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Two unneutered male - bonding issue

Prasiddha

Prasiddha

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 28, 2017
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Location
India
Icy is the father who lives with his son browny. Due to misunderstanding in guinea pig sex icy was the route cause to my guinea pig sow (fluffy's back to back pregnancy) fluffy stays with her daughter flora and her new borns (4 pups) in a different cage. From 21 days old browny stays with his father icy. Either and they have small fights which get solved easily on their own. Icy is aged around 8 months and browny is 2.5 months old. Today past an hour they are fighting with each other. Icy is trying on mount on browny and making his moves. As though browny is a girl. And browny fights back with icy for his behaviour. Icy not accepting his rejecting, keeps trying to do the same. I know neutering could be a good option. But I life in India and I don't have reliable exotic vets here. I have one general vet I could just trust on medication infections or skin issue. Can't trust him on neutering procedures since they wouldn't have prior experience on guinea pigs. I can't risk my piggies life. What do I do to avoid this behaviour of icy?
 
Neutering them will work. Or getting another female. But this happened to me. They stopped fighting eventually, and it all worked out.
 
MattDaMan said:
Neutering them will work. Or getting another female. But this happened to me. They stopped fighting eventually, and it all worked out.
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Neutering isn't possible in my city. Can't risk with these vets. But do you think I give them time?
 
Yeah, probably. But if the fighting persists for much longer, try getting another female.
 
But female will get pregnant since they are unneutered. Let me wait.
 
Alright. Also, are the males family? If they are, the fighting will probably die much sooner.
 
MattDaMan said:
Alright. Also, are the males family? If they are, the fighting will probably die much sooner.
Click to expand...

Sorry I need to interrupt here as you are giving bad advice.

@Prasiddha what you are likely witnessing is dominance behaviours rather than fighting. Your youngest boy is going through his teenage hormone stage and so there will be challenges. Please do have a read through these guides to familiarise yourself with dominance behaviours and also with boar relationships in trouble so that you are able to identify when you need to step in and potentially separate. I would only separate if absolutely necessary as they do need to work through this difficult time
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Bonds In Trouble
Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Neutering does not change a guinea pigs behaviour in the slightest, all it does is render them unable to produce babies so that would not help your situation even if you had a vet suitable to perform the procedure.

Some things you can do to increase the chances of them continuing to live together is to provide them as much space as possible, minimally a permanent 120cmx60cm cage or bigger (the bigger the better Cage Size Guide) and make sure there are 2 of everything - food bowls, water bottles, hideys etc so there is less for them to fight over (though be warned that they will still want the one the other piggy is in). Make sure hideys have two exits so no piggy can get cornered and can easily escape his cage mate.

Once the hormones have settled hopefully your boys will calm down and live happily together
 
Lady Kelly said:
Sorry I need to interrupt here as you are giving bad advice.

@Prasiddha what you are likely witnessing is dominance behaviours rather than fighting. Your youngest boy is going through his teenage hormone stage and so there will be challenges. Please do have a read through these guides to familiarise yourself with dominance behaviours and also with boar relationships in trouble so that you are able to identify when you need to step in and potentially separate. I would only separate if absolutely necessary as they do need to work through this difficult time
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Bonds In Trouble
Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Neutering does not change a guinea pigs behaviour in the slightest, all it does is render them unable to produce babies so that would not help your situation even if you had a vet suitable to perform the procedure.

Some things you can do to increase the chances of them continuing to live together is to provide them as much space as possible, minimally a permanent 120cmx60cm cage or bigger (the bigger the better Cage Size Guide) and make sure there are 2 of everything - food bowls, water bottles, hideys etc so there is less for them to fight over (though be warned that they will still want the one the other piggy is in). Make sure hideys have two exits so no piggy can get cornered and can easily escape his cage mate.

Once the hormones have settled hopefully your boys will calm down and live happily together
Click to expand...
Thank you @Lady Kelly they are having big enough housing. Now I will get them separate bottles and food bowls. They were getting along pretty well till today. But icy having those sexual behaviour moves are also normal dominance behaviour. They look like they sorted out on the own now. They are lying down beside each other. Should I wait?
 
Prasiddha said:
Thank you @Lady Kelly they are having big enough housing. Now I will get them separate bottles and food bowls. They were getting along pretty well till today. But icy having those sexual behaviour moves are also normal dominance behaviour. They look like they sorted out on the own now. They are lying down beside each other. Should I wait?
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I'm sure they will be fine then. Sounds like a hormone spike. Even sows do it (I panicked the first time I saw my first sows mounting each other). Just keep an eye on them
 
Lady Kelly said:
I'm sure they will be fine then. Sounds like a hormone spike. Even sows do it (I panicked the first time I saw my first sows mounting each other). Just keep an eye on them
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you sure. Having a close eye on them.
 
