guinea pig compatability.

[nonomaybe]

My granddaughter has just obtained a second guinea pig to keep her original pet company. They are reputedly both female but the new arrival seems to be spasmodically aggressive, a chase round the pen(a metre square) and then peace for a while until the new arrival sidles up to the original, lunges, a swift chase and then peace again . The thought is that this may be the way to establish the "pecking" order but if so for how long will this go on as we are now in the sixth day of squealing and rushing around the cage.I think that they are different types as one, the latest arrival is larger and has smooth hair whilst the other has the "untidy" fur. Could they be incompatible???

Does anyone out there have the answer???

[garner]

I'm afraid it sounds to me like male/female ,pet shops don't always get it right in fact more often they are wrong.You will soon find out .They usually get on well as they are happy in pairs,groups ect.Good luck and get ready for a seperation cage lol.

[nonomaybe]

Thanks garner for your reply which coincides with my instinctive thought and if you are correct how long is the gestation period and as important, is it just a question of looking to determine the gender or something more complex that seems to fool the providers of guinea pigs??

[bensmum]

If they are both adult then it could be two females - they will sometimes try to get the pecking order sorted and may appear to fight. Of course it could the newcomer could be a male - if they are young it's sometimes difficult to tell. The gestation period for a guinea pig is longer than most small animals (62-65 days) as the babies are born with open eyes and running around (they are gorgeous - real mini pigs!)
This site gives info on how to sex a guinea pig
http://www.coldal.org/guineapigs.html

[Coppertop84]

I remember in 2003 when I got two female guinea pigs. The one day I came home from work and one of them had given birth to 3 babies - I never knew she was pregnant as she was pregnant from the shop as they were definitely both female. It was a nice surprise though, they were all gorgeous, so tiny, about 2-3 inches long when newborn. So cute. If they do have babies you will love them! We kept one and had to take two back to the shop because we did not have enough space for 5 of them. They all lived long happy lives till 2008 when they were all over 5 years old and died of old age.

Guinea pigs are lovely and make great pets.

I hope your two little piggies get along, could they just be playing? Getting to know each other? Or as garner says they could be getting to know each other a lot, lol.

Good luck with the little cuties! x