• PLEASE NOTE - the TEAS facebook page has been hacked, take extreme care when visiting the page, for further information visit here

6 Pigs Cage

S

Severinette

New Born Pup
Joined
May 5, 2024
Messages
5
Reaction score
2
Points
45
Location
Appleton
I currently have a 3x13 cage for my 6 female guinea pigs. I recently adopted my 6th one which was a baby maybe around 6 to 8 weeks. 3 of the adult females have been kind of aggressive towards her when she walks up or tries to cuddle against them. We had to separate her for now because she did get a part of her ears chewed off. She doesn't run away and only freezes next to them when they do that headbutt attack on her. Should I just keep her separate til she grows a bit bigger and heals or what do I have to do? This has never happened to me before and it just makes me sad that I can't have her with the other females.
 
And is my cage too small for 6 guinea pigs? I saw some posts saying that ear biting can occur because of overpacking in a cage.
 
It sounds like a big cage if you’re talking about 3x13 C&c grids? Or are you talking measurements?
Have you got a photo of your cage?

Sadly sometimes piggies just aren’t compatible with certain piggies, It sounds like she hasn’t been accepted by the herd and you may have to house her separately with someone she does get along with
 
Welcome to the forum

Did you introduce her properly to the herd using totally neutral territory (ie did you remove all the piggies and put them somewhere else for them to meet her) Or did you just put her straight into their cage?
This could make a difference on whether she has actually been rejected - if you just put her into the cage without the proper neutral introduction for several hours then it can be seen as a territory invasion and cause this kind of behaviour without her actually having been rejected. Ears can get ripped by a misplaced swipe rather than a deliberate act.
The other piggies will be sure to put her right at the bottom of the hierarchy so you will see dominance which can look aggressive but actually isn’t. Babies, generally speaking, are accepted as they cannot usually challenge the hierarchy - it’s possible (although you don’t say) that the three who are potentially having an issue with her are the three at the bottom of the hierarchy so they are making sure she stays at the bottom and their places in the hierarchy remain intact (the bottom piggy prior to the baby’s arrival won’t want to be usurped by her). It takes two weeks for them to fully settle the hierarchy.

As a bond comes down to compatibility, if they genuinely do not like her and don’t want her in the herd, then she will never be accepted so waiting until she is bigger and trying again won’t help. If they definitely do not want her, it means that you will need to split your herd (or get her another piggy to have as her own friend) so she has (at least) one other piggy in the cage with her and you will need to have two separate cages permanently.
Equally as she is under four months of age, she should not be alone now so removing one of the other piggies and putting them in with her now would be best for her (again, this must be done on neutral territory). Baby piggies need constant companionship and social interaction from another.

No your cage isn’t too small - six piggies only ‘need’ an 8x2 (although bigger is always better) so you have more than enough space for them.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
 
Morning I was going to say the same if she hasn't been accepted perhaps one piggy could live with her alongside the others. What a shame makes you sad when they don't get along doesn't it 💐
 
CTWC said:
Morning I was going to say the same if she hasn't been accepted perhaps one piggy could live with her alongside the others. What a shame makes you sad when they don't get along doesn't it 💐
Click to expand...

Uhhh... it's a shame that I get sad that they aren't getting along?
 
Hannah_xx said:
It sounds like a big cage if you’re talking about 3x13 C&c grids? Or are you talking measurements?
Have you got a photo of your cage?

Sadly sometimes piggies just aren’t compatible with certain piggies, It sounds like she hasn’t been accepted by the herd and you may have to house her separately with someone she does get along with
Click to expand...

It's a cc grid cage. And when I was bonding them, they were fine. It was a neutral area, not near the cage and in a different room. My husband and I changed the whole cage after 3 to 4 hours of them bonding because they all seemed to be calm during the bonding period. There was a bit of chasing and what not. The leader does not attack her at all and the lowest doesn't as well. But we did a bonding for another 2 hours today with them again in a neutral area and now only one of my piggies seem to be aggressive towards her while my other 4 don't seem to be bothered by my new one anymore. And thanks everyone for the advices. Much appreciated. My new piggy is the brown one next to the gray. The black one is the only one that is aggressive towards her.
 

Attachments

  • 17149721723893879409334225926439.jpg
    17149721723893879409334225926439.jpg
    76.3 KB · Views: 3
Can you tell us exactly what behaviours you are seeing that are aggressive?
Can you also tell us how long they have actually been together?

I'm not certain that this has actually failed so I personally would not be confident in saying separate at this stage and not without more information anyway.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Can you tell us exactly what behaviours you are seeing that are aggressive?
Can you also tell us how long they have actually been together?

I'm not certain that this has actually failed so I personally would not be confident in saying separate at this stage and not without more information anyway.
Click to expand...

So my new baby that I adopted likes to cuddle up on the adult females and she isn't the shy type either. I only had her for 4 days and she would come out and popcorn/play/eat even if we were in the room. She would always try and snuggle them and they would do the headbutt movement at her to get her away. And she also likes to tailgate them when they are off to eat, sleep, drink. But my one adult female (not the leader) saw her and tried headbutt lunging towards her and actually got her ear bleeding. The other 2 adult females that were aggressive towards her aren't aggressive anymore but my black one makes a rumbling noise when the baby is near.
 
This all sounds normal and doesn’t sound like a failed bonding to me. Lunging isn’t aggressive, it’s actually a defensive behaviour.
It takes two weeks for a bond to be fully settled so they are not even half way through that process.

I would reunite them and leave them to sort things out
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top