Ok so got my boys a couple of weeks ago and they are settling in nicely but in the last few days they have started to squeal and fight - the larger one seems less dominant and i had a look at him half an hour ago and hes got a nasty scratch which hurts him ( i stroked him there and he squealed ).
I thought that boars didn't start their teenage stage for a little while yet - they are both still very young ( littermates ). Will i have to separate them? I am worried that if i do they will be lonely as i would put the cages side by side but i dont have the room so i would have to put them on top of each other.
They are indoor boys and they have a pretty big indoor single story cage - help and advice gratefully recieved as i haven't a clue what to do!
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Small pets
10 week old guinea pigs fighting - help!?
rosieposey · 15/07/2014 11:02
They can start getting narky about 10-12 weeks for sure (it was at 12 weeks that our GP3 started dominance bonking the older pig)
Do they have enough hidey spaces (one each + a spare) cut 2 doors in each one. Boxes full of hay are a good 'Boredom Breaker' .
Do they go out in the run, sometimes a change of scenery helps them.
Enough room between their bowls and water bottle (ideally two of each but that's not feasible in most cages)
If they do get narky, that's a par-for-the-course part of growing up. Keep an eye on the one who's been injured, bathe the area in warm lightly salted water.
You could get a plant sprayer and if you catch them about to start, give a little squoosh of water (avoid their faces/eyes/ears though)
We usually shout "Oi" at them.
There are some good websites that give you the rundown of boar behaviour from snipey to full on boar aggression.
(The first winter I got GP1 and GP2 , I side-by-sided them at night in winter but they went out to the Pighouse by day. They had enough room to chill out. The next winter, I stuffed two boxes with hay, put a cover on the cage and made sure they had plenty of food. They were much much better)
So, give them as much room as you can. Enough boar spaces. Enough to occupy them.
When GP3 grew up, he subtly overtook GP1 as Alpha Boar. There was a bit of rumbling and yes, he did try to bonk him (GP1 was 
).
They rarely sat together, but they were 'there' for each other.
70 thank you 
some great advice there. I will try out a few of your ideas - atm they have a cardboard tunnel and a wooden stick house as hidey places but their cage did come with an attachment to make another hidey type place too - i took it out so they would have more room but i will put it back in so they have a hidey place plus a spare.
We let them out for a couple of hours a day on the living room floor ( they have their own picnic style blanket for running around and pooing on ) but i have yet to get an outside run - its on the list but it'll probably be a couple of weeks before i get one. Meanwhile i will keep a close eye on things and the injured one - he seems fine i just dont want him to get an infection or anything.
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