New Boys

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

elliiiiiex

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 5, 2015
Messages
18
Reaction score
4
Points
50
Location
Worcester
Hi, i have had my two guineapigs (males) for 3 days now and occasionally they will jump at each other and make loud noises, appears to be a fight however instead of biting they just run off afterwards, i have been researching dominance behavior however what they are doing doesn't fall into any of the "normal dominance behavior". I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if they're actually fighting and i should be concerned or whether its normal young guineapig behavior. They do other dominant acts such as mounting each other and knocking their heads to one and other too.
 
Hi & welcome!

How old are your pigs? I'm not as experienced as other members here but what you've described is similar to what I've seen in my young pigs. They're playing around in a kind of pseudo-dominance sense. It's a bit like two small brothers where maybe the youngest one tries to take on the eldest. It's just their play-acting. That's my experience.
 
Welcome to the forum :)

I would say that you would probably recognise a proper fight - they will both rise on their back legs, raise their heads and then lunge. They kind of flip about the place and they definitely look like they're fighting. If there's ever any blood, you need to separate them.

However, mounting each other, a small amount of chasing, rumblestrutting etc. is normal dominance behaviour. As long as they have lots of space and two of everything in the cage to minimise the chance of a fallout out, hopefully they'll be fine :)
 
Shades said:
Hi & welcome!

How old are your pigs? I'm not as experienced as other members here but what you've described is similar to what I've seen in my young pigs. They're playing around in a kind of pseudo-dominance sense. It's a bit like two small brothers where maybe the youngest one tries to take on the eldest. It's just their play-acting. That's my experience.
Click to expand...

They're 12 weeks old, it just really worried me when i saw them dive on each other! because i had read so much into the dominance behavior i automatically thought they were fighting! i head the odd sound from them like a buzzing sound when they wag their bums at each other but neither have been biting (yet, fingers crossed)
 
span said:
Welcome to the forum :)

I would say that you would probably recognise a proper fight - they will both rise on their back legs, raise their heads and then lunge. They kind of flip about the place and they definitely look like they're fighting. If there's ever any blood, you need to separate them.

However, mounting each other, a small amount of chasing, rumblestrutting etc. is normal dominance behaviour. As long as they have lots of space and two of everything in the cage to minimise the chance of a fallout out, hopefully they'll be fine :)
Click to expand...

i was just concerned as they both got onto the back legs and jumped at each other but then ran off without biting or anything aggressive at each other.
 
sport_billy said:
Welcome to the forum.

How big is your cage, do they have plenty of room and two of everything?

Have a read of these links.

Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Click to expand...

The cage is a decent size, i am looking to get a multistory one in the future, they both have hiding places and they don't fight over food (yet) so i only have one bowl in the cage but i have another if needs be, they do happily eat at the same bowl (at the moment)
 
I would watch out for yawning. When two males yawn at each other, opening their mouths really wide to show their teeth, that's when they are most likely to fight. What you are describing sounds like dominance behavior. They want to make sure they know who is top pig :-) But I'm no expert. If they do start yawning, grab a cloth to pick one up with, and separate them, but watch out, I've been lunged at and bitten by a "yawning" guinea pig. Mounting is however a normal part of dominance and is nothing to worry about.
I think they are supposed to grow out of this stage right? So if you do end up separating them, which I hope not, you can keep reintroducing them in neutral territory.
 
cavy clicker said:
I would watch out for yawning. When two males yawn at each other, opening their mouths really wide to show their teeth, that's when they are most likely to fight. What you are describing sounds like dominance behavior. They want to make sure they know who is top pig :-) But I'm no expert. If they do start yawning, grab a cloth to pick one up with, and separate them, but watch out, I've been lunged at and bitten by a "yawning" guinea pig. Mounting is however a normal part of dominance and is nothing to worry about.
I think they are supposed to grow out of this stage right? So if you do end up separating them, which I hope not, you can keep reintroducing them in neutral territory.
Click to expand...
I hope it was just young guineapig playing and a slight amount of dominance, i haven't seen any yawning (yet) and hopefully won't. The pet store never told me about any kind of dominant behavior i was so worried!
 
elliiiiiex said:
I hope it was just young guineapig playing and a slight amount of dominance, i haven't seen any yawning (yet) and hopefully won't. The pet store never told me about any kind of dominant behavior i was so worried!
Click to expand...

Don't worry! :hug: This is a very frequent occurrence in young males and they should settle down soon.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top