Urgent help needed

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Gingerninja

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi. I'll get straight to the point. I rescued two one year old guinea pigs yesterday. And one is humping the other absolutely relentlessly. It's stressing my little piggy out with the other being so dominant. The culprit piggy rumbles and mounts the other one almost every two minutes, sometimes more. I've owned piggies before and have never came across this! Hope someone can help. They get on well, and have lived together a long time from what I've been told. But I'm worried because a, it's stressing my shy piggy out and he squeals with stress. And b, I want to avoid separating them because I know they're supposed to live in pairs. I'm so worried. Shy piggie seems so overwhelmed and getting to the end of his tether at the end of a relentless day. Any recommendations? They are fine being snuggled together and at floor play time. But as soon as I put them back it starts again!!
 
Mounting and rumbling are perfectly normal bonding behaviours. They are in a new home so they need to work through it. Although the shy piggies squeals sound severe they are squeals of submission where he is telling the dominant boar that it's ok, he knows who is boss. This can continue for a couple of weeks so you need to give them time. Try having a look in our guides section at the bonding and behaviour threads which will explain in more detail
 
It might not be a good idea to do floor time yet if you only got them yesterday. They both need to settle into their new environment, get used to you and the dominant one needs to re-establish his dominance and claim the cage space so to speak. If they've been in and out of the cage they won't have been able to settle the issue yet.
 
That's very helpful. I will stop floor time for a few days and see how the behaviour goes. Thanks everyone for your input x
 
Gingerninja said:
Hi. I'll get straight to the point. I rescued two one year old guinea pigs yesterday. And one is humping the other absolutely relentlessly. It's stressing my little piggy out with the other being so dominant. The culprit piggy rumbles and mounts the other one almost every two minutes, sometimes more. I've owned piggies before and have never came across this! Hope someone can help. They get on well, and have lived together a long time from what I've been told. But I'm worried because a, it's stressing my shy piggy out and he squeals with stress. And b, I want to avoid separating them because I know they're supposed to live in pairs. I'm so worried. Shy piggie seems so overwhelmed and getting to the end of his tether at the end of a relentless day. Any recommendations? They are fine being snuggled together and at floor play time. But as soon as I put them back it starts again!
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Hi! If the humping is truly relentless to the degree that the humped piggy cannot eat, drink or sleep in peace, then it counts as bullying and we recommend to separate (ideally with a divider so they can see each other and interact, but not mount) and to give them a couple of days' time before you try a re-introduction on neutral ground (in this case after a buddy bath to remove any testosterone laden pee from the coat and minimise the risk of a flare-up as soon as they meet again.
A move to new territory does require a new hierarchy sort-out. Your boys are obviously not quite fully out of the teenage hormones yet.
Bonds In Trouble
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
 
These boys have gone through a lot of change so they are both stressed, give them a little time just to settle in their new environment, the only time I had this problem was when I put my boys into a huge hutch outdoors one spring, the new cage really unsettled them x
 
Welcome to the forum.
Can't add to the advice but will say the piggies sorting out dominance can be quite stressful for the unprepared owner.
Hope they settle
 
Mounting is normal dominance behavior and the 'squeal/shriek' from the subordinate piggy is less about stress than about displaying submission. Having been moved to a new location, they are probably sorting out dominance all over again to make sure the same hierarchy still applies in a new place. Hopefully it will settle down over the next couple of days as they get used to a new place.
 
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