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Fighting Guinea pigs separated but now one is doing better than the other?

Amy93

Member
Cavy Gazer
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
3
2 months ago i adopted two guinea pigs - Jack and Victor. They were apparently paired and had been together since birth and were said to be about three months old. Initially it seemed pretty clear that Jack was dominant. Victor was terrified of everything but I put this down to them being new and settling in. However, this continued to get worse and when in the run victor would squeal and jump out. It became clear that Jack was bullying victor so I separated them as they were very close to fighting. The vet recommended either neutering which wasnt guaranteed to work or seperation, so I decided to separate them. Since the separation Victor is like a new guinea pig and seems to be doing really well.
Jack on the other hand, not so much. Since being on his own, he hides most of the time. I added a run to the cage and it was 2 and a half days before he even went in it. He is still eating etc but not as much as before.

Jack and Victor have separate runs but they are joined as I still wanted them to be able to socialise but so that Victor had his own space, which he appears to enjoy. When jack eventually came out and realised Victor was there he began squealing, biting at the bars and trying to lift/get under the barrier (c&c cubes). Victor walked over, sniffed him and went away again, still seeming quite happy.

My question is what do I do with Jack? will he get used to seeing Victor but not being able to get to him or do they need to be completely separate? Will he cope on his own? I'm not keen to reintroduce them as Victor seems so calm now. He comes up to the cage door when you come in the room instead of running away at every noise, he sleeps outside of his house now and generally seems happier. This happened within the first few hours of being away from jack, and he's never tried to escape his run since.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
well, I've read several other threads here where the knowledgeable people respond and I learned this:

neutering a male pig won't change behaviors or dominance displays.
and the general theme seems to be that unless the pigs are drawing blood or seriously hurting each other, you're supposed to keep them together to let them work it out and let one of them establish dominance. But only if the cage is big enough, and only if there are no ways that Victor could get trapped (no places with only one entrance/exit) and you should have two of everything to make sure they don't fight over access to food, water, or beds.

if you read through the forums you'll find lots of other discussions on piggies working things out to establish a hierarchy.
 
Well from reading other threads I decided to let them meet again. Slowly. It didn't go well there was lots or rumbing and chattering before they went on there hind legs and starting fighting rolling around in a ball I had to throw a tshirt over them to stop them. Neither of them seem to be hurt. I have changed there run so they can't see each other but jack is still trying to bit his way though and squealing unsettled. This didn't work unfortunately. So I'm back to square 1 with jack, any advice would be great
 
well, I've read several other threads here where the knowledgeable people respond and I learned this:

neutering a male pig won't change behaviors or dominance displays.
and the general theme seems to be that unless the pigs are drawing blood or seriously hurting each other, you're supposed to keep them together to let them work it out and let one of them establish dominance. But only if the cage is big enough, and only if there are no ways that Victor could get trapped (no places with only one entrance/exit) and you should have two of everything to make sure they don't fight over access to food, water, or beds.

if you read through the forums you'll find lots of other discussions on piggies working things out to establish a hierarchy.

While in some aspects I agree with this statement, this is really mostly referring to the introduction stages. I would say you were justified in separating the two if one was being severely bullied. The general rule is however only separate with bullying if one pig isn't allowed to sleep eat or drink.

Personally I would keep them separated and maybe look for another pig for Jack. Make sure if you do this to go to a rescue where you can introduce the pigs before you adopt.

In reference to neutering unless you want to pair him with a female, it wont benefit either of you at all.
 
Yes I don't plan on getting either of them nutiered or in contact with famale piggies. I would love to get anourher pig for jack but if they don't bond that is 3 pigs in 3 cages and runs. Which is a lot of room I need.
 
How did you reintroduce them?
When introducing guinea pigs, it has to be in a neutral area where neither of them had been to.
See these pages:
Guinea Pig Introductions 101
Boars Behaving Badly (Boars social life and how to deal with dominance)

OMG...That Boars Behaving Badly thread! I have a boy and will be adding another boy soon. ugh. Not looking to hormonal boy pig behavior! I guess I need to get a stuffed animal and prepare my kids for what they're likely to see, lol!!
 
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