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Q & A / Dominance Fighting
« on: September 25, 2014, 03:19:11 PM »
My two boys have within the past few days gone from best friends chasing each other playfully to chasing in fear, bounding around off the walls like bullets. I think that one of them may have hit puberty and the other hasn't (they may or may not be from the same litter. Pet stores.) and they have started dominance fighting.
The smaller one has been losing fur, assuming it's fur biting from stress. The chasing has gotten him to where he hides in the sand bath where his cagemate can't get to him. The bigger and more dominant one will come up to him, making quiet hoots/coos, like he is lonely, but the bullied one is making angrier noises in response, as if to tell him to get away. He'll leave, and come back again, as if to ask him to come out, and the cycle continues. The smaller one will rarely come out from the dust bath, if only to interact with me or if he knows his cagemate isn't around. It's breaking my heart. They were just fine a few days ago.
There's a lot of fur around to clean up, but no physical damage (no bleeding or bites) I can tell to the smaller one. I don't know if I need to separate them, keep them together, separate and try to reintroduce them, or what. The stress is obviously having an affect on the smaller one. His ears are back and he won't splay out comfortably to sleep like he used to. And the bigger one is lonely without him.
I've got the two halves of the cage ready to separate them if need be, but I really don't want to have to do it. Is this something they can work out? Do I just wait or will it permanently affect the smaller one's disposition? He's already running to safety every time his cagemate is around and rarely comes out from the bathhouse.
The smaller one has been losing fur, assuming it's fur biting from stress. The chasing has gotten him to where he hides in the sand bath where his cagemate can't get to him. The bigger and more dominant one will come up to him, making quiet hoots/coos, like he is lonely, but the bullied one is making angrier noises in response, as if to tell him to get away. He'll leave, and come back again, as if to ask him to come out, and the cycle continues. The smaller one will rarely come out from the dust bath, if only to interact with me or if he knows his cagemate isn't around. It's breaking my heart. They were just fine a few days ago.
There's a lot of fur around to clean up, but no physical damage (no bleeding or bites) I can tell to the smaller one. I don't know if I need to separate them, keep them together, separate and try to reintroduce them, or what. The stress is obviously having an affect on the smaller one. His ears are back and he won't splay out comfortably to sleep like he used to. And the bigger one is lonely without him.
I've got the two halves of the cage ready to separate them if need be, but I really don't want to have to do it. Is this something they can work out? Do I just wait or will it permanently affect the smaller one's disposition? He's already running to safety every time his cagemate is around and rarely comes out from the bathhouse.