Behavior Mario and Yoshi have been separated :(

[lisa325]

I'm gutted!! Mario and Yoshi have been having dominance issues all week, now that Yoshi has hit the 6 month mark I guess he has decided he doesn't want to be the submissive pig any more. It started earlier in the week with some rumbling ( nothing unusual), then chasing, then hair pulling. This morning they squared off against each other, rumbling and staring each other down. Luckily, my mom was right there and she saw the hackles rise on both their backs while they were starting at each other. She said "They're gonna fight". No sooner had she said the words, they went for it, it was fast and it was stopped fast without any bloodshed, but they meant business. Mom happened to be holding a cuddle cup and she swiped them both, which sent them scattering into their tunnels, were we able to swoop them up out of harms way.

I've had to rig up a makeshift enclosure for Yoshi with linoleum, fleece liners and coroplast sides. It's roomy, and will work well until I get the new midwest cage I've had to order. I feel so bad, they were so content in their C&C cage together but I can't risk this happening again. They have always spent most of their day outside of their cage, and were really enjoying the freedom to run around on the back porch when weather permitted, but now I've had to separate the upstairs hallway into 2 sections. They can still see each other through the cubes, but they're still going over to the bars and rumbling at each other, so I know it was right to separate. They used to have 3 roomy places were they would alternate play time, now unfortunately, they're gonna be stick with just one.

When I look at their space and the space the girls have downstairs to play in, it makes me sad, but as mom said, "It could be much worse, one of them could have been killed and anyway, the hallway is a good space for them to play in".

Boys area

Girls area.......Sighhhh!!

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

OH NO!!!!! I can't believe it!!

I really hope things change down the road and they can be reintroduced!

 

[lisa325]

Ummmm.......I dunno Papa, it was pretty scary, if mom hadn't been there, who knows what could have happened, I was useless, I froze. I think once they've actually fought like that, it's not a good idea to try re-introducing them again. I may stand corrected, I mean, I would love if they could be together again, but for now, they can speak through the bars if they want to. They were still rumbling at each other earlier, but they've settled down now.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Ummmm.......I dunno Papa, it was pretty scary, if mom hadn't been there, who knows what could have happened, I was useless, I froze. I think once they've actually fought like that, it's not a good idea to try re-introducing them again. I may stand corrected, I mean, I would love if they could be together again, but for now, they can speak through the bars if they want to. They were still rumbling at each other earlier, but they've settled down now.

I can tell you that in the entire time Pooper and Sly were together (about 5.5 years) they had a couple of furball fights. No one was actually bloody, but they stood on their hind legs, lunged at each other, teeth snapping and the whole ball of fur bit. They were separated for a brief period to cool off, but got back together and lived pretty peacefully. That happened two or three times while they were together, but we always managed to have them cohabitate peacefully. I don't know if that's the norm of if mine were the exception, but that's what we experienced.

 

[lisa325]

WOW!!! That would be amazing if we could have that happen here, I have no idea how long of a cooling off period it would have to be, or if it would even work, but if it were possible.........

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

What we did with Poopy and Sly, was if they fought like that they were usually separated for the remainder of the day. A divider (just extra grids) was put in the cage, so they could still see, talk to and smell each other. Usually by morning, they were ok to be with one another again. Sometimes not, but usually. Sometimes it took a day or two, but they always got back together. As I've said in the past, they were never bosom buddies or the best of friends, but for the most part cohabitated peacefully.

Take that as you will, as everyones pigs are different. I don't know if that's normal or even a normal way to deal with it, but it worked for us.

 

[lisa325]

Well I certainly appreciate your input and you sharing your experience . I think I just may have 2 dominant piggies, we shall see.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Well I certainly appreciate your input and you sharing your experience . I think I just may have 2 dominant piggies, we shall see.

I really hope it works out! Yoshi needs a buddy and Mario has been through enough.....