Prasiddha said:
Icy is the father who lives with his son browny. Due to misunderstanding in guinea pig sex icy was the route cause to my guinea pig sow (fluffy's back to back pregnancy) fluffy stays with her daughter flora and her new borns (4 pups) in a different cage. From 21 days old browny stays with his father icy. Either and they have small fights which get solved easily on their own. Icy is aged around 8 months and browny is 2.5 months old. Today past an hour they are fighting with each other. Icy is trying on mount on browny and making his moves. As though browny is a girl. And browny fights back with icy for his behaviour. Icy not accepting his rejecting, keeps trying to do the same. I know neutering could be a good option. But I life in India and I don't have reliable exotic vets here. I have one general vet I could just trust on medication infections or skin issue. Can't trust him on neutering procedures since they wouldn't have prior experience on guinea pigs. I can't risk my piggies life. What do I do to avoid this behaviour of icy?
Click to expand...

Hi! Icy is currently suffering from a teenage hormone spike. Mounting is normal boar behaviour. If it is getting too much or too incessant, you can create a little refuge for the baby with a cardboard box or a small tunnel with two small exits on different sides that dad can't get into but also is not able to 'lock in' the baby. Hopefully in a day or two things are more peaceful again. If necessary, separate overnight.
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
 
After the noon incident of icy mounting on browny (younger one). They were in peace all evening. But tonight I observed browny (younger one - Icy's son) mounting on Icy. And chasing him around. They both stop this behaviour with a chin to chin. Both face each other with there heads up and making a noise (like chatting). This happens for few minutes. Then they come back normal. Do I need to worry?
 
Prasiddha said:
After the noon incident of icy mounting on browny (younger one). They were in peace all evening. But tonight I observed browny (younger one - Icy's son) mounting on Icy. And chasing him around. They both stop this behaviour with a chin to chin. Both face each other with there heads up and making a noise (like chatting). This happens for few minutes. Then they come back normal. Do I need to worry?
Click to expand...

No, not yet. That is still within the range of normal dominance behaviour. Icy has obviously sired a rather spunky son!
 
Lady Kelly said:
Sorry I need to interrupt here as you are giving bad advice.

@Prasiddha what you are likely witnessing is dominance behaviours rather than fighting. Your youngest boy is going through his teenage hormone stage and so there will be challenges. Please do have a read through these guides to familiarise yourself with dominance behaviours and also with boar relationships in trouble so that you are able to identify when you need to step in and potentially separate. I would only separate if absolutely necessary as they do need to work through this difficult time
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Bonds In Trouble
Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Neutering does not change a guinea pigs behaviour in the slightest, all it does is render them unable to produce babies so that would not help your situation even if you had a vet suitable to perform the procedure.

Some things you can do to increase the chances of them continuing to live together is to provide them as much space as possible, minimally a permanent 120cmx60cm cage or bigger (the bigger the better Cage Size Guide) and make sure there are 2 of everything - food bowls, water bottles, hideys etc so there is less for them to fight over (though be warned that they will still want the one the other piggy is in). Make sure hideys have two exits so no piggy can get cornered and can easily escape his cage mate.

Once the hormones have settled hopefully your boys will calm down and live happily together
Click to expand...

Perfect advice along with the others. Going through the same thing-I've seen real fighting with boars. You don't need to worry about that from the behavior you're describing. I had the exact same issue due to mis-sexing (ugh) and have been trying to decide about neutering, bonding, etc. Neutering is available to me here and from a vet I can trust (but I really do understand not having that option where you live) as well. I even made the appt but cancelled and am waiting for a son and tried bonding with our first guinea pig (an adult rescue that also was a huge surprise in finding out she is a he).

The moderators here have given some fantastic advice (as always). I now have the two boars in cages next to each other again in the care of my daughter. These guys have actually come to some frightening blows; I have new stitches from the intervention on the last war (this was full on aggression-when it happens, believe me, there's no doubt and there's bloodshed). Now, however, being cage to cage and one being able to come and go as he pleases in my daughter's room, there is no more teeth chattering. Yesterday evening, they actually rubbed noses (as daughter and I held our breaths) and have been getting on this way at least through the cages. Hormones are definitely a part of the aggression in our two as well. One is around 4 months now, sweet as can be, but going through some spurts.
 
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