Some advice?

[koolkathan]

Hey! It's just me again, I was looking for some advice.

So for a while now I have been considering getting Stan, my oldest guinea currently at one year and three months ish, another guinea. It turns out the other day, pets at home had mis-sexed my nieces two guinea pigs and one turned out to be a boar. Later on she had piglets. And needed a home for the male, in which she asked me to take in the newly named Ollie! (From the two famous comedians. My favourites.) Basically I've had Ollie since Sunday, when I was feeding Stan and ollie today I noticed that Ollie started teeth Chattering first and Stan was doing it back, I was just wanting to know if this was normal? They live in seperate cages side by side for now until I introduce them very slowly mainly because Stan has a territory issue since he got attacked by other guinea pigs. But Ollie keeps looking over at Stan and making sounds, talking too each other. Is this a good sign or?

Thank you for understanding and trying to help haha.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Teeth chattering is not a good sign (there are two varieties, a low intensity 'I don't like this' and a really loud high intensity one 'attack me and I might hit back' one, but talking through the bars is. Also watch their body language.

Once you start bonding, you have to sit it out until it either works or it is a fail. You can't do boar bonding in short meetings as you force them to start each time right at the beginning again and do not give them the time to work out their relationship.

At the worst you can keep your two boys as next door neighbours; they will still stimulate each other as long as they can see each other (body language is an important part of communication), touch noses, smell and chat.

 

[koolkathan]

Hi! Teeth chattering is not a good sign (there are two varieties, a low intensity 'I don't like this' and a really loud high intensity one 'attack me and I might hit back' one, but talking through the bars is. Also watch their body language.

Once you start bonding, you have to sit it out until it either works or it is a fail. You can't do boar bonding in short meetings as you force them to start each time right at the beginning again and do not give them the time to work out their relationship.

At the worst you can keep your two boys as next door neighbours; they will still stimulate each other as long as they can see each other (body language is an important part of communication), touch noses, smell and chat.

If you don't mind me asking how do you know which teeth Chattering is which one? Like high or low? They smell each other's scent and can touch.

 

[Wiebke]

If you don't mind me asking how do you know which teeth Chattering is which one? Like high or low? They smell each other's scent and can touch.

It is the intensity and the volume that is unmistakeable once you hear it. But even loud teeth chattering is not necessarily a sign of aggression. It can be equally a sign of insecurity or strong dislike. It all depends on the context which is why we do not have an audio guide for sounds.

 

[koolkathan]

It is the intensity and the volume that is unmistakeable once you hear it. But even loud teeth chattering is not necessarily a sign of aggression. It can be equally a sign of insecurity or strong dislike. It all depends on the context which is why we do not have an audio guide for sounds.

So I've just been watching them and it's got to the point of where Ollie is now chewing or biting at the bars to try and get to Stan? They was also touching noses but Stan was trying to either nibble or nip or the top of Ollies nose? But they're both trying to get to each other now. >.<

 

[Darcey15]

Hi there, my piggies who had been together since birth teeth chattered to one another when they felt their space was being invaded by the other especially around food time, but it didn't last long. Worst case was a nip to say "get lost thats my carrot" . Sometimes the chattering was low, the warning kind like teeth grinding & the other has louder higher pitched & fast where they stood still & looked ready for battle...but again mostly all tustling for dominance (mine were fairly equal partners). This usually happened after they'd been outside in the run & were brought inside in their cage...arguing again over who was sleeping where. So teeth chattering was pretty normal for them but it never came to anything.

I lost one recently & have just introduced a baby to my remaining boar. When they were side by side, Domino (older boar) teeth chattered through the bars & wheeked like crazy. Probably the different smell & wondering who on earth this was...a threat probably. This raised my concerns about introducing them, but I needn't have worried. That never happened when I put them together. Lots of sniffing about, Domino trying to mount occasionally but the little one is fast & everything in the neutral zone I made had an escape route (a cardboard box for example with 1 hole in and 1 hole out). They have bonded well now.

I guess you won't know if they will bond until you try it, they are all so different but there's no reason to assume it won't work @Wiebke has some amazing threads on how to bond boars so take all that advice and give it a go if you haven't already. Let us know how you get on

 

[Wiebke]

Hi there, my piggies who had been together since birth teeth chattered to one another when they felt their space was being invaded by the other especially around food time, but it didn't last long. Worst case was a nip to say "get lost thats my carrot" . Sometimes the chattering was low, the warning kind like teeth grinding & the other has louder higher pitched & fast where they stood still & looked ready for battle...but again mostly all tustling for dominance (mine were fairly equal partners). This usually happened after they'd been outside in the run & were brought inside in their cage...arguing again over who was sleeping where. So teeth chattering was pretty normal for them but it never came to anything.

I lost one recently & have just introduced a baby to my remaining boar. When they were side by side, Domino (older boar) teeth chattered through the bars & wheeked like crazy. Probably the different smell & wondering who on earth this was...a threat probably. This raised my concerns about introducing them, but I needn't have worried. That never happened when I put them together. Lots of sniffing about, Domino trying to mount occasionally but the little one is fast & everything in the neutral zone I made had an escape route (a cardboard box for example with 1 hole in and 1 hole out). They have bonded well now.

I guess you won't know if they will bond until you try it, they are all so different but there's no reason to assume it won't work @Wiebke has some amazing threads on how to bond boars so take all that advice and give it a go if you haven't already. Let us know how you get on

Glad that all has gone well! You never know until piggies meet face to face.