Needing Advice.

[onepigtwopig]

So about a year and a half ago I adopted two baby male pigs. I'd read up a ton online and found varying opinions, though most people seemed to agree that if raised together for a long time, male guinea pigs could get along. So I decided to give it a shot and built them a large cage out of foamcore and those plastic bars. And it worked like a charm. The two guinea pigs - Tater and Spud, if anyone's curious - were attached from the start. They followed each other around, purred when they stood next to each other, squeaked like maniacs when separated, snuggled, etc. They'd share carrots and igloos, and everything was fine and dandy.

Until about three days ago. I was sitting in my room when suddenly I hear one of them - Spud - chattering, that offensive guinea pig "war cry", I guess it's called. So I looked over, confused, and noticed that Tater had joined the little call. And it was completely out of the blue. But suddenly Spud charged at his former friend and Tater fled into an igloo. Alarmed I immediately put up a little boundary wall separating their large cage into two, so each pig still had a large cubicle with an igloo, water bottle, food dish, hay rack, tube, etc.

There's just one problem. Tater hasn't got it through his thick head that his "friend" doesn't really want to be friends any more. Sometimes he'll just munch on hay, but most of the time he tries to gnaw on the bars separating them two and wheek constantly. I put up a small foam core barrier against the bars to attempt his constant gnawing, but he just stretches up over that. Spud is perfectly content hanging out by himself, and has completely abandoned his buddy. Though I'm worried that chomping away at the plastic barrier will ruin Tater's teeth, and plus it can't really be healthy for him to whine and squeak there all day. I've tried putting them together again, but putting them both in the same cage makes them start to chatter, though they're perfectly amiable when being held together or on a neutral surface together.

So I guess I've got a problem. I still have a medium-sized cage from my old and late guinea pig, Clover, though it'd be odd to let one have the huge cage and make the other have the smaller. I love both of them dearly and couldn't possibly give them up, but I'm not sure if the little boundary line will work in the long run. Will Tater learn that he can't break through and get over it? Or am I going to have to disassemble the cage and break it into two parts?

[Oliversnana]

I'm sorry to hear that your Tater has been abandon by his life long buddy, Spud.
That is really sad. but according to what members here on this site write about similar situations, as long as there is not any bloodshed they should and will be fine remaining in the same cage together.

[onepigtwopig]

Thank you so much! And yeah, I feel sorry for him... Poor confused guy. XD

I was glancing around the site and noticed that most people who had two boars together had noted that there was a "dominant" and "submissive" boar. If I leave them together long enough, will they sort things out amongst themselves and cease their fighting? I'm at school all day, and don't want them leave them unsupervised incase things do escalate. D:

[Oliversnana]

I also have two boars one is about 7 months older than the other. My oldest, Oliver seems to be or at least he thinks that he is the dominant one. you know the type, he walks around on his knuckles thinking that he is all that!? My younger of the two, Levi is not really submissive at all, he just ignores Oliver whenever he starts his grumbling, puff up my chest to intimidate his little buddy behavior. It's kind of amusing to watch just how much of an effort Oliver puts into it Levi could careless!

[pigsmakemesmile]

Read up on social behavior and introductions. Unless there's bloodshed, you should let them sort out this behavior on their own. I have 5 boars, 2,1,2 is how there paired and it's been harmony. Once in a while my youngest boar will pick on his older boar penmate but I leave them be and they usually settle it out on their own.
As I stated I wouldn't be quick to separate them because of small tiffs.
Unless there's all out bloodshed or one is injuring the other, let them work it out on their own. Did you make any slight changes in the pen or add or change anything??? I found any minor change would amount into a penmate brawl.
Please read on social behaviors.

[dra&pigs]

Seperating them is only making it worse. They should stay together unless there is bloodshed, or one isn't able to eat or drink (Solve this problem by simply having two of everything...on opposite ends of the cage. The bully can only guard one of them at a time). What you are describing is completely normal behavior. They are simply trying to figure out who's the boss. When my boars were introduced, they bullied each other like crazy. Now, however, they share the same space affectionately. Have you made any changes to the cage or their enviroment? That could trigger their behavior, but most likely they are just hitting a rough patch. Oh, and how old are they? If they are going through the adolescant (sp?) stage, they will be more prone to fighting.

[onepigtwopig]

Thank you all so much! I think I just freaked out when I noticed them starting to be aggressive. I've put them together again and Tater seems overjoyed, and though they've started chattering there hasn't been any fighting at all.

Tater's older than Spud by at least eight months, I think? I actually had Tater first and introduced Spud as the "younger, submissive" pig, though it seems the tables have turned. Tater is about two years old, and Spud is a little over a year.

And I may have... when I clean the cage sometimes I rearrange their igloos so things don't become too monotonous for them. I'll just leave it the same until they sort they little tiffs out.

[pigsmakemesmile]

It's normal to have the feeling of separating them. You did the right thing by asking the form. Just keep an eye on them. They're gonna be fine.
PS....I just love their names...tater and spud.....suitable for cute little gp's.

[ferndalezoo]

We have 4 boars who share a cage (3x5, plus a loft). They started out as two bonded pairs-- Gresyon and Wyatt (a year and a half and 6 months old) and Oswald and Doug (both a year old-- littermates). Greyson was the dominant of his pair, and Wyatt was the "low pig on the totem pole". Oswald was dominant over Doug. In the "herd of 4", though, Greyson remained on top, and Wyatt on the bottom, but there has been some jockeying of position between Oswald and Doug. It can be disconcerting to watch. They chase each other around, there's been some rumblestrutting, a fair bit of "I can hold my head higher in the air than you can!", and the odd baring of teeth. It's more intense if I've changed the fleece, or added something new, and it's always settled down fairly quickly without bloodshed (which would be pretty obvious, as they are both skinnypigs). The best suggestion I have, though, is to be sure that, first and foremost, your cage is big enough. More room means better group relations when it comes to boars. Second, be sure that you have at least 2 of everything-- hideys, food dishes, water bottles, etc. Also, I strongly suggest either ditching the pigloos or cutting a hole in the back of them, so that no one can get cornered in a hidey that only has one way out.