Here's my story: [This can sort of be skipped as it is just backstory.]
My boyfriend talked me into getting a guinea pig. Not that I had anything against guinea pigs. I absolutely love all rodent creatures. I just had my doubts about whether he had really thought about all the responsibilities of a small animal. He said he did as he had had one before. We went and got Harvey and got him all set up at home. I didn't really know much about guinea pigs, so I did a lot of research over the next couple of days. I then found out they are better as herd animals, so of course I went and got him a friend, Jarvis. After the quarantine period, we did introductions and there was a TON of humping which eventually settled down. This was in August and they were both 4-6 weeks old.
Over the next month, Harvey has been doing a lot of rumblestrutting. Jarvis tends to mind his own business in his igloo and seems to try and ignore Harvey when he is showboating. However, recently, Jarvis seems to have gotten annoyed with the constant rumblestrutting that Harvey keeps doing and will chase him away when he gets to close to him now.
[If you skipped, here's the main issue.]
Now it seems to have gotten even more intense. They are sizing each other up and there is a lot of teeth chattering. They never get up on their haunches, but they do pounce at each other every now and again. But when this happens, Harvey immediately runs away, and Jarvis will chase after him for a bit. When they pounce at each other, it's just for a second at a time, and never ends up in a ball of fury and I never hear any squeals of fear or pain. I threw towel on them the first time I saw this happen, but after I did some reading, it seemed like this was still normal dominance battle behavior. I just wanted to make sure if this was indeed normal.
They currently live in a space that is 6 ft by 5 ft. I just ordered a C&C cage that is 2x6 that was shipped today and should be here in just a couple of days. I am hoping that more space will help rectify the issue.
So my main question: Is the pouncing at each other okay and normal behavior?
My boyfriend talked me into getting a guinea pig. Not that I had anything against guinea pigs. I absolutely love all rodent creatures. I just had my doubts about whether he had really thought about all the responsibilities of a small animal. He said he did as he had had one before. We went and got Harvey and got him all set up at home. I didn't really know much about guinea pigs, so I did a lot of research over the next couple of days. I then found out they are better as herd animals, so of course I went and got him a friend, Jarvis. After the quarantine period, we did introductions and there was a TON of humping which eventually settled down. This was in August and they were both 4-6 weeks old.
Over the next month, Harvey has been doing a lot of rumblestrutting. Jarvis tends to mind his own business in his igloo and seems to try and ignore Harvey when he is showboating. However, recently, Jarvis seems to have gotten annoyed with the constant rumblestrutting that Harvey keeps doing and will chase him away when he gets to close to him now.
[If you skipped, here's the main issue.]
Now it seems to have gotten even more intense. They are sizing each other up and there is a lot of teeth chattering. They never get up on their haunches, but they do pounce at each other every now and again. But when this happens, Harvey immediately runs away, and Jarvis will chase after him for a bit. When they pounce at each other, it's just for a second at a time, and never ends up in a ball of fury and I never hear any squeals of fear or pain. I threw towel on them the first time I saw this happen, but after I did some reading, it seemed like this was still normal dominance battle behavior. I just wanted to make sure if this was indeed normal.
They currently live in a space that is 6 ft by 5 ft. I just ordered a C&C cage that is 2x6 that was shipped today and should be here in just a couple of days. I am hoping that more space will help rectify the issue.
So my main question: Is the pouncing at each other okay and normal behavior?