New female pig and old female pig fighting and strange behaviour

[Prabhmeet]

Hi everyone,
I am facing some problem with my female pigs, hoping you guys can help me out.

I had a pink eyed white female guinea pig from more than one year and i felt she was getting sad and bored and depressed alone.
Two days back, I got another female 1 year old, but smaller than my earlier one.

The first time I put them together they were fine but then my older one started biting and chasing the new one and afterwards they fought so I separated them in different cages for the night.

I researched on the net and read about the whole how to introduce a new guinea pig and followed the steps today afternoon. There was some chasing, teeth chattering, licking but they didn't fought and were fine later. I kept them together for 3.5 hours. I thought they are fine with each other.

Later I had to leave and after a few hours I came back home and put them together on the bed now I am really confused about the behaviour, sometimes they are cuddling and sitting together and eating together. Then in the middle they immediately start fighting. The new one, smaller and submissive one also fought the old dominant one , also peed on the dominant one.
After fighting again they sit together and are fine for sometime.

I am really confused about this behaviour. Can someone please help me. I thought when I did the 'introduction' process they stopped fighting and were happy but then right now again sometimes they fight, other times they sit together.

Why are they doing this and till when will I have to observe their behaviour that they don't wound each other? Can someone please help me?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone,
I am facing some problem with my female pigs, hoping you guys can help me out.

I had a pink eyed white female guinea pig from more than one year and i felt she was getting sad and bored and depressed alone.
Two days back, I got another female 1 year old, but smaller than my earlier one.

The first time I put them together they were fine but then my older one started biting and chasing the new one and afterwards they fought so I separated them in different cages for the night.

I researched on the net and read about the whole how to introduce a new guinea pig and followed the steps today afternoon. There was some chasing, teeth chattering, licking but they didn't fought and were fine later. I kept them together for 3.5 hours. I thought they are fine with each other.

Later I had to leave and after a few hours I came back home and put them together on the bed now I am really confused about the behaviour, sometimes they are cuddling and sitting together and eating together. Then in the middle they immediately start fighting. The new one, smaller and submissive one also fought the old dominant one , also peed on the dominant one.
After fighting again they sit together and are fine for sometime.

I am really confused about this behaviour. Can someone please help me. I thought when I did the 'introduction' process they stopped fighting and were happy but then right now again sometimes they fight, other times they sit together.

Why are they doing this and till when will I have to observe their behaviour that they don't wound each other? Can someone please help me?

Hi and welcome!
Could you please take a video of one of their fights to allow us to judge what exactly is going on; I have to be able to read the body language in order to help you. Important is that your two girls are careful to not step over the line - and I won't be able to tell just from your report.

Dominance always happens in rounds.

It can be much more difficult when you bring home a companion on spec. With singles there is often a lot of fear-aggression in play because they are afraid and insecure around other piggies as they lach the social experience; not all piggies will gel.

If you feel unsure about leaving them together, then separate overnight with a divider (if necessary cut down some cardboard to fit and tie it the bars/grids) and than re-introduce on neutral ground when you are around to watch.

You will need to upload any video elsewhere on a public setting and then linked into your post. Our forum is run on voluntary member donations and a video uploading facility would require a lot more bandwidth than we can afford.