Emsguineas
New Born Pup
Hi. I'm a new member and have joined as I am having some issues with my two female guinea pigs. I got them from a rescue in May last year as an (apparently) bonded pair and although have never seemed to be that friendly seem to have tolerated one another, with some displays of dominace but nothing seemingly too serious. Over the summer they had a two tier large out door hutch and weather permitting were in a large outdoor run every day. From October I moved the hutch into a shed and then once it became really cold I brought them in doors in an indoor cage. I know this indoor cage was too small and the pigs relationship seems to have deteriorated with the larger white one consistently seeming to bully the smaller one, chasing her out of the igloo, away from water etc. Knowing the cage is too small I have built a much larger C&C type cage which gives several square meters of space. I hoped this would calm things down. However, I have now witnessed the larger pig activly seem to seek out the smaller pig who was nowehere near her in order to give her a nip. This results in lots of shrieking and a chase round the cage. I am looking for some advise on this as it is quite distressing to watch - my children are taking an active dislike to the bigger pig now for example, and it cant be good for either pig? I assume this is more than the normal dominance behaviour as it has been going on so long? What should I do next? Would seperating them termporarily help? (I could do this within the new big cage so they could still see each other) and for how long? Id be grateful for any advice.