Friends Fighting

[cavvyx2]

Hi. I have two guinea pigs, one is about four months' old and the other a few years old. We trialled them together before adopting the second and life was beautiful. Now I think the younger one has grown and is challenging the other. There's constant teeth chattering, chasing, hair raising etc. The older one has had a cut on his back. Do I let them work it out or keep them separated? The older one is always standing at the edge of his cage watching the other one and biting at the bars as if he wants to get in there. I don't want to end up at emergency vet. 

[3piggles]

Hello and welcome Do you have them separated, now? If so, I would try a full reintroduction before deciding to keep them separated.

Create a secure, neutral area with just a pile of hay in the middle. A bathtub would do the job, or any pen you can create. It doesn't have to be large, just open and free of anything but the pile of hay. Bathe both pigs together, so they both go through the bath torture together, and they both smell the same, basically wet pig smell. That is sort of piggy boot camp. Towel dry them and let them air dry if it's warm in your house, or keep them wrapped in towels until they are mostly dry, and in a carrier together.

Once they have been through that, put them in the pen with the pile of hay, and watch them. Also while they are getting to know each other in the pen, totally clean the cage of both of their scents. Clean everything including the sides, food bowls, water bottles, toys and houses.

Replace the bedding, food and water, so everything is totally new to both of them. Put two of everything in the cage, houses, water bottles, food dishes, so they don't have to compete with each other, and neither can bully the other, and keep them from the food, water or houses.

If the floor time in the pen goes well, put them back in the freshly cleaned cage, and see how they do. Every change of habitat, cage to bath to floor to cage, all elicite territorial actions from the pigs, so there may be some posturing and even a bit of nipping, but as long as neither is cowering in a corner, or bleeding, let them work it out.

Don't be surprised if the younger or smaller pigs becomes the dominant pig. Dominance in pigs seems to have very little to do with size or age. Establishing dominance seems very cruel to us, but it's their way, and they understand it. We can assist by removing anything one could use to trap the other, and by putting food and water at each end of the cage, so one can't block both feeding areas at the same time. I had one girl who madly ran between the feeding areas at each end of the cage, trying to keep the other pigs out, while the other pigs just went to the other feeding area. She stopped.

Lastly, make sure the cage is big enough for two males. www.guineapigcagesstore.com/about-candccages This is a great chart on the size cage needed for the number of pigs, but males need more space than females, so I always use the size that is for one or more pigs more than I have. If you have two boars, look at the cage sizes for 3 or 4 boars, which is more applicable. Still, those sizes are guidelines. The pigs decide what size cage they need, and if they can't get along in biggest cage you can manage, separating them is the best thing to do. If you are using a store bought cage, it is probably too small.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[cavvyx2]

Thanks so much. I initially stripped out the cage but didn't wash them. One is adopted from Guinea Pig Rescue and they were in the recommended size for two pigs. I had just ordered a two-storey hutch (with trap door to limit access to the other floor). Hopefully I can try the extreme wash method then put them in the hutch which will be denuded of all existing scents. Thank you so much.

[3piggles]

Best of luck!