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Fighting guinea pigs!

Problem with seperation is, I could put Teazel and Snowy in a pair, but Rita would suffer at the hands of Ruby. I put Timtam and Ruby in a pair, they would probably kill each other. I seperate Snowy and Teazel and they both get really depressed because they have literally been BFFs their whole life. Do you see my problem? I could put Teazel and Snowy in a pair and Timtam and Rita in a pair, but then Ruby would be lonely!
 
- What do your girls have downstairs?
- How much of the time do they have free access to forage (grass or hay)?
- When did you last weigh them and how have they changed?
- How often do you check each pig for injuries or bodily changes?

This is a bit brief as I need to get out on the school run, but based on what you've said I'm thinking that IF no-one's actually getting hurt, there's a CHANCE that much of the bickering is rooted in your girls competing over resources - both space and food.

Whilst the run is large, it looks to be basically a bare dirt run. What's down there for them, other than space? What temperature is the ground? The air? How breezy is it? Is it sheltered if it rains? Do you tend to get predators creeping around? If they find it a bit chilly and/or damp and/or they feel unsafe, they'll be disinclined to use the space there - which leaves 5 pigs sharing 1m^2, which is a bit cramped.

There doesn't seem to be much grass growing, and I think you've said you're trying to get hold of some hay but they haven't had it as you have allergy issues? That makes it tricky, but Guinea Pigs NEED access to forage 24/7. They should be eating hay or grass almost constantly - its essential for their digestion, and also for making sure their teeth stay in good shape.

Space is obviously a tricky one to solve, but giving them free access to forage might calm things down. Please don't add another pig - if I'm anywhere near right on the cause of the problems adding another pig to compete will only make things worse!

Have you had a trawl through the information guides on here? They should help you try and work out if what you're seeing is just generalised dominance jostling or if there's actually a problem that will need more drastic measures (separation) to resolve. If you want to keep them together then I'd try giving them non-stop hay and see what happens. Good luck :)
 
Added to all of that, can you add some shelter to the run? Blocking off some of the sides and/or adding a hide for them (even if it’s just an old cardboard box, if it’s dry enough)? Places for them to hang out and feel safe - and get a bit of distance from each other!
 
Yeah, the weights are as of Tuesday, they have a few toys down there, such as a food KBAB, an upside down litter tray, which they love to play with, and when it's not raining, one of their fabric tunnels. I pick them some grass everytime I have the chance, and I put a little on the ground downstairs, and some of it in a purposely made bag on a hook upstairs for them to play with.
 
Teazel 2017 said:
Any DIY housing suggestions?
Click to expand...
Not sure if it counts as a DIY housing suggestion, But lots of us use shallow Cat Litter trays as hay trays, which the Piggies love, I generally try to have one per Guinea Pig in their Cage,
Or do you mean DIY/Hutch/cage idea?
If so have you looked into C&C cages, they are made using Cubes and Correx and you build them yourself into any size or shape, they are a great price for their size but not suitable for outdoor use.
If you want a hutch, lots of people actually use wooden sheds and Doll Houses as Guinea Pig enclosures heres one of my fab animal youtubes who i actually first discovered this idea from -

You can create toys from all sorts of home ideas, My Pigs love hay and veg parcels made with the toilet cardboard roll, which i just stuff with the stuff.
Ive also gotten them the type of fabric tents that are advertised as for cats, They love them in the colder weather, they can just sniggle up in them,
or some people create snuggle beds for their Pigs, Made from fleece or even old Jean trouser legs. Like this -
 
Having a cage inside a shed is a great idea! I have always wanted C&C, but not keeping guinea pigs in the house. My parents are doing some garden renos and will have an old shed left over, so I can nab that, plus buying some C&C and making sure it is insolated! In about a year, ultimate guinea pig hutch, here I come lol! Now I will be all happy once I figure out how to stop the fighting!
 
Teazel 2017 said:
Yeah, the weights are as of Tuesday, they have a few toys down there, such as a food KBAB, an upside down litter tray, which they love to play with, and when it's not raining, one of their fabric tunnels. I pick them some grass everytime I have the chance, and I put a little on the ground downstairs, and some of it in a purposely made bag on a hook upstairs for them to play with.
Click to expand...

OK. So when did you last weigh them BEFORE Tuesday? How have they changed?

Have you looked at the behaviour guides? Have you checked each pig carefully for injuries?

You're still describing their behaviour as "fighting", but I'm not clear on whether they are "fighting having had a falling out and don't want to stay together" or "bickering a bit to maintain herd hierarchy, but overall the group is stable". These are two very different scenarios and you really do need to try and work out which one you're dealing with. If you have full on fighting then you may have no solution to stop it but but to divide your herd.

