My Guinea Pigs Won't Stop Fighting!

[laurynduke]

hi! in october 2016 i got a guinea pig named rico, i'm assuming his age is around 2 years. he was on his own for a while but in march this year i got another guinea pig named kip. kip was 9 months old when i took him from someone who was giving away piggies. at first my boys were in a smaller cage (i'm only a student and was saving for a more suitable cage for them). i thought they bonded straight away since they weren't fighting too badly, just rico rumblestrutting and occasionally chasing kip. a month or so ago they finally got their new cage and since they've moved into their new cage the fighting is insane. kip has started to challenge rico's dominance and pick fights with him too so now they both fight constantly and i even got bit and put on antibiotics trying to break up an intense fight between them. the fights are constant and they just seem to have stopped getting along as well since they're in a bigger cage which makes no sense to me i leave their cage door open when i can so they come in and out of their cage and a couple months ago they used to love playing and running around together but since they've got the new one they have no interest in coming out of it. the fighting is getting so bad that i'm worried one of them is going to get hurt, does anyone have any tips?

 

[Swissgreys]

Welcome to the Forum and sorry to hear you are having trouble with your boys.

A good place to start would be here:
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

But it does sound like if blood has been drawn the boys are simply not going to be able to remain together in the long term sorry.
It is probably not related to their new cage, but more to do with Kip reaching sexual maturity and going through a big hormone spike.

Hopefully the guide will help, but please be aware that once guinea pigs have decided they really don't like each otehr the best thing to do is respect their choice and come up with a new plan.
I know all about this as I have been there myself, so you have my sympathy.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi!

Piggies always need to re-establish their hierarchy in any new surroundings, which a new cage is. This can even throw an adult bonded pair if there are underlying issues and cause a fall-out. If it coincides with puberty, it can lead to fights.

If you have full-on bites your boys won't go back together. You can try a short trial separation. I one or both boys noticeably perk up when away from the other, you know that you are dealing with a dysfunctional bond. if there is trouble when trying to rebond pretty much straight away, you'll also know that they will not go back.

Please take the time to read our guide. It lists all your various options, dos and don'ts at the different stages in detail so you can make as informed a decision as possible.