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Behavior I'm worry about my boys...

piggieARI

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Cavy Slave
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Jan 21, 2016
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Hello Everyone! i'm new to here and a new piggie owner too!
I have adopted two boys 1 month ago and they bring us joy! I just expended their cage to a L shaped 2x5 and a 2x5 cage for them today!.
when i adopted them, the rescues said they are best buddy(they are the best guinea pig rescues!)! but when they get home, one of them always do mating dance to the other boy and always want to jump on top of the other boy.
I have asked the rescues and they said it just need few days to settle the position. they still do teeth chatting and a lot of butt chasing...
I'm just worry that they will not be best friend again...
i find out the boy who always do butt chasing always try to sleep next to the other boy when the boy are sleeping tho:love:
AND they never fight..

So i dont really know when will the dominance thing will end and stop those mating dance and butt chasing...

What should i do...?

Thank you so much!!
 

bpatters

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Congratulations on being a new piggy owner.

What you should do is just relax and let them work out the dominance stuff. It'll take a while -- months, maybe years. They may have been best buds at the rescue, but a change of living quarters, sometimes just a new cage, will set off the competition again. Unless one of them has blood streaming down its body, they're just fine, and you can relax.

Since you're a new owner, read these links for some good information on guinea pigs:

-- https://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html
-- https://www.guinealynx.info/emergency.html
-- www.cavyspirit.com
-- the stickies at the tops of the main forums here
-- https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum...us-Plants-List for what you can feed and how often
-- https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum...ur-guinea-pigs!
 

Soecara

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It isn't anything to worry about. What is probably happening is they are re-establishing dominance as they are in a new cage, the boss is just letting the other one know he is still the boss. Some boar pairs will always display dominance behaviours no matter how long they have been together, particularly after a full cage clean, as long as they don't get into a big fight where blood is drawn leave them be. One of my pairs of boys frequently mount each other and they have been together for years, they are still very good friends despite this.
 

piggieARI

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Cavy Slave
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Jan 21, 2016
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thank you for you help!
another thing i want to ask about having more piggies!
Since i have a large cage, I really want to bring more piggies home maybe 1 or 2?
but i understand that it's really hard to bond boars together, and i do research a lot a lot about bonding boys...
and i know it may destroy their bonds...
i have ask the rescue about it and they think its a bad idea and if i get new piggies they should be in separate cage..but i really want them to be in a group..

please tell me your advice!! Thank u!!
 

bpatters

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My suggestion is that you stick with the two you've got until you're way more familiar with guinea pigs, and then if you want more, you can make a more informed decision about it.

One thing new owners often underestimate is the cost of medical care for them. Small animal (dog and cat) vets can't treat them, so you have to find an exotic vet. They're more expensive, and the costs of treating them for an illness can really add up. Food for them isn't terribly expensive, but is probably more than what you'd have to spend on a dog or cat.

And while many people are successful at getting two boars to live together, getting larger herds to live peacefully is much harder, and more than a few people have wound up with several solo pigs because no pig would live with another after their herd had failed.

So my recommendation is wait. If, in a year, you still think this is a good idea, then revisit it then.
 
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