smaller than his mate and a little insecure in his position.

Boars can be more dominant in Spring when in their wild ancestor species the breeding season would start up. Our long since domesticated guinea pigs no longer have a distinct breeding season over the summer months when fresh grass is in plentiful supply but the old instincts have not completely died down yet. Perhaps that is what you are currently experiencing?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs

PS: If you want to extend the cage, please start a new thread for tips on how to do so in a way that minimises any group re-establishment hierarchy sort-outs in new territory.
Reacting to group or territorial changes: Dominance and group establishment/re-establishment
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for response. That was helpful.
 
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