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Aggression Dominance behaviour issues -please help

smitgla

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HI I've just registered today as I am needing some advice on how to manage my guinea pigs. We were (wrongly it would appear) advised that having 4 boars living together would be OK. We've had them for a year now and have had no issues - however we have just noticed some bites on one of them and he is clearly being bullied. He is still getting access to food etc. I've identified the bully and have also seen him try and bite the others although there are no injuries. What do I do? if I remove the bully, we then have 3 which I am told is no better than 3 together. All advice welcome.
 

bpatters

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How large is the cage? A cage that's too small is a major factor in guinea pig aggression.

How much furniture do you have in it? Does it have hideys with only one door where a pig can be trapped? Or a ramp that a pig can get trapped under?

Is there food in both ends of the cage? Multiple water bottles? Piles of hay>
 

smitgla

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How large is the cage? A cage that's too small is a major factor in guinea pig aggression.

How much furniture do you have in it? Does it have hideys with only one door where a pig can be trapped? Or a ramp that a pig can get trapped under?

Is there food in both ends of the cage? Multiple water bottles? Piles of hay>


Hi, lots of open ended hits toys etc. There is never an issue with access to food. They sit next to each other and eat no bother- even though I have food and hay in more that one place. They have a large cage and access to even larger run. Have tried to attach picture of area of concern
 

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bpatters

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It could be that the bossy one is picking on this one because he has sores, rather than being the cause of them. Guinea pigs seem to sense when something is wrong with another pig, and can be pretty obnoxious about pestering them.

That's in an area where the pig itself would be biting at mites, and that downward shaped hair loss pattern is pretty indicative of mites. Does he have a similar area on the other side? Regardless, I'd treat them all for mites. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/111160-How-to-treat-for-mites for information on how to do that.

Don't overdo the toys. They need a large flat area to run in more than they need a bunch of stuff in the cage.
 
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