"Brad" <BradleyWold@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:28482-47F26974-212@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> There is also another say "two is company, three is a crowd". I say
> that because I have 7 GP's and one of them has decided that 'Higgins' he
> will never get along with anybody. A year and half ago, he started this
> behavior, chattering of teeth, etc. with two other males that housed
> with them at the time. These guinea pigs 'Cinnamon and Cap' were
> brothers, and about a year and half younger. The honeymoon of housing
> them together ended when they started fighting and biting each other and
> me. I thought that I could get them back together too. But it was hard
> to admit to myself that this was not going to happen. Now I got two
> more about a month ago, a brother and sister.Scooter and Skeeter, born
> last Christmas Eve. I house them with the brothers now, and Skeeter,
> with their sister, Cimba, and another female GP, Peanut Butter. Now I
> am starting to see some behavior with them with territorial, and food
> issues. So now I am struggling in what I can do, if the problem gets
> worse. I want to keep them together, cause I have a housing shortage
> also.
>
> So Megan, I would keep them apart, and surcome to the realization that
> these guys want their own living space. It really does not help keeping
> GP with age difference, together too long. Sorry to say.
>
Sadly, males who were not raised together getting along in the same cage
is
the exception rather than the rule. Even males raised together can grow
into
conflict situations, particularly if females are present or near enough
that
the males can smell them. In the wild, GPs live in extended family
groups.
Becuase there is no confining cage, males can maintain a distance from
each
other and even freely leave the group. When we domesticate an animal, we
cannot really expect it to change its genetically based behavior patterns
and we often run into trouble. When we house an animal in domestication,
we
immediately alter the physical setting in which its social interactions
take
place and we need to recognize that fact in what animals we put together.
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