Male and Female guinea pig fallout

[4piggies1home]

Hello, a couple weeks ago my boar and sow got into a fight that led to an ear wound. I’m sure of their genders I’ve had the sow for over a year now. She had been living with the boar for months just fine. Until I rescued two female guinea pigs and added them to the home. The boar fell into favor with one of the younger girls and got into a fight with my sow. He’s neutered and they live in a big two story cage. I’m not sure how this happened. A boar with multiple sows is normally a good mix. But now I have to keep him separated from the girls. Is this it for the bond?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

While a neutered boar can live with multiple sows, any bond comes down to character compatibility and adding new piggies will cause a hierarchy shift. Things don’t always work out when adding new piggies to a bonded pair.

If they cannot get on now, then keeping them apart would be best.
You may be able to try a neutral territory reintroduction between all four of them (not just the original sow and boar) and see what occurs, but it depends on the severity of the fight - if it was very bad and piggies got injured, it may not be wise to try.

Also ensure your cage is big enough as double storey cages don’t double the cage size. The cage needs to be big enough on a single level as piggies are ground roaming animals, an upper level is simply a bonus space.
For three piggies it needs to be 6ft x 2ft (180x60cm) or for four piggies if needs to be 7ft x 2ft (210x60cm).

If they won’t go back together, then it may be best to split the sows and create two separate pairs, putting one od the sows in with the boar (following the correct neutral territory bonding procedure)

Bonds In Trouble
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Cage Size Guide