Pigs fighting out of the blue?

[Laurenmae]

My adult male pigs have been living together in a fabulous C&C cage for exactly one month. I was surprised by how well they got along at first. Then lately, during floor time the oldest male has been mounting the younger males a lot more than usual. It seems to really irritate the middle male and today I noticed for the first time ever that they were chattering their teeth at each other. I also noticed that after I had been away from the cage for a while when I came back there were little tufts of hair on the floor of the cage - does this mean they were fighting? I looked the pigs over carefully for bites but didn't see any, they seem fine except the oldest one keeps chasing the middle one into hiding then they'll chatter at each other, then as soon as the middle one comes out from hiding it will happen all over again. I'm quite nervous that when I walk away they are all-out fighting. Anyone experience something like this?

[Laurenmae]

Sorry to double post, but I thought I should let anyone reading this thread know that I took my oldest male out for some lap time to see how he's doing. After he started to let me know he needed to pee (yea for pigs who let me know when they gotta go!) I put him back in the cage and he sniffed around, stretched and sprawled out for a nap. He looked kinda sheepish - maybe he realized he was being a mean pig. Who even knows?! But the fighting has stopped for now.

[Henle15]

What are the ages of the piggies?..could be that the one pig is hitting adolescence and they tend to fight a little more. Also how many pigs and what size cage do you have? And do you have at least 2 of everything fo them to use.

[Laurenmae]

The pigs who live together are about 3.5 and 1.25 years old. I have two houses so they can hide away from each other if they want, but I don't have two of other things. They share the food dish, hay box and water bottle. I had two water bottles but they only used one, would you advise putting the second one back up?

[Henle15]

I would put two of everything in the cage...even if they only use the one. I think it is more of a territorial thing that if they have to share then they will fight more..if they have options to use either one or the other I think they will be more willing to share. I know this has worked for me and others that have more than one or two boars together. You can try it..won't hurt. If it doesn't work then it doesn't work. Good Luck!

[Pandora4co]

Its funny you posted this. My two boys who have been living together fine for 5 months suddenly got into a major tiff over the "favored" water bottle tonight out of the blue. I have two bottles.. one on either end of their cage. The one nearest the hay and pellets is the favored one. It got so bad with the shoving, nose offs and chattering I finally said,enough and moved both bottles to the middle of the cage and put them about 6 inches apart. Presto! They both ran up and one boy took one and the other boy .. after a slight hesitation, drank out the other. Problem solved! (Hopefully)

[Laurenmae]

Well, I've figured out when the pigs are fighting - though I'm not really sure WHY. Whenever the younger pig gets to the food area, the older pig chases him out, teeth chattering away. Clearly the younger pig is terrified of the older pig, enough to stay away from the food, water and hay. This is really bad!! So I put a second water bottle in on the main floor, away from the food loft, and I"m putting in a second hay box and food dish on the main floor too. Today I fed them veggies in separate areas to make sure the younger one got some of the veggies.

What kills me is that they ate together FINE for a month. Why now is the oldest one being so aggressive?? There's tons of food, hay and water to go around, so it's not like they have to fight over the last piece.

[cavyinhawaii]

Sometimes pigs just want their own stuff. I have two pigs that must have their own of each. I also have a younger one that could care less. The other two pigs seem to tolerate her using their stuff but not each others. Weirdos!

[Laurenmae]

I tried adding a second water bottle, hay box and food dish. I even gave them their veggies in separate areas. The big pig is still terrorizing the younger pig. I thought maybe it was just a food issue but he seems to think it's not okay for the younger pig to be anywhere but inside his bunk bed. My poor pigs... they're not really "fighting" but I'm scared that the younger one won't be able to get out to play and walk around. Has anyone seen this happen before? Is it a passing phase or do I have to separate them? They were such good buddies before.

[laura]

I have the same issue, but its on and off. when my 2 boys were out for play and floor ie last week, they were jumping around together playing and rolling on their backs on this soft pillow. next day they are chattering, nose up in the air, leg bouncing from side to side. We used the bathing technique, washed them together etc, then dried them both together with a hug, cleaned the cage out moved everything aroun etc. they were fine.
they have been ok for a few weeks, then they chatter, this happens every so often, I found a little nick on one of their nose's, and since that nothing has happened. I thought I was the only one who had this, so in a way I am glad someone else is going through it, as I dont know what to do.

Is this something generally boys go through when they are growning up?
are they like us, sometimes we have the ump one day and happy the next day?

- some people tell you to seperate them,
- some people tell you to leave them and unless they are on their back legs with a real fight.

so can I ask for all of us out there with this problem, to all you guinea pig owners, and people who have guinea pigs and know them through and through, what are we ment to do.?

p.s my two are both brothers.