Dear everyone,
I hope you all are doing great. I'm Aden AL and I recently adopted 2 female guinea pigs from a Texas shelter: Oktavia (nice and easy going) and Altaria (skittish with me and kind of aggressive). Oktavia seemed to be calmer and Altaria seemed to be afraid of her, but Altaria sometimes would randomly go after her. I am not sure there's an alpha.
I originally had one female guinea pig at my parents house (2007-2013), her name was Priscilla. She didn't have a companion, but seemed to be very happy with us.S She would never pee on myself (she would indicate me when she wanted to pee), and didn't mind being picked up. I guess because i got her when she was very small, so she was really attached me and my family and she would be free in the living room.
After several years I decided to have guinea pigs again because my life is now more stable, and this time I decided to adopt them from the shelter. I really like both of them. They are in a 2 by 6 grid cage. Originally, it was a 2 by 4 and made the transition from white bedding to fleece. On the upcoming days, I noticed that Altaria (the skittish one that doesn't like me and that screams when being picked up) had some blood in her lip, it was superficial and she didn't make a big deal when i was cleaning the wound. After that I decided to increase the size to 2 by 6, but my fleece was too small, so I put white bedding on the remaining part. After that they seemed to get along better and even slept sometimes in the same side (see below, they have two parts).
So today I had let them out so they could play. Everything was fine. I trimmed their nails (skittish one didn't let me do much, while Oktavia allowed me to some degree). Once I put them back I started preparing to clean the house. Then I notice something disturbing: Oktavia (the calm one but somehow stronger) had a cut in one of her nostrils! And she made a very strange sound, like the sound of a cat when they are angry, it's a sound I've never ever heard a guinea pig do. It's not the typical angry guinea pig sounds, like a cat sound, coming from the throat.
I felt really angry with Altaria (I assume she did it when hiding in one of the hideys), but then I felt bad for feeling angry because she didn't really understand what she did. I cleaned the nose of Oktavia and put a little neosporin. I checked Altaria to see she had any injuries, but nothing. So I was cleaning the house, and I was determined to separate them. Altaria ran to Oktavia (she does that when she's scared) and Oktavia made again that strange sound. I separate them and cleaned the house, Altaria wanted to run to the other side but was confused about the wall.
Now separated, I gave them food. Altaria ate like nothing had happened. Oktavia (she can be seen outside) just stayed inside the hidey (I have the guineadad fleece with the special hideys) and didn't react to the food. She went out for food after a while.
I think they just don't like each other. Oktavia tolerates more Altaria, but Altaria starts screaming every time Oktavia goes nearby (sometimes she wants hay or eat from the other plate, etc.), and Oktavia just ignores her. So in general they cannot be close to each other; i guess they had less fights because they had more space. They were supposed to be bonded, but I feel that they cannot really be together.
It may also be my presence, that I just got them at the beginning of June, and that i constantly make changes to the cage (bedding change, igloos changed to fleece forests, increase size of cage). So Altaria may just be stressed in general. They both allow me to pet them and touch and they always ask for food, but I think they don't trust me as much.
How do your guinea pigs interact? Can they be in the proximity of each other and not fight?
Image is the separated cage.
I hope you all are doing great. I'm Aden AL and I recently adopted 2 female guinea pigs from a Texas shelter: Oktavia (nice and easy going) and Altaria (skittish with me and kind of aggressive). Oktavia seemed to be calmer and Altaria seemed to be afraid of her, but Altaria sometimes would randomly go after her. I am not sure there's an alpha.
I originally had one female guinea pig at my parents house (2007-2013), her name was Priscilla. She didn't have a companion, but seemed to be very happy with us.S She would never pee on myself (she would indicate me when she wanted to pee), and didn't mind being picked up. I guess because i got her when she was very small, so she was really attached me and my family and she would be free in the living room.
After several years I decided to have guinea pigs again because my life is now more stable, and this time I decided to adopt them from the shelter. I really like both of them. They are in a 2 by 6 grid cage. Originally, it was a 2 by 4 and made the transition from white bedding to fleece. On the upcoming days, I noticed that Altaria (the skittish one that doesn't like me and that screams when being picked up) had some blood in her lip, it was superficial and she didn't make a big deal when i was cleaning the wound. After that I decided to increase the size to 2 by 6, but my fleece was too small, so I put white bedding on the remaining part. After that they seemed to get along better and even slept sometimes in the same side (see below, they have two parts).
So today I had let them out so they could play. Everything was fine. I trimmed their nails (skittish one didn't let me do much, while Oktavia allowed me to some degree). Once I put them back I started preparing to clean the house. Then I notice something disturbing: Oktavia (the calm one but somehow stronger) had a cut in one of her nostrils! And she made a very strange sound, like the sound of a cat when they are angry, it's a sound I've never ever heard a guinea pig do. It's not the typical angry guinea pig sounds, like a cat sound, coming from the throat.
I felt really angry with Altaria (I assume she did it when hiding in one of the hideys), but then I felt bad for feeling angry because she didn't really understand what she did. I cleaned the nose of Oktavia and put a little neosporin. I checked Altaria to see she had any injuries, but nothing. So I was cleaning the house, and I was determined to separate them. Altaria ran to Oktavia (she does that when she's scared) and Oktavia made again that strange sound. I separate them and cleaned the house, Altaria wanted to run to the other side but was confused about the wall.
Now separated, I gave them food. Altaria ate like nothing had happened. Oktavia (she can be seen outside) just stayed inside the hidey (I have the guineadad fleece with the special hideys) and didn't react to the food. She went out for food after a while.
I think they just don't like each other. Oktavia tolerates more Altaria, but Altaria starts screaming every time Oktavia goes nearby (sometimes she wants hay or eat from the other plate, etc.), and Oktavia just ignores her. So in general they cannot be close to each other; i guess they had less fights because they had more space. They were supposed to be bonded, but I feel that they cannot really be together.
It may also be my presence, that I just got them at the beginning of June, and that i constantly make changes to the cage (bedding change, igloos changed to fleece forests, increase size of cage). So Altaria may just be stressed in general. They both allow me to pet them and touch and they always ask for food, but I think they don't trust me as much.
How do your guinea pigs interact? Can they be in the proximity of each other and not fight?
Image is the separated cage.