What a pair of pigs

[Guineapigdrama]

Shamelessly posting here with misleading title for traffic 🤣
I have two guinea pigs, horrendously spoilt things. Recently purchased them a new house (see image when uploaded) hence spoiled.

Now, one of them will not let the other into the bed area, chases him out. There's two beds in that area, completely separate and the same. So the ousted one sits in the other area all the time.

What do I do? Shut them both out of the bed so it's can't be hogged by one of them all day (pun intended)?

Or shut them both in at night and let them get on with it? I shut them in together for an hour yesterday and they were fine, no issues.

Going out of my mind with trying to please these two animals 🤣🤣

If they’re both males, they will always fight. 🤷‍♀️

If the meek on will use a ramp can you move the ramp to the second floor so that it comes out of the area he can use. Like a spiral staircase? I admit I may be getting silly here but it kind of makes sense in my mind.

My daughter sits in there and feeds them 😊 but I'm not posting her image!

For those querying the size

That could work...actually I could cut through from the top level on his 'shelf' to the shelf on the bed side so he has the top level to himself as well as being able to come down into the main area. Hmm a thought!

Are you sure? How long have you had them? Only ask because you wouldn't believe how many people think they bought two males or two females, only to find out a couple of months later that they didn't. Not always easy to 'sex' a young piggie. Me and DDs all volunteered for a local rescue. We personally have had 22 piggies over the years, currently on numbers 21 and 22. Don't worry about the gender non conforming name, we've had a girl called Gary 😂.
But if you definitely do have two males, I recommend as PPs said, separate houses with a hareem of females each. But then, that's probably how we've ended up on numbers 21 and 22 🤔.
This is our current pair (the one who looks a wig is the terror).

I’m not an animal person really well dogs just about but I’m amazed at that house and how cute those pigs are! And the cam is fantastic definitely following this thread

The tiara ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Bloody love a guinea pig. We have two girls. Initially one of them was very obviously a knobber, now they take turns. I am their willing slave.

I would recommend a few different hides, OP - they don't all have to be houses. At any given time for our two girls we'll have a couple of big tubes, and at least one willow hide, plus lots of very deep hay which they often prefer to burrow into. You just need to make sure that they've always got somewhere else to run to if the other one suddenly gets in their face and starts giving it large portions with the rumblestrutting. Make sure you feed them at separate ends and accept that each will always run to the other's food despite them both having the same thing.

I was always a dog person but trust me, the guinea pig punches well above its weight in the pet stakes.

Ah, right, so that outdoor cage - do they only have access to the inside, enclosed area at night?
Because if so, that isn't big enough (even if you're letting them access to the other side in the day). Two males need about 10 but ideally 12 square foot of space. And most piggies are crepuscular, so they need space at dawn and dusk as well as during the day. Some (my current two included) can be very active at night as well and would need space all of the time, not just in the day.

Hmm, DD1 is a Glinda and Elphaba fan, can you tell? 😂

Piggies are total bullies, it’s a pack thing! I had three (one was always left outside) so I got a fourth….then a fifth….to try and remedy the problem. At one point (when I had 4) I had three bedding areas hoping that the bullied one would at least be inside, and I found the other three separately occupying each one and poor Sootie was out on her own again. We tried separating them and bringing her inside but realised she was happier at the bottom of the pack than just with me. I don’t think your second piggie will mind being outside of the lovely bedding area, just put all the veggies outside too so they get first pick of the good bits!

@Judashascomeintosomemoney

I'd never heard the word crepuscular in my life. Just had to Google it.
That's really interesting.

I had guinea pigs for years. My last ones were Henry and Rose. They were from different animal shelters, so hadn't grown up together. Henry was a big white pink-eyed boofhead while Rosie was a little patched girl with a rosette on her head. Both were desexed but Henry fell completely in love with Rosie when she arrived, a few months after I got him. He purred and vibrated ecstatically for hours. Rosie was definitely the boss: if he got on her nerves, especially when he started purring amorously, she would give him a swift bite to calm him down.

At one point, she threw him out of the sleeping tub. I set up another but no, he insisted on lying right near the door of Rosie's bedroom. Sometimes she would let him in, other times she chased him out with an indignant shriek.

When Henry died, I thought about getting her a companion and tried her with first one and then another guinea pig from friends who were looking to rehome their piggie. She was NOT happy with either of them, was definitely not nice to them at all, and seemed to be stressed so I gave them back to their owners and watched to see if she was lonely. But she seemed very contented and lived another 3 years. She became a very elderly old piggie, shuffling arthritically down her ramp to eat grass and treats. Right to the end, she still squeaked energetically, albeit croakily, whenever she heard a plastic bag rustle.

They're so utterly adorable, guinea pigs.

They're gorgeous. We got them from a rescue when they were 3/4 months old, they said they were male.

Great ideas thank you. We scatter feed them anyway, I think it offers more enrichment but they do not fight over feed, they happily stand together and eats it's literally just theirs bed area issue.

No...they have the entirety of the 8x4ft area all day and night. As well as the higher level shelf. I am aware they are up and about all night as I'm up watching them on the camera lol 🤣

The grass run is an additional run we put them in. I can assure you they have ample space.

We had to abandon the scatter feeding because that just meant that Guinea Pig A got all the food and Guinea Pig B sat in the corner looking hard done by, but I absolutely agree it's the best way if it's possible. Yours look very well cared for 😍

I have always heard that if they are arguing you should make sure there are 2 exits from every shelter, including the whole sleeping area. So they don't feel or get trapped by the other. Could you cut another entrance? It's a tall cage, I can't quite see if there are ramps and a second floor. If so you could add a second floor entrance. Also perhaps add another house so all the floor inside is filled by houses, more choice = less arguing. They will feel safer in a cosy house, and can also stand on the roofs when they feel adventurous. Try it out with a cardboard box, upside down with doors cut in to see if it makes a difference. I started off with cardboard boxes and the piggies like them so much I have never bothered to get wooden houses (they are inside though so less problem of damp)

Nothing useful to add but cute piggies. I used to have 4. They are very lucky piggies indeed to have such a lovely piggie parent.

The best thing about a guinea pig is when you tuck one under your chin and they give you a little nibble.

I want Guinea Pigs now.♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Are they very smelly? My kids had pet guinea pigs at their preschool years ago and they really ponged, as cute as they were to feed it was quite overwhelming.

Don’t have experience with guinea pigs but wondering how big their new home is? I know from other rodents I’ve had (rats, rabbits, gerbils) that a home too small can cause them to be more territorial and lead to fights so just curious if this could be the case. With the animals I’ve had it was always suggested to have houses with two entrances so that one could never back the other into a corner and attack (this was particularly prominent with gerbils who could turn relatively easily and kill one another! Not sure piggies go that far though thank god!).

Guinea pig pages on Facebook might be helpful, there’s lots of knowledgeable folk on there. I learnt SO much from them, plus got money saving/enrichment ideas which the animals loved, and so did my wallet 😂