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New Himi's

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Kerrie74

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Hi,

as some of you will know, we adopted two boar himi's (we = myself and my son), one's around a year old and the other is about 8 months.

The other day I noticed the older one (Cesaro) sort of lung the younger one (TK) when they were having veg, so I placed the veg on the floor of the cage, I also noticed last night that TK had squeaked a few times during the night... my son's just gone in because he heard a lot of noise in there and said Cesaro was chattering his teeth and TK ran off so fast that he bumped into the food bowl.

Now I know that guinea's have to sort out who's top guinea and all that but... I have them near the sows, could this be causing the problem apart from them settling into a new home? Is there anything for me to worry about?

Some might think it's a bit weird that I'm asking because I had 7 guinea's before getting the himi's and yes we've experienced teeth chattering with the girls but they don't lunge at each other and we experienced it with our two old boars when Sheamus was alive, but that was because Big's used to try and take advantage when Sheamus was ill so Sheamus got fed up and chattered his teeth. Cesaro is lunging.

thanks in advance :)
 
It could be a mixture of both things. You're right that they need to sort out the hierarchy - keep a close eye for signs of serious bullying (any bites, scratches etc.), but it's possible that this is being accentuated by the realisation that females are nearby. Make sure that the boys have two of everything (bowls, beds, water bottles). It may also help to scatter their veg throughout the cage to try to avoid them fighting over a bowl. Hopefully it will settle down once they establish who is top pig.
 
Ok thank you @Jerrybelly

Do you think we should move the girls away from them, the set up atm is, we have a cage in the living room with 2 boars, a two tier cage in the bedroom, with older boars in the top and the sows below then the other day we got the little boars and I totally forgot how hormonal they are even though I put the younger boars in the living room because of it (duh), I can move the girls with their cage inlay to the living room, move the older boars to the bottom, the younger boars from the living room to the top and leave the himi's where they are, at least all boys would be in the same room. What do you think?

We just went to check on them and found Cesaro under the fleece with a cut, not a deep would, a bit like a scratch on his lip, my son cleaned it for him just in case. Didn't hear any fighting, neither did my son. They are on the same floor as us as we live in a bungalow, so I'm not sure if he bumped into something as he does seem a bit clumsy.
 
Ok thank you @Jerrybelly

Do you think we should move the girls away from them, the set up atm is, we have a cage in the living room with 2 boars, a two tier cage in the bedroom, with older boars in the top and the sows below then the other day we got the little boars and I totally forgot how hormonal they are even though I put the younger boars in the living room because of it (duh), I can move the girls with their cage inlay to the living room, move the older boars to the bottom, the younger boars from the living room to the top and leave the himi's where they are, at least all boys would be in the same room. What do you think?

We just went to check on them and found Cesaro under the fleece with a cut, not a deep would, a bit like a scratch on his lip, my son cleaned it for him just in case. Didn't hear any fighting, neither did my son. They are on the same floor as us as we live in a bungalow, so I'm not sure if he bumped into something as he does seem a bit clumsy.

It may be a good idea to move the girls out, especially with some hormonal new boars in the mix. Each bond is different, and the age also plays a huge role with boars.

A shallow scratch is not the end of a boar bond. Please disinfect the scratch with either hibiscrub or saling solution from the pharmacy or homemade by mixing in 1 teaspoon of salt into 1 pint of boiled cooled water.

Here is more info on judging boar bonds: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/boars-bullying-fighting-fall-outs-and-what-next.127295/
 
Ok will do thanks @Wiebke we're going to shift the girls into the living room and the little boars in here (living room) in with the other boars :)

I don't even know if he got that from TK, he could have easily bumped into something because he's a bit skittish and runs into everything.

I would also think it's a bit stressful for them moving from home to home. I know it is when I move home!
 
Sadly even though everyone's been moved the himi's are not getting along, they have had another fight and cut each other. I'm not going to say too much because I'm slightly annoyed.
 
Oh dear. Really sorry about the situation Kerrie. I can imagine the annoyance don't worry. x
 
One's got to go back... the woman from the rescue is away though so they have to be put into separate cages until next weekend... She said she will swap one and as we've noticed and witnessed which one is causing the problem we're going to swap him (Cesaro), the thing is, we've noticed that he doesn't seem at all right, he bumps into things and as I've said in another post he has a head tilt, so for the sake of Cesaro we're going to take him to the vets still tomorrow and have him looked at, at least then if there is a problem it can be addressed and we can pass on the info to the rescue. It's a shame really because we like both of them.

When I was watching it started with Cesaro trying to mount TK, TK runs off and then after a few more attempts from Cesaro, TK chatters his teeth so then Cesaro starts getting angry too and then bam, fighting. It was Cesaro lunging at TK, TK was trying to get away.
 
Oh no, I'm sorry you've got to return one, sounds as though it's for the best. I can understand how you feel :/
 
Are these guys from a rescue? It's such a shame they aren't getting on. Perhaps instead of swapping out directly for another boar you could have them both sent back and have TK 'boar dated' at the rescue to find him a suitable pal before coming back home.

Hopefully there isn't anything seriously wrong with Cesaro, it's good that you are taking him to the vets even though he has to be returned.
 
Both from a rescue, she has said she will pair TK next weekend. It's sad because we quite like Cesaro, but we really do think there is an issue with his health, I could be wrong, either that or there was damage from a previous illness, either way he really doesn't seem right. My son thinks we should still take him for Cesaro's sake rather than for the rescue, that way if he does have a problem the info can be passed onto the rescue and if it's something that needs to be treated we can do it before he goes back. I wonder if it could cause him to be nasty with TK? I noticed that when Badger got really ill she was snippy with her sisters.
 
Oh no, this sounds like a sad and stressful situation. If Cesaro is unwell of course that could make him grumpy with his cage mate. I'm certainly grumpy with my family when I am unwell!
 
So Cesaro went to the vets today, she couldn't see anything wrong either, she said it could be a problem with his inner ear (balance) which could be why he's bumping into things as well. She's given him some antibiotics just in case there is an underlying problem, so he'll be having that along with avipro (I think you have to leave a gap between them both?). I'll ask my son to pass the info onto the rescue, It's a shame really because I like them both and it's not nice having to choose between them, if I had the space I would have kept him and tried to see if we could bond the both of them to other piggies.
 
Oh dear sorry to hear things haven't worked out. You're being very caring taking him to the vets thank you :luv:
I hope the rescue can sort out his issues. And they can find a friend for TK :D
 
Thanks @Glynis I wanted to make sure he was checked over before going back to the rescue, he saw a vet last week but I wasn't keen on his reason for the tilt to be honest, hence him going to see another vet today. At least now he's been checked over the info can be given to the rescue and then hopefully they will pass it onto whoever adopts him next.
 
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