Behavior My guinea was instantly happier alone?

[Ozzy7]

Hello, I am new to this forum so I will give a history of my situation with the eldest piggy Ozzy. Sorry for the length! A few months ago I got Ozzy and his male cage mate from an online seller. I took them in and slowly reintroduced them to their new home and built a new c&c cage 3x5 with a second level above. The end of the cage is open so they have free range the floor with toys and tunnels.

During the first week these two piggies did their whole dominance dances and I watched them and let it go. As time passed it got worse instead of better. They rumblestrutted every chance they got and would seek each other out to fight. I had never seen such wanted aggression before. After two weeks of trying to bond them without separating, they got into a nasty fight of bitten ears, lips, and poor Ozzy got his eye scratched and shut. Hes been on eye drops for 2 weeks which healed good thankfully but it gave me a scare.

In the meantime, I gave the other piggy back to its previous owner because I give my piggies free range and cant exactly separate them. I dont have much room unless one cage is blocked since its beside my bed right now.

For the past 2 weeks Ozzy and I bonded considering I had to give him eye drops three times a day. We got into a routine where I would wake up in the morning and reach my hand down and he would run up and give me kisses and nibbles. He would run around the cage popcorning and squeaking then run to the door waiting for me to open it. He would run down the hallway to the kitchen and I would open the fridge and give him his morning veggies. Then as I got ready for work he would follow me around and lay in the hallway and watch me. He would lick my toes and put his paws up on my leg and stand on his back legs so I would sit down and he could crawl on me and give me kisses and nibbles. It felt like having a dog to be honest haha.

I made him toys to play with while I was gone at work and left some guinea tunes on low volume- but I felt guilty he was alone all day. When I came home he would always be hiding and I thought he might need a friend so I decided to get a baby male and start fresh. The introductions went great and the baby was submissive to him. They ate together and even went under the snuggie together the first night which is bold for Ozzy!

After the first day it all went downhill and Ozzy began doing the same thing he did to the last Piggy. He began rumblestrutting all day and I never saw him running around, squeaking, or popcorning anymore. He began searching for Joey (the baby) just to chase him and nip him into hiding. I let it go and let him do his dominance thing even though the baby was squealing and running around but there is no blood. It is now turned into bullying as Ozzy purposely will seek Joey out just to nip him and chase him into hiding and then sit in the middle of the cage starring so if Joey tries to come out he growls. Joey turns right back around and goes back in. He will run out to grab food and water but when Ozzy sees him, Joey runs back to the snuggie and wont come out for hours. Ozzy wants nothing to do with me now and when I tried to pet him he growled at me too which never happened before.

The only time Joey comes out now is if I'm around or pick him up to cuddle. I put little Joey on the top level for tonight because Ozzy refuses to use the ramps so I know he won't go up and find him.

Ever since Joey has miraculously disappeared from sight- Ozzy went right back to normal! After rumbling around and trying to find Joey for half an hour around the room, Ozzy began popcorning and running again. He started sqeaking and jumping in his hay and munching out. He started doing the same exercise routine he did before and even ran up to my bed to give me kisses and nibbles again tonight- which I missed to be honest! Joey is still up top and is happily eating hay and snuggling under the blankets up there. Ozzy is squeaking again but when he comes across one of Joey's poops he growls and goes low and stealth trying to find him. Then when he cant hes happy again running around.

Since Joe is only 5 weeks old I don't want him to spend his days being prowled on and bullied by Ozzy. I feel bad for the little guy but I love them both. I'm not sure what to do at this point because I don't have room to build another cage- nor do I want to because ozzy is used to being free range. Due to all the vet bills I cant really afford a whole new setup right now.

Should I get rid of the baby and continue letting Ozzy be his happy lone self with me? The issue is after work I feel obligated to spend the whole evening with him which leaves me no time for me- this is why I got him a friend in the first place. Or should I part with Ozzy and have two baby males and start fresh? After all I've been through with Ozzy the past few months I would feel so guilty doing that. I'm stuck due to his overly dominant aggressive personality toward other piggys... Id love to hear opinions since I'm torn- thank you!

 

[spy9doc]

This is a tough one. Considering how you and Ozzy have bonded and the fact that he has a delightful personality other than being a bully, I can't see getting rid of him. You don't say how large the loft is, but it seems as though you could make it a 2x5 and remove the ramp which would give Joey plenty of room. I understand that this defeats the purpose of getting Ozzy a cagemate, but it may be the most simple solution.

I would also consider having Ozzy neutered which will remove some of his aggression. Neutering is very safe when done by a competent cavy-savvy Vet. Another solution might be to rehome Joey and try to find a spayed female for Ozzy. They are not easy to find, but some rescues neuter/spay their animals and might be a resource. Or, you can have Ozzy neutered and if the situation with Joey doesn't change, then rehome Joey and resume your search for a female........spayed or intact. A neutered male/intact female can be a really lovely combination. It certainly worked well for me.

 

[Ozzy7]

Thank you for your insight. I will give it a couple more days and see if Ozzy calms down but if not then I might let Joey go to a happier home and look at my other options. Unfortunately I cant afford too much more right now because I've spent 1k with the vet for both piggies before getting Joey, re doing the cage to upgrade, buying double everything since the previous owner had a tiny cage with 1 of everything in it for both boys. And I gave her back her cage with half the stuff so i bought all new items for Joey when I bought him. I'm hoping he will be okay alone again for a couple weeks until i can manage to find a female for him. I looked at the shelters nearby and they only have males right now unfortunately and only sell in pairs so one isnt alone.

 

[bpatters]

Most rescues will let you have a single pig if you have a lone pig at home, so be sure to clarify that policy. They undoubtedly wouldn't let you have just one if you didn't already have another, but since you do, they probably will.