Chettsgenie
New Born Pup
I have two boars and wondered about something I've not found an answer to by checking through the behaviour posts in the forum. So, I got a guinea pig about four months ago and within a month realised I needed to get him a friend - I didn't know they should pretty much always be in pairs or groups until I started looking into things and at the time I was told he needed to be kept alone because he was aggressive (long story but he was originally sold with three other pigs which I didn't realise could be the real issue until I started looking into it).
So anyway, I got another piggy and did the whole quarantine thing and then an introduction which went great. My 7 month old original piggy Butters seemed to take well to new 5 month old piggy Tweek - when they stopped eating and ignoring one and other, there was minimal chasing around before Butters started licking Tweek's ear which I think means he invites him into his pack! There's been no fighting and they still get along very well in their new big C&C cage, with just the occasional rumbling from Butters who is the dominant one.
Now, Butters has bonded well with myself and my husband and he's very playful and still likes being taken out of the cage for lap-time fairly regularly - he will even jump in his cuddle cup to be lifted out. Tweek is very timid and still runs away if I go anywhere near the cage, even though we did pretty much the same things we did with Butters since we got him - handling daily and getting him used to our voices etc. It took almost two months to get him to take veggies out of my hand so I'm hopeful that more time will make him bolder, but who knows, he may just have the opposite personality of Butters.
The thing I wanted to ask about is something Tweek does if he's left in the cage or pen on his own for more than five minutes. He shrieks and I mean Shrieks - it's not a wheek or a squeak, it's very shrill and louder than any noise Butters ever makes (and he's a greedy piggy who squeaks madly when he knows veggies are coming). I think it's because he wants Butters back beside him but it was very scary the first time he did it and I'd like to figure out why he does it exactly. To be clear, I've ruled out any possibility that he's doing it out of physical pain. He only ever does this when he's alone in the cage or pen for more than a few minutes and Butters is still in the same room but not in beside him. And he stops when I put Butters back in beside him. Has anyone ever experienced this with their piggies? Should I be taking Tweek out more, even though he doesn't seem to like it, just so that he isn't left alone like that? After we put them together, he only gets lap-time once or twice a week since he doesn't seem to be comfortable with it and chasing him around to catch him feels mean - is this the best thing or should I handle him more (or less?)? Really not sure what to do.
So anyway, I got another piggy and did the whole quarantine thing and then an introduction which went great. My 7 month old original piggy Butters seemed to take well to new 5 month old piggy Tweek - when they stopped eating and ignoring one and other, there was minimal chasing around before Butters started licking Tweek's ear which I think means he invites him into his pack! There's been no fighting and they still get along very well in their new big C&C cage, with just the occasional rumbling from Butters who is the dominant one.
Now, Butters has bonded well with myself and my husband and he's very playful and still likes being taken out of the cage for lap-time fairly regularly - he will even jump in his cuddle cup to be lifted out. Tweek is very timid and still runs away if I go anywhere near the cage, even though we did pretty much the same things we did with Butters since we got him - handling daily and getting him used to our voices etc. It took almost two months to get him to take veggies out of my hand so I'm hopeful that more time will make him bolder, but who knows, he may just have the opposite personality of Butters.
The thing I wanted to ask about is something Tweek does if he's left in the cage or pen on his own for more than five minutes. He shrieks and I mean Shrieks - it's not a wheek or a squeak, it's very shrill and louder than any noise Butters ever makes (and he's a greedy piggy who squeaks madly when he knows veggies are coming). I think it's because he wants Butters back beside him but it was very scary the first time he did it and I'd like to figure out why he does it exactly. To be clear, I've ruled out any possibility that he's doing it out of physical pain. He only ever does this when he's alone in the cage or pen for more than a few minutes and Butters is still in the same room but not in beside him. And he stops when I put Butters back in beside him. Has anyone ever experienced this with their piggies? Should I be taking Tweek out more, even though he doesn't seem to like it, just so that he isn't left alone like that? After we put them together, he only gets lap-time once or twice a week since he doesn't seem to be comfortable with it and chasing him around to catch him feels mean - is this the best thing or should I handle him more (or less?)? Really not sure what to do.
