Trouble in piggy paradise

[LunaticPoodle]

Hi everyone, I'm in a bit of a pickle: my boars Geezer (1 year 5 months) and Eppu (9 months) have been the best of friends since they've been introduced last june. Never any display of aggression, sharing everything, going everywhere together, grooming each other and so on. Then, about 3 weeks ago, Eppu started nipping at Geezer's butt.
First it was the occasional scratch, I even thought it might have been accidental as Geezer has no fur on his butt (werewolf).
Gave the cage an extra cleaning, added a water bottle, it seemed to have stopped for a week. Last thursday, about 5 minutes before I came home from work, they started fighting for real, and my husband panicked, got his bare hand in there, and you can imagine the rest. (He's fine now, just recovering from Covid and antibiotics).
So, Geezer got a few actual bites on his butt, I washed and disinfected them, they have now scabbed over, no problem- Eppu did not get bitten, as husband's hand got the bite that was meant for him.
They are now separated, each in a 5x2, largely ignore each other and chatter their teeth if they cross paths through the grids. Geezer is now terrified of him. We are heartbroken.
I couldn't find anything wrong with Eppu physically, though I booked a vet visit just to make sure; I guess it's just teenage hormones... He's usually cheeky but really sweet and loving towards Geezer, never seemed to care about being boss pig. Geezer isn't particularly bossy either. Their cage was a 6x4, so no space issue there, plus they free roam most of the time...

Any chance at all that they might get along again in the future? As they didn't "technically" draw blood?

Could it have been the upstairs piggies' constant spraying each other that triggered Eppu? (I'll tell you about them somewhere else, the family has grown and there's 3 more boys since late summer- and it may very well be a case of "I-told-you-so"... Sigh

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.

Eppu is at a point of a hormone spike, so that is most likely the cause of it. When you see an increase in hormonal dominance, separating them temporarily to give the hormonal piggy time to calm down for a few days and then carrying out a neutral territory reintroduction gives them the chance to decide if they do still want to be together.

While the 9/10 month hormone spike tends to be less likely to break a bond (its usually the earlier one at 6 months of age that will decide the fate of a bond), occasionally they get to it and decide they actually don’t like each other.

A full on fight is usually bond breaking. That is permanent separation, they don’t to change their mind about each other in the future once they have had a fight. The fact there wasn’t blood drawn is possibly due to the fact that your husband stepped in.

If you have three boars together in one cage upstairs, then keep an eye there. Three boars together is almost always a recipe for disaster and failed bonds.

Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Bonds In Trouble
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

 

[LunaticPoodle]

Thanks, I thought so but wanted to keep a sliver of hope
The boys upstairs are not a trio, just two and a neighbour- the two brothers that were being rehomed that we adopted in the summer (they're a year and 10 months old) had a falling out early on, once the massive but submissive one had enough of the bullying from his brother. They used to live in a small pet store cage and having all the space to get out of each other's hair gave him the confidence I guess. He's a very chill boy but he's a giant and can do a lot of damage when he has enough. Loves having his own space. The brother was crying for Eppu constantly so we got him a baby of his own, all good until sunday when they fell out too. The baby is now 6 months old and the absolute bossiest of thew bunch. A horrid week