friend or foe?

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I have 4 guinea pigs, all male. 2 are 4 months old and the other 2 are 2 months old. One of the older ones has started chasing the other older one around and pulling it's fur out when it catches him, the squeals sound awful but there is no blood shed. I feel I should seperate them but do I keep the 2 older ones together and hope the younger ones are the cause of this fighting or put one of the younger ones with one othe older ones in 2 seperate hutches? The GP that is having its fur pulled mainly now sits at the top of the stairs in the hutch in one place, although he is still eating. Please help!

ANSWER: Hi Clare

I have experience of this, and 4 males together is almost imossible to achieve.

There are no set rules as to what to do. Depending on the characters and tempraments of the 4 pigs you should be able to pair them off.

The most likely option is to keep the two older ones in one hutch and the other two in another hutch as the introduction of 2 new males has tarnished the older pigs relations with each other.

At the end of the day it is trial and error. Ideally, you will have 2 pairs with each pair having a placid pig and a more dominant pig as a placid pig will accept the other being the boss.

I hope that makes sense, but please write back if you need further advice.

andy

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QUESTION: Hi, I think I added what I wanted to be a follow up question to the comments section of the feed back, what an idiot I am! I am hoping you still have the response and that you can reply via this way? Thanks for your time..Clare

Answer
Hi Claire

Yes, i managed to find your other question.

As I say, pairing them off together is ideal and pets at home have given good advice I think.

I know what you mean about disruptive pigs.

3 males in one hutch is hard to achieve but if you manage it then fine. You should thoroughly clean the hutch to get rid of the scent of the other two also.

Andy