My husband and I are first time guinea pig owners. We adopted our first guinea pig from another family a couple of months ago. He seemed bored, so I did some research and I found out that the best solution was to get another guinea pig. Which we did today. Now we introduced them, and I don't know what is going, but they really aren't getting along. Yes, they are both male. But it seems like he's trying to mate, so is it possible he's confusing him for a female? Also, he's very aggressive and his teeth are even chattering. Can anyone tell me if we made a mistake getting another guinea pig, and what we can do to solve this problem? Thank you so much !!!
Ash342009-10-23T20:51:53Z
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No you did not make a mistake by getting another guinea pig. He will love his companion eventually. But the mistake you did make was by putting them together right away. you have to do a split cage method. either by placing the new guinea pig in a separte cage next to your old guinea pigs cage, or you need to literally split one cage in half. that way, your old guinea pig can get the scent of your new one. once you do this, the old one should get used to the new one. Also, when you introduce them, make sure you take them to a neurtal location that neither has been to. when i introduced my new guinea to my two old guineas, I put them in the bath tube. that way they could smell each other and get used to each other and if the new one got scared or needed to run away, she could. Also, teeth chattering is very common when introducing guinea pigs. Even some pulling out each others hair is common. Its a sign of dominance. EVENTUALLY your guinea pigs will get along. Altho i have heard it takes a bit longer to introduce males than females. Everytime I introduced a guiena pig, I have used this method and its worked everytime. After a week I was able to unsplit my cage and all my guinea pigs were happy and have got along great ever since. like I said tho, males, i have heard, take a bit longer to introduce. i have only introduced girls. I hope this helps.
PS here is a website that i used when introducing my guineas. what to look for when things are getting to rough. http://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm the info that you are really looking for is a little farther than half way down the page. Good Luck! and don't worry, they should get along eventually, you just have to be patient.
The mounting is showing he is the boss of he cage, the teeth chatting on the other hand is not as good a sign and may turn into a problem, he is saying stay away form me.
Try the introductions in the bathroom for a small amount of time for the first day then increase it each day increasing it to several hours with shared food and water bowels. on the day you try to put them together in the cage again wash the cage out will with vinegar in water so it has a new smell and doesn't smell like any ones territory to protect.
Best Thing to do is to keep Them Seperated.Keep One in their Cage and put the other in another cage,Next to each other So They Can See eachother.It Is Best To Introduce 1-2 weeks.Males Can Be Aggressive,So This Process Would Talk a bit more time
Don't worry unless you see blood. Your first male is not sexually confused..that's what they do to another guinea pig to show dominance (dogs do the same). Teeth chattering is a not-so-good sign, but do not separate them unless you see blood! If you keep separating and reintroducing they will just have to go over everything all over again to re-establish dominance.
From what I have known to happen and in my experience as an owner...male guinea pigs do NOT get along with eachother. They try to dominate one another and this can result in one heck of a fighting match. Injuries could result. My advice, if you are able to, is to seperate them. It sounds like you introduced them too soon. When you get another guinea pig for one you alredy have, you should quarantine them for at least a week. Try 2 seperate cages side by side so they sniff and look at eachother. Than try to introduce them again. If it does not work, they will have to live side by side.