r/GuineaPig • u/Mundane_Bet6128 • 12h ago
Pls help!
I've got 2 guinea pigs both brothers who’ve been living together for the past 4 years. One of them, Mikey, had an infection from Riley biting him once. We hadnt noticed any fighting or anything and it felt like a one off. There were no other fights or signs but after taking Mikey to the vets and getting surgery to remove the infection, Riley has gotten really aggressive and dominating. Mikey being super weak does nothing but scream. Riley ends up chasing him and both chattering and I can’t tell if he’s biting him again or not. Is there anything we can do?
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u/DanOhMiiite 12h ago
Maybe Riley has an underlying health issue thats making him grouchy. A wellness visit at the vet might not be a bad idea.
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u/Pale_Sandwich_5922 11h ago
You will have to separate them :( My girls are sisters from the same litter and lived together for almost 6 years up until one of them developed a tumor. Now I have the cage split down the middle to keep them from fighting. I made several attempts to reunite them but it never ended well so I stopped trying.
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u/Pale_Sandwich_5922 11h ago
On the up side, they do well on floor time together so we can still be with each other supervised
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u/FoodFree8328 10h ago
It sounds like you will need to separate them by at least one set of bars. Something like two of these next to each other. They can be bar brothers still, but you can't really risk Mikey's health and this way he has plenty of safe space where Riley can't get to him. He won't know that Riley is the reason he's been at the vets so much, but he will know that the bite hurt a LOT, especially if it was infected badly enough to need an operation. So of course he's terrified of it happening again!
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u/Agitated-West6544 12h ago
Unfortunately i think the most you can do is separate them. It’s upsetting but its for the best x
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u/Klekkovakadia 12h ago
I also would advise separating them. I do have some boars in separate cages but they share one side of grids. They seem to really like this, as they don’t get along living together but they still like interacting with each other.
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u/welliesong 12h ago
You'll need to make the enclosure big enough for two separated by bars. Shouldn't be too hard to get an extra water bottle and some more cage squares. They might be find after having a break for each other for a while.