Posted By: Anonymous
How much fighting is OK? - 09/09/08 12:43 AM
Well, my neutered male Kirby and my female Tanooki are at it again with their bickering. This is the pair where it took me a year to get them peaceably living together to begin with.
Not only is Kirby zealously guarding BOTH food dishes (despite me placing them on opposite sides of the cage) and chasing Tanooki away from them, he is also now going to town crabbing and by the sound of it lunging whenever Tanooki tries to join him in the pouch for a nap.
Tanooki seems to be getting enough to eat and they wind up in the same pouch eventually when I peek in during the day. I usually can't catch them fighting because they will stop when I peek in past the cage cover. I haven't seem them balling up and I haven't seen any injuries...just really nasty awful crabbing and chasing noises.
What could make Kirby be so stressed? The food guarding has been going on for a little over a month maybe, and the pouch guarding has really picked up over the past week. I don't know what to do with them. Should I just leave them together as they are not hurting eachother? How can I get Kirby to chill out? Nothing I can think of has really changed besides a new roomie moving in, and she isn't really disturbing them in any particular way Any advice you have is welcome.
Not only is Kirby zealously guarding BOTH food dishes (despite me placing them on opposite sides of the cage) and chasing Tanooki away from them, he is also now going to town crabbing and by the sound of it lunging whenever Tanooki tries to join him in the pouch for a nap.
Tanooki seems to be getting enough to eat and they wind up in the same pouch eventually when I peek in during the day. I usually can't catch them fighting because they will stop when I peek in past the cage cover. I haven't seem them balling up and I haven't seen any injuries...just really nasty awful crabbing and chasing noises.
What could make Kirby be so stressed? The food guarding has been going on for a little over a month maybe, and the pouch guarding has really picked up over the past week. I don't know what to do with them. Should I just leave them together as they are not hurting eachother? How can I get Kirby to chill out? Nothing I can think of has really changed besides a new roomie moving in, and she isn't really disturbing them in any particular way Any advice you have is welcome.