My skinny pig and little hairy guinea

[Rlander.10]

I got my first skinny pig almost 6 months ago I took her to the vet and the vet told me she was showing signs of loneliness. I got a newish young long haired guinea pig. I did the quarantine, I slowly introduced them on common ground and they were super cuddly with eachother I got a big new cage for them to share which was new to both and now I am noticing my skinny pig is bulllying my hairy guinea pig. I tried separating them and they cried and chewed on the cage to get back to one another. When I put them in the same cage and just had a wall they broke it down or jumped over it to be with eachother. I notice they are still doing the dance of dominance and my Skinny pig is now bullying my regular guinea pig when it comes to food. They growl at eachother and nip when foods involved and it appears my regular guinea pig isn’t eating as much because of the bullying but does eat when my skinny pig is in the hut. When I hold my regular guinea she appears very nervous and gets really loud when I hold her. I’m not sure what to do at this point.. suggestions please!?

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

How big is your cage? I’d recommend making it a bit bigger if you can to give them more space

It’s also worth having 2 of everything, so two water bottles, 2 hay places etc on each side of the cage so your hairy pig has more choices.

It all sounds normal to me it just may be that a few cage adjustments will help, have you got a pic of your current set up?

 

[fanniephina]

Absolutely seconding Cavy Kung-Fu. How long have they been together? I put two new ones with my first girl and did the same. I did make the cage much bigger, added two of everything but also added a separator in the kitchen area. I made tow small litter boxes 14x14 each and put the grid in between with identical set-ups on both sides. It really did help an awful lot. The cage was 70x28 for them with an upper loft. This set up did very well for them and gave them much needed space. However, the smallest and most submissive was still bullied a bit by my original girl for another day or so with even moments of being blocked by food and making squealing noises that really frightened me. It turned out fine though. It took this little one a couple weeks to feel a bit more comfortable and take less from my first one but it turned out fine. They are the best of friends. Everything really sounds fine-just have to let them work it out past the best you can do to give them space.

 

[Rlander.10]

Thank you!

 

[Rlander.10]

Thank you for the suggestion! I did all these things and it seems to work! The cage was 5ft by 4ft now it’s 7ft by 5ft they have most of my room now! Two food dishes and two water dishes seem to be working. Small lady (my skinny pig) can still be a bit of a princess but they seem to be doing better