BaconAndEggs
Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2014
- Posts
- 644
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2014
- Messages
- 644
I first introduced Bacon and Eggs about a year and a half ago, in April 2014. They seemed to get along okay, but I made the mistake of separating them over normal dominance behaviors, and put them back together a few weeks later. They were fine, not quite the content, bonded pair that we all wish for, and somewhat aggressive towards each other. Then, around 7 months ago, Eggs scratched Bacon's eye(not just the lid, but his eye)and so I took him to the vet where I was informed that they would have to be separated until Bacon's eye was healed. I kept them separated for seven months, because I blamed their fighting on Eggs just going into adolescence and figured that there would be no point in redoing introductions after only a week.
Yesterday, I decided to have a go at introducing them. I'm fairly sure that I did everything right: neutral area, big pile of hay at the center, no hideys, I wiped down everything and washed their fleece, and changed the cage around completely. I have two of everything-two fleece forests, two food bowls, a pile of hay at the center of the-2x5-cage and hay in a hay rack at the other end, and two water bottles.
I put them in the neutral area, and at first they were distracted by the hay. Then, Bacon decided to try and "assert his dominance" with Eggs. All behavior was normal, though there was some raised hair, and rocking back and forth as if they were about to lunge, but no big fights or anything. When they had both settled down and hadn't chattered or growled in a while, I put them in their cage and kept an eye on them. They chased each other for a while, but then both settled into a fleece forest.
But then, when I went to see them later that night, I inspected Bacon and his face was all scratched up. Nothing extremely deep, but he was bleeding in a couple of places, especially around his eye. I cleaned off all of the cuts and separated them because one, I knew that, at this rate, Eggs was going for the eyes and my parents would not be happy if we had to take him to the vet again for his eye being scratched and, second, they were really starting to get into it. I checked Eggs as well, and found nothing, except for a small scratch on his back.
So, now, I have a few questions:
1. Was it wrong of me to separate them? Now, whenever they so much as see each other through the divider, they start chattering their teeth. In my opinion, they seem a lot happier alone, but I can't speak guinea pig so I'm not completely sure.
2. Do you think they would be okay with grids separating them so that they could have interaction without being able to come in contact with each other?
3. I understand that some boars are more likely to fight when they can smell females. My girl, Muffin, sits on a dresser above their cage. I'm not sure if her scent made it worse, because they acted this way before I separated them several months ago.
Thank you!
Yesterday, I decided to have a go at introducing them. I'm fairly sure that I did everything right: neutral area, big pile of hay at the center, no hideys, I wiped down everything and washed their fleece, and changed the cage around completely. I have two of everything-two fleece forests, two food bowls, a pile of hay at the center of the-2x5-cage and hay in a hay rack at the other end, and two water bottles.
I put them in the neutral area, and at first they were distracted by the hay. Then, Bacon decided to try and "assert his dominance" with Eggs. All behavior was normal, though there was some raised hair, and rocking back and forth as if they were about to lunge, but no big fights or anything. When they had both settled down and hadn't chattered or growled in a while, I put them in their cage and kept an eye on them. They chased each other for a while, but then both settled into a fleece forest.
But then, when I went to see them later that night, I inspected Bacon and his face was all scratched up. Nothing extremely deep, but he was bleeding in a couple of places, especially around his eye. I cleaned off all of the cuts and separated them because one, I knew that, at this rate, Eggs was going for the eyes and my parents would not be happy if we had to take him to the vet again for his eye being scratched and, second, they were really starting to get into it. I checked Eggs as well, and found nothing, except for a small scratch on his back.
So, now, I have a few questions:
1. Was it wrong of me to separate them? Now, whenever they so much as see each other through the divider, they start chattering their teeth. In my opinion, they seem a lot happier alone, but I can't speak guinea pig so I'm not completely sure.
2. Do you think they would be okay with grids separating them so that they could have interaction without being able to come in contact with each other?
3. I understand that some boars are more likely to fight when they can smell females. My girl, Muffin, sits on a dresser above their cage. I'm not sure if her scent made it worse, because they acted this way before I separated them several months ago.
Thank you!
