Help My Piggies Are Fighting

[Keri]

I'm having issues with my piggies, I had momma and 2 babies in a 3x5 grid cage with an upper level and I tried to introduce another very young piggie to them, I did it on neutral ground babies love the new piggie but my momma pig bonnie doesn't seem to want her around. They did just fine I put them in a newly cleaned and arranged cage and bonnie is chasing the new baby all over at high speeds and I'm hearing terrible squeaks from her when I remove bonnie and hold her for a while and try to put her back into the cage she seems to go looking for the baby just to terrorise it. I tried a bath and rearranging the cage and sanitising it one more time but it hasn't seemed to work. Is she being protective of her babies or does she just hate the new baby. Bonnie is around 6 months old and her babies are 3 weeks and the new baby I introduced is 5 weeks old. I don't know what to do or why she's doing this, I currently have a grid separating momma big and her babies from the new pig.

 

[Veggies Galore]

Bump

 

[Cookie&Cream]

I'm no expert but maybe Bonnie is being over protective of her babies?

 

[eileen]

I would ask wiekbe as she has a wealth of information on bonding and behaviour.

 

[Cookie&Cream]

@Wiebke

 

[Wiebke]

I'm having issues with my piggies, I had momma and 2 babies in a 3x5 grid cage with an upper level and I tried to introduce another very young piggie to them, I did it on neutral ground babies love the new piggie but my momma pig bonnie doesn't seem to want her around. They did just fine I put them in a newly cleaned and arranged cage and bonnie is chasing the new baby all over at high speeds and I'm hearing terrible squeaks from her when I remove bonnie and hold her for a while and try to put her back into the cage she seems to go looking for the baby just to terrorise it. I tried a bath and rearranging the cage and sanitising it one more time but it hasn't seemed to work. Is she being protective of her babies or does she just hate the new baby. Bonnie is around 6 months old and her babies are 3 weeks and the new baby I introduced is 5 weeks old. I don't know what to do or why she's doing this, I currently have a grid separating momma big and her babies from the new pig.

Hi! Bonnie may be very protective of her own babies as she is still nursing; that is not at all uncommon. Trying to bond any nursing sows is about the trickiest time you can choose.
Please be aware that dominance with weaned babies is always quite tough once they lose their protected status and are pushed to the bottom of the hierarchy; you will see this behaviour from Bonnie soon with her own babies. The youngster ranks above the babies, so she will get all the dominance from the top sow and not from the babies. You also have to be aware that babies are quite dramatic and vocal. The squealing is submission and not pain. You may need to judge carefully at which level the dominance behaviour is, but you need to either let them work it out without interference over the next few days, separate the baby overnight (with a clear understanding that there is going to be inevitably another bout of dominance behaviour when they meet again, as they need to either fail or establish a working hierarchy) or you decide to call it quits and find another solution.

You may find these threads here helpful:
Sow Behaviour
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics

PS: Please be aware that any boar babies need to be searate from mum at 3 weeks old to prevent any accidents. I am adding this as I don't know the gender of Bonnie's babies and whether you are already aware of this.

 

[Keri]

Thank you for your answer my babies are now 4 weeks old as of last Sunday, Bonnie had 4 babies and I did separate the boys and they went to their new home before I had introduced the new pig. I've been keeping the new baby separated at night and most of the day with one of Bonnie's babies or the other, switching on and off. I've noticed sometimes I have dad (Clyde) out with them and Bonnie doesn't have any aggression towards anyone when Clyde is around, someone had told me that if there is a boar in the mix then he keeps the sows from fighting, I don't have Clyde out often around them though for fear of accidentally breeding again (we had gotten him from a pet store for free and was told he was a girl, that's how we ended up with babies.) I am playing around with the idea of getting him neutered so they can all occupy the same space, I had taken them all to the vet recently and she told me there wasn't much risk with males. I'm still not sure if it's the right choice.