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Aggression Anyone please help!!! Please need advice on bullying guinea pigs!!

GPlove94

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I've had my two male guinea pigs Hunter and Rambo together for 6 months(they are both 1 years old now). Rambo is the boss and Hunter is more of the laid back friendly cuddly piggy. They've gotten along pretty well with the normal occasional rumble strutting and teeth chattering, no major fighting; and they always slept, ate, and munched on hay next to each other.

I just recently adopted my 3rd 1 year old male guinea pig Chester 3 weeks ago. I had to do introductions twice, since the first intro didn't go well. They got along for 1 week with normal dominance behavior, but Chester and Rambo has fought numerous times not to the point of blood shed though. The 2nd week Chester and Rambo has no longer fought just rumble strut and teeth chatter, they no longer full out lounge and fight each other.

This current 3rd week though, Chester and Rambo has started bullying my poor baby Hunter. If Hunter is just standing there Chester would try to nip him. Anytime Hunter would try to get out of his igloo to eat pellets/hay or drink Rambo would chase him away and Hunter would run squealing fearfully back to his igloo. Its gotten to the point where Hunter would just stay in his igloo until Rambo and Chester fall asleep. I hear constant squealing coming from Hunter and it makes me feel extremely awful.

I'm not sure if this is normal hierarchy positioning or what? No major blood shed has occur or anything just bullying. Hunter hasn't seem to lost any weight despite the bullying but he has gotten chubbier due to lack of exercise, since he's afraid and cant leave his igloo for most of the day. As far as space I know that boys are very territorial so all 3 of my piggies live in a spacious 3x4 single level cage with 3 pigglos, 2 tunnels, 1 cozy sack & cuddle cup, 2 pellet bowls, 2 water bottles, and one large/wide hay rack. If this is normal hierarchy positioning how long will this last? When and should I separate?
 
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GPlove94

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Here's a some pics of their cage size.
image.jpg
 

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lissie

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Take out all the igloos. Use anything that has multiple doors. Fleece forest, fleece tents, plastic foot stool, cardboard boxes with multiple doors cut out.

Make sure they have multiple locations for hay, pellets and water. I see two water bottles and two pellet dishes, you might want to add a third. You will probably need to add hay at the other end of the cage.

I'd say 1 year old is the worst time to introduce boars. They're not out of their hormonal teenage stage yet.

If it gets to full blown fighting, you might need to separate them.
 

pinky

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Anytime you have a very dominant one paired with a low ranking guinea pig, it's risky adding a third. It sounds like it took awhile for the first two to figure out their places and adding the third is forcing them all to start from scratch. I have my most dominant female with my lowest ranked. The low ranked takes a lot of abuse from the dominant one. She chases her, pushes her out of the way and pulls at her fur sometimes. She doesn't bite her, though, and they even snuggle together sometimes. I've had these two in a larger group and had to separate them because the low ranked one was attacked by a different higher ranked one. Guinea pigs quickly figure out which one is an easy target. She fought back and bit the other one so I divided them into three separate groups which worked better for me.
 

GPlove94

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@pinky [MENTION=11509]lissie[/MENTION] I was thinkin of finding Chester a better home if all doesn't go as planned. I would still love to have 3 piggies. What age would you suggest to introduce/add to a pair of 1 year old guinea pigs.
 

sugarandspice

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@pinky @lissie I was thinkin of finding Chester a better home if all doesn't go as planned. I would still love to have 3 piggies. What age would you suggest to introduce/add to a pair of 1 year old guinea pigs.

Older or senior pigs seem to go great with younger pigs. Just don't get any pig that is in puberty, that could be bad. Is this the first time you have introduced pigs before? Although, this looks scary, this sounds pretty normal. Let it happen until it ever gets to the point of fighting. Full blown-out fighting.

Like lissie said, you just need to make sure there are hides with two entrances, and at this time have two water sources and maybe two food sources. You have taken these precautions.

Are any pigs retaliating the boss pig?
 

