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Post by amy on Apr 8, 2012 10:08:40 GMT
Hi All,
My name is Amy, i have 7 guinea pigs (all males). My oldest two Eugine and Jeremy have been living together for over 1 year. I then have 3, Lewis, Charlie and Malcolm that are brothers and have been together for about 7months and recently bought two babies Stanley and George.
My little charlie has been having some problems with his health. Within the first two weeks of buying him he had a nasty cold and the Vet has had us re-visit every 7weeks. She thinks he was born in a poor environment what meant his immune system never built up like it should have. Poor little guy :-( His on antibiotics to help him kick this bug.
The problem i am having and i hope someone can help, Lewis has become very dominant and is always going for charlie. Yesterday all i heard was teeth chattering and charging...i didn't brake them up as there was no fighting...until late yesterday. They had a full on fight so i split them....tried to re-introduce today on neutral grounds but they just went for each-other again. I am lost with what to do..Charlie is now on his own in the play pen, i do keep putting Malcolm in to keep in company but this cant go on. Any help would be much appreciated. They have lived to gether for 8months fine but all of the sudden they are fighting.
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Post by Alice Rose on Apr 8, 2012 11:23:44 GMT
I've had to split some of mine up due to fighting =( they were 6 months old, this is usually because of hormones etc and them wanting to have their own territory. Mine are in their separate cage but next to each other, but that's about all I can do, if they don't get along then there isn't really much we can do unfortunately =/
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 8, 2012 13:34:57 GMT
Welcome to the forum
It seems to be the time for boars to either make it or break it. I myself had to split a pair up this morning, the two boars have been togeather for 6 months plus with no problems. It then turned out a full on fight happened. They have been seperated and thats them.
With regards to your boars, its very difficult but not impossible to house more than 2 boars togeather. I never house boars in more than 2 as i like them to stay paired if possible.
If they have fought and as you say charging and serious chattered has occured i wouldnt risk putting them togeather again.
Boars will be boars and this means they wont always get along. You can try housing them next to eachother but i personally wouldnt risk introducing as they can cause serious harm to eachother.
Best of luck with your boars.
Kayleigh
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Post by amy on Apr 8, 2012 17:11:34 GMT
Hi All,
Thanks for the feed back...
I was thinking maybe i should get a baby boar and put him with Charlie? Is is normally easy to introduce young guinea pigs to older guinea pigs? I am very concerned about having him live by himself, worried he will get down so really keen to get him a companion. I was actually thinking that it could be because Charlie is poorly at the moment...he has been on antibiotics for a week...do you think the other pigs are picking up on a weakness?
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 8, 2012 17:44:35 GMT
Guinea pigs do pick up on weakness yes, its natures way of pushing out the ill ect. It can be easier to introduce young pups to adults BUT after 6 months you may have the same problem occur, the youngster may challenge the older boar and then a fight could break out.
Pigs can live alone very happily, if you house them near eachother they can still smell, see and touch eachother through cages. But each will have their own space.
Best of luck
Kayleigh
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Post by amy on Apr 9, 2012 15:28:57 GMT
Hi,
Well i tried something today and it seems to have worked.....I bathed my three pigs together who were fighting. Normally i blow dry them whilst the have the freedom but instead i kept them together in the box so they were next to each other (made sure the two who had the fight were next to each other) I then put them on fresh towels together with some hay and veg whilst i completely cleaned out their cage. I washed the food bowls and the hut they sleep in and dis-infected everything to get rid of any smell. The pigs were actually grooming each other on the towel whilst i was doing this what was i good sign. I then put everything back into the cage in different places so it doesn't look the same as before and put them all in together. So far so good. Little bit of head raising but nothing to worrying at the moment as know this is normal. They seem OK...hoping this has worked. I will monitor them but it seems the bath has bonded them together again. As said will monitor them but them seem OK. Sitting with each other at the moment so fingers crossed :-) thank you for your help!!!
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Post by fudgeandsmudge on Apr 9, 2012 15:57:19 GMT
Oooh i do hope that works for you. I have 3 baby boys who i had to move from their mum and i'm hoping they all grow up nicely together. But i do worry about when they get older. they are 6 weeks at the moment and they do alot of rumbling to show who's boss and they all have their own sleeping house as they all seem to like their own space. They don't snuggle together but are all happy together eating so i'm hoping they will be ok.
I'm just gonna make the cage as big as i can so they have lots of space. If needs be i can insert a couple of grids to seperate but keep them close if i have to.
Keep us posted how they get on!
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 9, 2012 17:35:46 GMT
Best of luck. It may work for a while but be prepared to seperate if a fight breaks out. It sounds like you have done everything right. Just need to see if the boars will play ball.
Kayleigh
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Post by amy on Apr 9, 2012 20:17:48 GMT
Wish you luck on you three babies!! :-) Let me know how they get on!! unfortunately they started to bicker...i heard a big bang so went to see what was going on and notice Lewis has a little cut under his eye. I have removed Charlie and put him in a new cage of his own. Washed Lewis eye with some warm water and given him lots of veg treats. Shame it hasn't worked out with them but i am happy that they are not able to hurt each other. Will maybe see in the future about getting Charlie a friend.
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Post by fudgeandsmudge on Apr 9, 2012 20:26:04 GMT
Oh that's a shame it didn't work out, but at least they will be happy hearing and smelling each other. Some piggies just like being on their own! One of the baby boys i have is quite a moody quiet one and i'm sure he'll be the one who gives me trouble later!! Will keep you posted.
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Post by amy on Apr 9, 2012 20:49:21 GMT
Yeah I will see how he gets on...just think he doesnt like to be bossed around hehe. yeah let me know how they work out together, will be really interested to hear :-)
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