Behavior Should my boys be separated??

[kadege]

So there is a long backstory with my two guinea babies but I'll skip that for now unless one of you deems it necessary. The point right now is I've had my 2 boys living together in the biggest cage this site sells for a couple weeks now. They seemed to be getting along well, but I keep finding scabs on one of them (Peanut Butter) when I come home from work. The other one (Honey) had really long nails, so I thought maybe they weren't actually fighting, but he just was accidentally scratching him with his nails. But I've trimmed both their nails and PB has one of his worst scratches yet, on his poor little ear. But they seem to get along most of the time! They do have their disagreements, but it doesn't seem to be anything like when I first introduced them. And when I hold them both at the same time, PB squeaks and shakes and generally shows he's scared, but the minute I put Honey away, he's calm and lets me pet him and eats from my hands. So it seems like PB is scared of H, and with good reason!! BUT I have the "wall of silence" and I hadn't used it yet because they had seemed to be doing good, but tonight I put it in after the "I'm scared of Honey" situation, and they both HATED it and were chewing on the bars and trying to climb over as if they wanted to be together! So when I took it out, they started fighting (I say fighting, but they're mostly just chattering and trying to be taller than each other) again!

I am so lost and I don't know what to do. Please help!

 

[pigger123]

Don't separate them unless they draw blood. If you do separate them and then put them back together, you need to do a proper reintroduction in a neutral area, instead of just taking out the divider. They were probably upset about having the divider, but then when you suddenly took it out they had to reestablish dominance.

Sometimes trimming their nails actually makes them have a sharper edge, I would suggest filing their nails to avoid scratching.

 

[kadege]

The divider wasn't actually a divider though. It was only grid. They still saw each other, which is why they wanted to the other side so bad.

 

[kadege]

And technically they are drawing blood.... as I can tell from the scabs all over PB. But like I said, I don't know if it's accidental or not. .... the nail filing idea is a good one. I'll try that for sure!

 

[heather.megan]

That's the same thing with mine! They fight (lots of chattering and lunging at eachother) but then I put the grid divider in, they just lay there next to each other. I don't understand.