GPlove94

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Yes I have, it's taking a real toll on my piggy his so stressed and depressed now since they've been bullying on him. They won't let I'm eat or drink and they wait outside of his igloo. I have 2 dominant piggies and one submissive one. The 2 dominant ones get along like hard headed brothers. Right now I have the cage separated into two 2x3 cages. [MENTION=29318]sugarandspice[/MENTION]
 

foggycreekcavy

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He's obviously getting enough to eat if he's not losing weight. I see no reason to separate yet--first try the things lissie suggests in her post above.
 

GPlove94

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2x3 big enough?!

Since the bullying incident between my 3 boys, I had to separate the two bossy piggies and my laid back piggie that was the victim. I recently adopted a spayed sow for my lone pig. I currently have two 2x3 cages side by side. My sow and one boar in one, my 2 bossy bonded boars in the other. Is a 2x3 cage okay for 2 boars? They seem happy and get along great.
 

sugarandspice

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Re: 2x3 big enough?!

Generally, 2x3 is too small for two boars. They are very territorial, and you should try to aim for a 2x5 for two boars. For the sow and and your bullied boar, I would try a 2x4. If they get along great then okay, but they would appreciate extra space.

Any indication on why the sow is spayed?

Oh you separated them? Why? Bloodshed?
 

alfonzpig

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Re: 2x3 big enough?!

I have my two boars in a 3x4 cage and they still squabble a bit, but they love each other anyways lol. I wouldn't go any smaller for my two boys, eventually one takes more of a liking to a hidey house, and the squabbling begins in my cage lol.
 

sugarandspice

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Re: 2x3 big enough?!

Did you try to introduce 3 boars in a 2x3? Sorry for asking questions!
 

sugarandspice

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Re: 2x3 big enough?!

Actually, by reading your last thread, like @foggycreekcavy said, I don't think you should have separated them. The same thing happened to me when I introduced both my pigs, and it all eventually cleared. It is always stressful on all the pigs when there is a new addition. Seeing as you already got the spayed sow, I guess it is a bit too late, but as long as he has a buddy.

sorry for bombarding this discussion. Haha.
 

GPlove94

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Re: 2x3 big enough?!

[MENTION=29318]sugarandspice[/MENTION] yeah it was just getting really bad between all 3 of them. currently I have a 3x4 that is split in half into two 2x3 cages so 2 boars on one side and the bullied boar and the sow on the other. In my tiny apartment a 3x4 is all I can fit until we get a bigger place. My one bedroom apt. is basically like a studio. I loved my pigs enough to give them basically half of my living/dining room for their 3x4 believe me if I could give them bigger space I would. I am moving out in January or May soon two a two bedroom townhome.
 

RubyRain

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Re: 2x3 big enough?!

@sugarandspice yeah it was just getting really bad between all 3 of them. currently I have a 3x4 that is split in half into two 2x3 cages so 2 boars on one side and the bullied boar and the sow on the other. In my tiny apartment a 3x4 is all I can fit until we get a bigger place. My one bedroom apt. is basically like a studio. I loved my pigs enough to give them basically half of my living/dining room for their 3x4 believe me if I could give them bigger space I would. I am moving out in January or May soon two a two bedroom townhome.

What about a stacked 2x4? It would take up less space than your 3x4 now.
 

GPlove94

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Re: 2x3 big enough?!

I'll try that the bottom 2x4 would fit but the top 2x4 is too wide because of the tv. [MENTION=29318]sugarandspice[/MENTION]
 

GPlove94

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Re: 2x3 big enough?!

[MENTION=29318]sugarandspice[/MENTION] I could prob do stacked 3x3 cages :D
 

foggycreekcavy

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I merged your two threads together, to put all the info in one thread to make it easier for people to help out.

Whatever you do, I definitely would not keep the cages side by side. The pair of males may start fighting with each other because of the female in the next cage.
 

GPlove94

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Yup I was going to stacked 3x3 cages. [MENTION=13918]foggycreekcavy[/MENTION]
 
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