Two females fighting during bonding

Liz47

Liz47

Junior Guinea Pig
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Some of you may have seen Ellie (1 year old) lost her neutered male partner a few weeks ago. I adopted Marcie (8 month old female) to be her friend, we let Marcie settle in before starting the bonding. We put them in the neutral bonding pen and Ellie was following Marcie round straight away, they both ate some hay and veggies but within 5 mins both started teeth chattering very loudly, puffed up and went for eachother. There was rolling over each other so we stopped this but kept them together. There was several more fights, lots of teeth chattering and yawning from both pigs. After a while Marice (who is considerably smaller than Ellie) stopped teeth chattering as much and kept away from Ellie, but every time Ellie went near her she would be teeth chattering, puffed up and going sideways towards Marcie. Marcie would stay still or run away eventually and Ellie would fight her if she caught her. At one point Marcie had a small drop of blood on her face so we separated and checked both over fully. They've been back in their own cages next to each other since and I've been swapping bedding and toys.

I'm concerned the bond isn't going to work, when I put Ellie in with Arnie they just sat and ate together with no issues and moved into the same cage within an hour! Marcie came a long way from a rescue and she is a lovely piggy but I don't want either to be unhappy. I've not put them together today as I've been at work 12 hour shift, I am off tomorrow afternoon and Thursday so will see how they get on again then.
 
Liz47 said:
Some of you may have seen Ellie (1 year old) lost her neutered male partner a few weeks ago. I adopted Marcie (8 month old female) to be her friend, we let Marcie settle in before starting the bonding. We put them in the neutral bonding pen and Ellie was following Marcie round straight away, they both ate some hay and veggies but within 5 mins both started teeth chattering very loudly, puffed up and went for eachother. There was rolling over each other so we stopped this but kept them together. There was several more fights, lots of teeth chattering and yawning from both pigs. After a while Marice (who is considerably smaller than Ellie) stopped teeth chattering as much and kept away from Ellie, but every time Ellie went near her she would be teeth chattering, puffed up and going sideways towards Marcie. Marcie would stay still or run away eventually and Ellie would fight her if she caught her. At one point Marcie had a small drop of blood on her face so we separated and checked both over fully. They've been back in their own cages next to each other since and I've been swapping bedding and toys.

I'm concerned the bond isn't going to work, when I put Ellie in with Arnie they just sat and ate together with no issues and moved into the same cage within an hour! Marcie came a long way from a rescue and she is a lovely piggy but I don't want either to be unhappy. I've not put them together today as I've been at work 12 hour shift, I am off tomorrow afternoon and Thursday so will see how they get on again then.
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I am sorry, but if the girls are going for each other like that, then it is never going to work. Once sows have made up their mind that they don't like another piggy, they rarely change their mind. :(

You may either look for another piggy or consider keeping the girls as next door neighbours with mutual interaction and stimulation through the bars, but each having her own territory.

Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
Bonds In Trouble
 
Thank you for your reply. We put the pigs together in the bonding pen again yesterday evening, and it seems it's Marcie that's now being dominant and Ellie is backing down. There was much less/quieter teeth chattering and only one fight which was more of a scuffle. I saw more behaviours I thought I would see during piggy bonding, ear nibbling from Marcie, bum sniffing, grooming and following round. After a few hours they kept getting closer and have been lied down next to eachother. Marcie has been popcorning. They've been together since and have been quiet all day, eating and sleeping together. I'm not going to move them into the cage (Ellie's existing cage) just yet as I don't want to risk anything! I'm very surprised how things have changed but so happy and hoping it stays this way!
 
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