Help me with my two grumpy guinea pigs who keep fighting...!

[Fairylea]

We have two guinea pigs, both boys. We got them at the same time about 6 months ago as babies and initially they had a few stomps and growls at each other but seemed to settle in okay. As time has gone on they now seem to be biting each other to the point we’ve noticed small sores on each of them.

We purchased another cage (they both have 120cm cages) and have put them side by side (as per pic) to keep them separate thinking they might be happier but they actually seem really sad now and hardly come out of their houses! - it’s almost like they’re a pair of dogs who enjoy squabbling!

What should we do? Does the nipping mean they can’t be together? I’d hate for them to end up with an infected cut or something or do we try again as they might be lonely ... ? Or would neutering make a difference?

I feel a bit out of my depth. I just want them to be happy. We’ve done the whole two food bowls, two snack things, two of everything etc.

Even considered buying a huge c and c cage but I’m not sure if the extra space would solve it and don’t want to keep throwing money at the problem if it’s not going to make a difference.

What’s your experience with piggies who fight like this?

Thanks!

I should add we do have a run in the garden and they go out there separately at the moment to have a run about. So they’re not in the cages non stop.

Ooh teenage boars are a bloody nightmare , they're at that age .
Neutering doesn't change them behaviour wise , i just makes it easier to match with sows.

My first two were brothers (a year old when I got them) and I divided the cage on their first winter but when they went out to their pighouse in the daytime , they were ok ,. More room , deep hay , two houses. They were in contact but could get out of each others faces.
Our little boar was the aggressor , he got right onto the other boars back and bit him . I would say the secret with boars is they need space if they want it (though ours often crammed themselves into the same box)

The advantage of C&C is you can customise it . I;ve got 30 panels of 14" squares (its a Costco shelving set not proper C&C but does the job) I wish I'd bought two lots now.

You would need to go right back to basics . Bath them with something strong scented (I used Gorgeous Guineas Cedar and Sandlewood for my recent bonding)
They should smell the same .
Put them in neutral territory . An empty paddling pool is good. Huge pile of food and hay.
Stand back and keep a towel handy .
When I tried to bond our GP6/ GP4/GP5 with GP7/GP8 it didn't work.
(Tried a couple of times)
Tried GP6 and GP7/GP8 (when the other two died) . Didn't work.

Just put GP6/GP7 together last week, we did the whole Start from Scratch even though they'd lived side by side for 2 years.
We were ready with our towels (dont't get your hands into a guinea pig fight)

There was some heads up teeth chattering , chashing, dominence mounting. Our boar has a tiny scratch on his nose .
They have settled . But sometimes (in the case of my other sows) they don't.

Give them a time out to settle and try again. I'd definately recommend the C&C , you can make huge cages and you can add a divide if you need to.

Good Luck.

Wow thank you so much for such helpful advice.

We will be doing a lot of your tips! The bath and the paddling pool / neutral run idea is particularly brilliant- I hadn’t thought of a paddling pool as a run and I think that might be worth a try.

I’ve had them both out tonight in the bathroom and sat with them whilst they’ve run about, they are definitely little teenagers- squaring up to each other and having some full on staring matches!!

Who would have thought piggies would be so difficult!

My two girls are like this - I posted about it two or three weeks ago!

I've noticed since, that the worst spats happen when their run needs cleaning. Perhaps the smell of each other is too overwhelming? They do more scent marking then as well (brief bum dragging). I now do the full clean more often and it seems to be helping. I line the run with biodegradable cornstarch bin bags (1 per clean, cut open) which means I can just bundle the whole thing up and straight into the compost and the cleaning doesn't take more than 20 mins.

Narrow spaces between cage objects/small entrances to beds also make them touchy. I rebuilt their run to give them more space and made a new bed out of a shoe shelf or them to hide under. Because it's open along one side, they can both get in and out without getting in each other's way. They've been sleeping there together!

I rescued two boars from a breeder who said they were bonded, unfortunately they fell out. One piggy ended up with very nasty infected wounds. I had them both neutered and then swapped one for a pair of girls from a rescue they were a very happy trio.

For boars I would say a minimum of 5ft by 2ft cage, no single entry houses just tunnels, multiples of water bottles food bowls and fingers crossed.

Unfortunately most boars when they fall out do so permanently.