About three weeks ago I brought home my two new piggies, Abaddon and Cain, both male, Abaddon (Peruvian) is quite a bit bigger then Cain (American, I guess) and I assume a little bit older. At first Abaddon chased Cain around and put him in his place but then for the first few weeks they got along fine I guess, they chased each other around the cage a bit and were a little rough but every thing I read said that unless one was getting hurt to just leave them to work it out, which I did. But now I think Cain is scratching up Abaddon's back, I don't think he does it intentionally or maliciously but they have little tussles and one of them squeals in pain, and now when I pick Abaddon up he squeals a little bit and I think his hair is coming out in small chunks though I don't know or certain that it's related. I know that the cage they are in is too small (it's a long rectangular pet store type) and I have begun trying to put together a bigger C&C cage but with my financial situation that might take some time. I have them separated, Abaddon is in a "run" that I made from cardboard boxes and other household materials but I don't want to leave him in there 24/7, I'm afraid he'll escape and when I built it I intended to use it for play time, under my direct supervision only (I used a lot of tape and plastic and don't think he should be chewing on all that stuff) and I can't watch him in there all the time. Plus the whole point of having two piggies was so that they could play and live together... so here are my questions:
1-How do I know if they are just playing rough or are actually acting aggressively? How do I know if they are having a dominance issue?
2- If I get them in a bigger cage will this sort itself out enough that they can live together?
3- Is there anyway to make them play nicely enough that I can leave them both in the cage until I can put together a better one?
4- Is there anything I need to be doing to treat Abaddon's scratches? Is his hair coming out a result of their interactions or is it something else? He's really mellow and quiet but he's been like that since I got him.
P.S.- I haven't really seen it as much on this site but I've seen it a lot on others: Every time someone says that they have a cage that's too small and they are working on putting together a C&C cage people go on and on about how it doesn't cost much and if you're going to get a piggies you're supposed to make sure that you have the proper cage size and they money to care for them properly but the cage I have came with my first piggy that I got as a rescue and she died about a week before my birthday so my sister got me Cain and Abaddon for my birthday and I've been in between jobs, I've been looking for one like crazy so that I can afford to take excellent care of them...
1-How do I know if they are just playing rough or are actually acting aggressively? How do I know if they are having a dominance issue?
2- If I get them in a bigger cage will this sort itself out enough that they can live together?
3- Is there anyway to make them play nicely enough that I can leave them both in the cage until I can put together a better one?
4- Is there anything I need to be doing to treat Abaddon's scratches? Is his hair coming out a result of their interactions or is it something else? He's really mellow and quiet but he's been like that since I got him.
P.S.- I haven't really seen it as much on this site but I've seen it a lot on others: Every time someone says that they have a cage that's too small and they are working on putting together a C&C cage people go on and on about how it doesn't cost much and if you're going to get a piggies you're supposed to make sure that you have the proper cage size and they money to care for them properly but the cage I have came with my first piggy that I got as a rescue and she died about a week before my birthday so my sister got me Cain and Abaddon for my birthday and I've been in between jobs, I've been looking for one like crazy so that I can afford to take excellent care of them...