[koryAK]

I have two male hedgies and they are half brothers and share a large cage. I got them at the beginning of June at about 10 weeks old (so like 5 mos old now) and they are my first ones. They never bother each other except lately I have been hearing lots of squealing so I get up to check it out.... and the smaller one seems half mounted on top of the larger one. I can't tell which is making the noise but it's the one on the bottom that pops sometimes when it's going on. Every once in a while they run around (like getting away) but for the most part they just sit together and squeal. This isn't constant, but maybe like a solid hour a night for the last 5.

Is this normal? Is one getting hurt? I would think the victim would just ball up if that was the case...

Can anyone offer advice?

TIA!

 

[LizardGirl]

Can anyone offer advice?

Separate them. Males will fight, often to death. The fact that they are getting older is making them more aggressive and likely to fight. It is very rare to ever get males to live together in peace, and then it is usually at very experienced rescues.

You will want to get a new cage, new wheel, a new set of everything for whoever you are moving out.

 

[koryAK]

dang! I was told by the breeder that they'd be ok...

 

[LizardGirl]

Yikes, what breeder was that? No reputable breeder would ever suggest that housing males together would be a good idea.

 

[gyaku]

For many kinds of animals, NEVER HOUSE TWO MALES TOGETHER! Who was the breeder?

 

[koryAK]

Someone in Illinois... We only have one breeder here with a long waiting list so I had to have them shipped. She said it would be OK because they were brothers and had been together since birth but I would need to separate them if one mated.

 

[Bengall77]

It's my understanding that once they start to reach sexual maturity and their hormones kick in that males need to be separated or they will fight/torment each other. It sounds like the bigger one might be trying to show dominance over the smaller one by mounting him? I know that dogs do this as part of their social hierarchy but am not sure if that is normal hedige behavior as they are not social creatures like dogs or primates. I would do what others have suggested, move them apart, buy a second set up including a wheel, and only put them together for supervised play time.

It sounds to me that either your breeder doesn't know as much about the species as they thought they did, or that something was miss-communicated. It's possible that they meant that the boys would be okay together for a few more weeks. But two adult males should never be housed together.