Male Guinea Pigs Fighting

[Amiee]

I rescued two male guinea pigs about 3 months ago. I was told they are both between 1-2 years old. I don't know if they are brothers. GP1 is large and laid back and the boss. GP2 is a runt and much faster and cheeky. They so far have got on great just a little bit of rumbling and chasing every now and then. Yesterday GP1 nipped GP2 on the bum sending him jumping into the air. I ran over and picked up GP2 to check he was okay, no marks that I could see. He let me pick him up (first time he hasn't objected) and did what I could only discribe as 'crying' in my arms for a few mins. When I put him back in he was very jumpy and scared. There has been no more bitting but a lot of rumbling and chasing. I have removed the igloos.
Any advice?
Is it no blood no problem?
I'm terrified I'll come down in the morning to a dead guinea.
They are in a 2 by 4 c and c.

Oooh , it's horrible when they scrap like this. (I had two brothers, 3yo and they had the odd snarley moments) I've now got an adult and a 10 week old boar.

Hopefully, it's just a one off bite- a 'Get out of my FACE ' type.
Have they always been together?. (Littermates are best bet but father/son can bond or two males not related can be harmonious if it's a 'right' match)

YY to removing the igloos for the time being, you don't want one trapped. But can you give them a box with the front cut out of two large 'doors' cut out? They feel vunerable with nothing to hide in.

Lots of distraction- food , hay .
Are they indoor hogs? You can use your voice or a water spray to distract them if they look like they are starting something.

The crying was probably shock. (One of my GPs jumped out of my arms a while ago and made a weird whistly noise. like a cry)

WRT size of cage. 4'x2' I'd say isn't big enough for two adult boars. They need space , as much as you can give. With the C&C you can customise it, so there's potential to make it bigger.

Google GP boar behaviour . There's a list of boar behaviour that they go through (it describes the escalation. I'll try and find it)

Ours did the 'heads up' (where they face-to-face and each one lifts their head higher and higher)
On one occasion GP2 bit GP1 on the back (no blood) so we put a divide in their cage (which is a 4'x2' and they really didn't like it) but they only slept in it for winter night time.

GP1 was chasing GP2 round in the springtime, going for his rump, but there was no nastiness, just noise.

If they have room to escape each other they'll usually sit apart. Give them a big pile of hay each.

Hopefully it's a one off blow, but look at the Boar behaviour and if you need to as a last resort, you can adapt your cage to 2 seperate.

Male GPs can fight to bloodshed but usually one will be the submissive one- you need to watch they get their fair share of food, peace and quiet.

Keep us posted on their progress.

When we divided the nightcage, they'd had a massive scrap after too much coriander (some herbs are GP 'crack cocaine' ) but they were together during the day in their Pighouse.They could still see /smell/touch each other but they were in the dining room and I was on tenterhooks every noise they made.
Outside they probably still had their grumbles but they could flounce.

Last winter I thought "all or nothing" and put them in the cage undivided but full of hay, quiet room and a duvet on top.
They were fine but really don't like the confines.

This winter I'll have my GP1 and my little boy -who will be six months by then- so I'm going to have to monitor them.

My adults liked to have a box of hay each in the indoor cage .

I don't know if they've always been together. They were neglected and abandoned to I don't know thier history but GP1 had very chewed ears so he has obviously been in a few scraps before they were rescued.
I have given them a tunnel and a tent so they each have a safe place.
They are in the Living room so I can keep an eye on behaviour. I have a water bottle ready on your advice.
They are still rumbling but no real problems so far tonight. I've put in some new toys for distraction.
I'm going to add some grids to make it a 4 by 3 do you think that's enough?

Poor GP1 with his raggety little ears

Cavy cages suggests 10.5 sq feet (so your 3'x4' would give you 50% more hog space than you've got now. They'll have loads more escape space potential)

My boars tend to stash themselves away in their haybox - it's covered- but they do mosey round all the little hidey spaces (and I can tell who's been where by the big/little droppings )

Rumbling is pretty standard boar behaviour TBH. Our GP1 rumblestruts and does a little 'ticking' noise (not tooth grinding exactly, more cha cha cha )
GP3 is totally oblivious that his pigletty behaviour can be a bit OTT sometimes though
Is the hot claggy weather making them a bit disgruntled as well?
Lots of refreshing guinea food- cucumber, melon. Bonding over food.

miemohrs our little GP3 piglet has been trying it on with GP1 (ie trying to mount him)
GP1 isn't pleased (understatement) and gives him short shrift (head jerk) and walks away.
GP3 better get it out of his system (or buy some glasses and a biology book) before he gets older.

Think of the floor space you'd to house that many. Plus what if the girls had problems giving birth (I hear its fairly common) you'd feel guilty. cute tiny little GP babies would be soo cute aahhhh

Takes miemohrs firmly by the scruff of the neck hand and sits her down for a 'chat'

If the girlies are over a year old, having piglets could kill them.

You could neuter your boars (££) and when they are Jaffa (seedless) put them with the sows. But you'd need to keep them away from th girls until then. Two boars will fight near sows.

When I got my little boy from Rescue, the Rescuer had collected over 20 boars to rehome.
I took one.
I could only take one.
How it feels to know that , even though we love and will cherish GP3, there were hundreds of piggies out there waiting.

You don't really want to swell the numbers of guineas in the world do you?

Two boar/sow pairs (if you neuter your boars) sounds lovely but very hard work. Four GPs to cuddle . (I used to have two sets of mum/daughter, The Himalayans hated the black/whites so we daren't let them get together)
How many laps in your house

And cute as they are, baby piglets are like tiny Kamakazi bungee jumpers. With little Freddie Kruger style claws.

There. You feel better now, don't cha?

You could still get your sows though.
If you have your boys neutered and the sows owners can keep them until your boys are safe? Then you can match a boar- sow and have your two pairs.

Neutering a boar doesn't stop him thinking like a boar though.
If I'd have had GP1 neutered , then I'd have got a couple of girlies for GP1 to side-by-side with until he was okay. (Once he was over the physical side of the operation).
But two boars would squabble near sows and being snipped wouldn't change their ways.

My DD refused to let her boy go 'under the knife' so we got the pigling boar.
He's very sweet, but sometimes there's nothing to beat a cuddle from a huge, lardy, stinky boar.
And neither of them will curl up at my neck in a little croissant shape like my little GP2 did

My two just hump the living daylights out of each other :( but they cuddle and share food happily and go mad if they get out of sight of each other so I've just accustomed myself to the idea that they love each other but need to hump. I hope as time goes by they'll mellow a little. Guineapiglynx has great info about boar pair behaviour, read the boars behaving badly and I hope it puts your mind at rest.