I'm also concerned that your smallest pig is small because she's being bullied and kept from the food - if she's putting on weight and she doesn't fell scrawny then its far more likely that she's just a petite young lady, but without any kind of weight history and any more info on her condition all we can really do is throw questions and suggestions your way.

Incidentally, there are 2 big problems with relying on fresh grass when you don't have a grass patch to put the run on and have to pick it manually - firstly that guinea pigs will eat (NEED to eat, in the absence of hay) a large volume of it and secondly that it starts to ferment very quickly after its picked and can make animals ill. How are things going with finding some hay for them?

Longer term it sounds like your parents' surplus shed might be a great solution for your pigs :). Now its just improving things until that can get sorted...
 
I have never weighed them before but I can tell you Rita is extremely healthy compared to what she was. When we got her, she was cute and round and fluffy, but when I picked her up, she was nothing but fluff, with a few bones and some skin stretched over them. She ate a lot and is now well rounded and plump. Definatly bigger, but we got her at 3 weeks so thats obvious. I hand feed them veggies so she gets her fair share, and my piggies aren't to fussed about water, they just waddle down the ramp for a sip when they feel like it. Yeah, with the whole shed thing, I am planning on getting some C&C to goaround the edges, but only coming forward not all the way to the door, like in that video you showed me. I set up the playpen attached to the hutch yesterday, and they ran about outside. Obviously they had their fill because there was at least one guinea pig outsi and there was a little bit left over. Thank you for all your helpful suggestions!
 
I have never weighed them before but I can tell you Rita is extremely healthy compared to what she was. When we got her, she was cute and round and fluffy, but when I picked her up, she was nothing but fluff, with a few bones and some skin stretched over them. She ate a lot and is now well rounded and plump. Definatly bigger, but we got her at 3 weeks so thats obvious. I hand feed them veggies so she gets her fair share, and my piggies aren't to fussed about water, they just waddle down the ramp for a sip when they feel like it. Yeah, with the whole shed thing, I am planning on getting some C&C to goaround the edges, but only coming forward not all the way to the door, like in that video you showed me. I set up the playpen attached to the hutch yesterday, and they ran about outside. Obviously they had their fill because there was at least one guinea pig outsi and there was a little bit left over. Thank you for all your helpful suggestions!
 
Okay, I got back from camping, and it seems to be worse. I left them with the neighbors daughter because she is quite reliable and is completely in love with them, and I can say that while I was gone they and the dog were spoiled rotten. I explained the fighting situation to her and showed her the spare hutch incase it escilated. When I got back, she told me that Rita, my littlest, had been bleeding so she seperated her for thenight. She said it was fine in the morning and she put her back. I am now extremly worried. How can I even seperate them into to gruops, if there are no 2 ideal groups?
 
Ps Rita wasn't bledding that bad, it was a small cut/bite/scratch, but she wanted to make sure she was okay.
 
If there has been a fight which has drawn blood, then I’d be looking at the situation and thinking that things may well get worse from now and they should be separated. Do you know who hurt Rita?
Can ruby, teazel and snowy live together and then rita and Timtam live together? If they can, then perhaps that is your option.
How big is this spare hutch you’ve got? Could a pair live in there and the other three live in your main cage (the one with the run underneath).
 
That could work, but am unsure who hurt Rita and if Ruby would get on with Teazel.....
 
Just to add to my post, even separating into a pair and a trio isn’t ideal as keeping an odd number of pigs together (which is obviously the situation when they all live together with their being five) means there is always someone likely to get left out, but I can’t see what else you can do at the moment. You just don’t want to risk a big fight and injuries.
 
Is your spare hutch big enough to keep two piggies in? (Recommended size for two piggies is 1.5 metres). Obviously you wouldn’t want to separate them out and then put them in a cage which isn’t big enough because it won’t solve any problems and may cause that pair to fall out due to lack of space.
 
It is about 800 by 900 cm. Is that big enough? I really don't want to seperate them unless I have to.
 
I’m assuming you mean 800 x 900 mm not cm. A hutch of 80x90cm is not really big enough for even two piggies to live in.
I appreciate you don’t want to separate them, but if there is a problem and fights and bites are happening then some action may need to be taken to sort things out.
The hutch they are in (the original one with the run underneath) is not big enough for all five piggies to live in harmoniously and is likely to be one of the contributing factors to their fighting (as well as the other comments tangle made at post 22 regarding resources). If you don’t want to separate (and I can understand why), then you need to get them into a much bigger hutch and hope that relationships haven’t broken down too much so that being in a bigger space sorts everything out. To house all five piggies together and ensure they have enough space, ( following the cage recommendation size guide on here) i think you’ll need a hutch measuring 2.4 metres long (180cm cage is big enough for 4 piggies but you need another 60cm for your fifth pig = 180+60=240cm/2.4m).
 
How wide? The shed they are moving to (hopefully) is about 2.9m long.
 
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