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Guinea pig fights

4 replies

swapsicles · 25/04/2019 19:04

I have two guineas, Gordon who I rehomed from a friend, had him for 3 months and then bought him a friend Gino.
Introduced on neutral ground and normal chattering and chasing.
Did that 3 times for several hours then put them in a clean cage together but the fighting continues, I separated them for 2 days when Gordon had a minor bite to the bum then back again into a clean cage 2 days ago. Gino has a bite to the face now, looks fine and healing so no worries there.
I've read several times that once blood is drawn to completely separate but most of the time they're fine, just a scuffle now and then.
Has anyone any experience in persisting with the companionship or is it a lost cause?
They live in a 140cm indoor cage and George is 14 months Gino 7 months (approx as Gino was a pah rescue)

OP posts:
FernieB · 27/04/2019 08:23

Without seeing the scuffle it's hard to say. My original boys would regularly have a bit of a scuffle but it wasn't serious and they didn't really like being apart. I did give them 2 igloos in their cage and placed them with the doors facing away from each other so they could have time apart if they wanted.

Do your guys have the opportunity to separate? Separate igloos? If the scuffles are really just posturing and rumbling and mounting I'd leave them to it.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 27/04/2019 14:13

Gino is about the Terrible Teens age (usually 6 months or so , but as you say , he wasn't given a definate age)

I would make sure :
the cage is big enough, boars need huge space
No areas to trap one where it can bully or get bullied or stressed.
One hidey space/per pig and a spare
Doors that are wide enough for both so no trapping , or two doors
Space out the food and water , again to stop trapping or exclusion
(Did I mention the cage needs to be big Grin )

Back to basics - bath them . Get some really string smelling shampoo (Gorgeous Guineas do some nice ones , we used Lemongrass and Cedar as our bonding one)
Give them a good 'solidarity bath' they will be judgey and ungrateful towards you not each other .
Everything blank canvas , clean things with white vinegar
Huge pile of hay/food and let them re-bond

There are usually scuffles with boars , I reckon its an age thing with your younger boy . Maybe the older one feels his Alpha staus is being threatened .

If they really cannot stay as a pair then side-by-side might be the only option

Fortheloveofscience · 27/04/2019 14:20

Basically everything 70 says (although I’m not personally a fan of bonding baths).

Would like to add that it’s not a good idea to keep introducing then separating them, every time they’re split up and reintroduced they have to basically start from scratch.

I’d be surprised if the bond works at this point since it’s more likely they’ve decided they don’t like each other much, but if you do give it one more go then introduce them on neutral territory and then leave them together (under supervision) until they’ve either ironed out the differences, in which case they should both go straight into their shared permanent cage, or the tension escalates to proper fighting with blood drawn at which point obviously separate them immediately and you have to resign yourself to keeping them as next door neighbours. Make sure there’s lots of good food in the bonding area!

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 27/04/2019 17:19

When our GP3 was about 10 months (and huuuuuge ) and bothering his step-dad GP1 , we ut them both in the bath (opposite ends) for a wash. The looks they gave us !
It worked well, they sulked off when they were dry , whingeing about how "Clean and Fluffy" they were , not all "Boary and Stinky" .

Other than that we've done Pre-Wedding Baths to make them all smell neutral.

An ill guinea-pig bum dip is another thing entirely - literally in/wash/rinse/dry . Not nice to annoy an ill guinea-pig but sometimes they need to have it to protect their poor skin .

We had to seperate GP1/GP2 at night (same cage with a divide) but they went out to their shed by day and had enough space to do what they wanted . The next winter I gave them two boxes of hay , same cage and they were fine .

Once I went down to the Pighouse , I could hear enraged squawking. I saw GP2 sitting in the haybox (which was huge about 3'x3' ) and poor GP1 was in the deep hay , buried under GP2 Shock .
GP1 used to dive into the haybox when it was clean hay , make a little tunnel then GP2 followed him. (after running through GP1 puddle of fresh pee Hmm )
They were a bonded pair of 1yo when we got them, still had the odd issue .

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