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Aggression 3 male Guinea Pigs now seperated. Can they be reintegrated?

ejl00

Member
Cavy Gazer
Joined
Jun 28, 2019
Messages
8
Hi there! I wrote a post recently about seperating my 3 male GPs (around 9 month old). The largest one of the three definitely asserted dominance around 2 months ago and I began to notice lots of chasing and biting. The medium sized GP is now missing a large amount of his back fur and is covered in bite marks. I ordered the C&C XL cage and I hoped with more space the behavior would get better. I also got the divider in case I needed to seperate them. I was also worried about the smaller of the three being bullied away from their food as they are significantly smaller than the boss pig. The chasing and biting seemed to get worse once I put them in the new cage (perhaps he was trying to claim territory in the new environment), but the final straw in my decision to put up the divider was when I observed boss pig repeatedly mounting my littlest one who is blind/deaf. Boss pig is over double the size of little one and because he doesn't have his sight it is hard for him to escape from under and he ends up discombobulated and winds up on his side or flipping over. I am worried boss pig will suffocate the little one or injure him in some way. So now the two smaller pigs are on one side of the wall and boss pig is alone on the other. I have two main questions. 1. The way I have the divider currently they can still see each other. Is this ok or is it better for them to not be able to see each other? 2. Is there any time in which reintegration would be possible? For example if I can plump up the smaller ones so that they are on an even playing field size wise would it be safer for them to be together again? When they get older and out of puberty? Should I consider rescuing a fourth to be a companion to boss pig? I really want to do what is best for all of them, but I am terrified to walk in the room one day and see that boss pig has injured or worse, killed one of his brothers. I also don't want him to become depressed from being alone. I put a plush hidey and other soft things for him to snuggle with. I can say the smaller guys seem much more relaxed now. My blind/deaf GP never came out of his hidey before and now I see him out of it all the time and he is having an easier time eating and drinking. Thank you taking the time to read all of this!
 
I had a similar situation to yours. I had two boars, Pooper and Sly. They were never the best of buddies, but they tolerated each other and even played together from time to time.

Pooper was a year and a half older than Sly, and Pooper eventually passed away leaving Sly alone. Sly was a senior when this happened, approaching 5 years of age. I adopted a pair or 3 week old babies to keep him company and it was magic, for about 5 months. One of the babies, Punkin, grew bigger than Sly who had health issues of his own including osseous metaplasia, which drastically reduced his sight. Long story short, Punkin was abusing Sly to the point that I had to separate him.

Sly lived the remainder of his life (almost a year and a half) in a cage exactly the same size as his little brothers. He had his own 2x4 with a 2x3 pen, and his brothers had the exact same. He loved to walk up and down the bars like a prison warden, trolling Punkin. Punkin would scramble up and down the bars, beaking off and occasionally biting the bars but that was it. Sly could still see, smell, hear and talk to his little brothers but couldn't be hurt, and he was fine with it that way. He would occasionally visit Scooter, who would inevitably be chased away by Punkin.

You can definitely try it this way, and it may work. You may have to worry about bar chewing, and come up with a solution for that. You can also think about a buddy for the big boy.
 
Just do bear in mind that you need at least a 2x4 grid sized cage for the two smaller fellas, and at least that again for the boss pig and his new buddy.
 
Thank you for the input! I am definitely going to try to give him extra one on one attention now and keep an eye out for signs of depression. So far he has been acting pretty normal with the separation. The are able to sniff noses and I am not noticing any signs of aggression through the bars. Is it better to keep them separated 100% of the time or can I put them together for supervised time?
 
Thank you for the input! I am definitely going to try to give him extra one on one attention now and keep an eye out for signs of depression. So far he has been acting pretty normal with the separation. The are able to sniff noses and I am not noticing any signs of aggression through the bars. Is it better to keep them separated 100% of the time or can I put them together for supervised time?

Once they are separated, leave them that way. Otherwise it'll be no different than introducing them again and since it won't be neutral territory it will likely go badly.
 
Once they are separated, leave them that way. Otherwise it'll be no different than introducing them again and since it won't be neutral territory it will likely go badly.

Ok, thanks so much!
 
You're more than welcome!

Good luck with your new herd dynamics, and please keep us posted on how they're doing.
 
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