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Behavior Normal dominance behavior? Or just fighting?

kemmm

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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?
 

bpatters

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Sounds normal to me.
 

G Rye Delara

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4-6 weeks? just infant playing if that young
You should only worry if there is at least a year in age difference
 

PeanutnCookie

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[MENTION=33381]G Rye Delara[/MENTION] I think she said they were 4-6 weeks in August. Now they would be around 4 months.

And yes, this just sounds like normal behavior.
 

barbaramudge

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Maybe my math is bad but a 6 ft by 5 ft cage is bigger than a 2x6.
 

lissie

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Maybe my math is bad but a 6 ft by 5 ft cage is bigger than a 2x6.

You are right. 6ft x 5ft cage is double the size of 2x6 C&C.
A 2x6 C&C is only about 15 sq.ft.
 

barbaramudge

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You are right. 6ft x 5ft cage is double the size of 2x6 C&C.
A 2x6 C&C is only about 15 sq.ft.

Thanks! I really was thinking I was losing my mind...lol
 

Comely Guineas

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That sounds normal, you should only have an issue if there is any blood. More space will definitely help
 

kemmm

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You are right. 6ft x 5ft cage is double the size of 2x6 C&C.
A 2x6 C&C is only about 15 sq.ft.
My bad on that! It's been a while since I've done anything math related.
That actually makes me feel better. I'm using their playpen against two walls to make their living area right now because we had gotten the largest store bought cage for them. Which of course I found out was not okay and made the adjustments.
I was afraid they would get spoiled in their new cage and hate their floor time in the playpen.


And thank you for the comments! It's really eased my mind that they're displaying normal behavior.
 
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