The gentler boy (Po) becomes borderline unresponsive while the rough boy (Boe) is out for playtime with him, even though, aside from regularly and enthusiastically mounting, Boe has stopped his unnecessary onslaught of dominance pinning and fight starting. He (Po) goes very still and stares into space, becomes very slow regardless. He'll take food but only stand with it dangling in his mouth and Boe inevitably yanks it away, with Po not so much as responding. I pick him up and he's a ragdoll. It takes him 20 minutes to bother with moving around. There's a point where he'll come out of his shell a little (this is when Boe tires out and gets sleepy) and groom Boe but he remains very slow moving and in fact, mostly appears to sleep and lie down when he should be up and active.
At the best of times, he's a slow moving, soft footed boy, (being pink eyed I think his lack of vision plays into the 'cautious air' about him) but it gets to an extreme with Boe around. He's 100% healthy, dry nosed, no sneezing, responsive and active when he isn't around Boe so no health issues at play here!
When I put the rough boy away for the night, the Po starts popcorning, playing, adventuring around and snuggling up to me. He does a complete 180.
While they groom each other and do likely enjoy each others company- at least Boe enjoys Po's-, Po seems very much happier when they aren't together.
Just to be clear, I've set them up in a new cage, set them up in Po's cage, set them in a large modified and spacious enclosure, done a number of things to try and remedy things, and Boe remains territorial of whatever space he resides in, inevitably getting tired of his company to the point of drawing blood after a few hours into the night 'stuck together'. Boe was in the house since he was 5 weeks old, they had regular playtimes together after a bit of quarantine, and were temporarily housed together until puberty kicked in, so they aren't newly introduced. There's no way they can constantly live together in the same cage safely at this point, but they get hours of time together a day and only get separated at night when Boe gets into his witching hour where he literally shoves Po off of ledges, shoves his head under him and wheel barrows him around, and mounts him every 2 minutes. This usually starts around 12:00 at night. I've taken to staying up until at least 12:00 to give them ample playing time while they're awake and active before Boe gets to that point, but I eventually have to sleep.
Essentially, unless Boe is a little sleepy, he's an absolute terror to Po.
They're alright for hours before that, except for the fact that Po seems to turn into a zombie in Boe's presence regardless of how he's treated by him and this makes me question if they should be playing together at all.
I'm not sure what to do about this, and there's been no improvement for the better part of two months despite my efforts to try different things. Am I doing something wrong? Any ideas?
At the best of times, he's a slow moving, soft footed boy, (being pink eyed I think his lack of vision plays into the 'cautious air' about him) but it gets to an extreme with Boe around. He's 100% healthy, dry nosed, no sneezing, responsive and active when he isn't around Boe so no health issues at play here!
When I put the rough boy away for the night, the Po starts popcorning, playing, adventuring around and snuggling up to me. He does a complete 180.
While they groom each other and do likely enjoy each others company- at least Boe enjoys Po's-, Po seems very much happier when they aren't together.
Just to be clear, I've set them up in a new cage, set them up in Po's cage, set them in a large modified and spacious enclosure, done a number of things to try and remedy things, and Boe remains territorial of whatever space he resides in, inevitably getting tired of his company to the point of drawing blood after a few hours into the night 'stuck together'. Boe was in the house since he was 5 weeks old, they had regular playtimes together after a bit of quarantine, and were temporarily housed together until puberty kicked in, so they aren't newly introduced. There's no way they can constantly live together in the same cage safely at this point, but they get hours of time together a day and only get separated at night when Boe gets into his witching hour where he literally shoves Po off of ledges, shoves his head under him and wheel barrows him around, and mounts him every 2 minutes. This usually starts around 12:00 at night. I've taken to staying up until at least 12:00 to give them ample playing time while they're awake and active before Boe gets to that point, but I eventually have to sleep.
Essentially, unless Boe is a little sleepy, he's an absolute terror to Po.
They're alright for hours before that, except for the fact that Po seems to turn into a zombie in Boe's presence regardless of how he's treated by him and this makes me question if they should be playing together at all.
I'm not sure what to do about this, and there's been no improvement for the better part of two months despite my efforts to try different things. Am I doing something wrong? Any ideas?
