Guinea Pigs start fighting after a year together

[arock]

Hey, my girlfriend and I have two guinea pigs together. They are two males which we got from a pet store as babies (pretty young). One of them became the dominate one after some humping (which he still would do periodically, but not that often.... no more then once a week). About a month ago we changed apartments and built them a 2x3 cage with another 1x2 section going off to the side.

Starting last night the dominate one started (pretty viciously) ripping fur off the other male. Basically the submissive one would be in the corner, the dominate one would take two steps towards it, and then the submissive one would flee in terror. Then the dominate one would chase and bite him. This repeated most of the night and day. We've already taken steps to seperate their cage if needed (already done it some too, not sure how time outs work for guinea pigs), but its really a shame. They were fine for a year and now they are just freakin out. Did they get too old or something?

Any help is appreciated.

[ittybitty98577]

Im not sure but I would say they hit pubirty?? My male pig that I just got he was housed with his brother and they were fine but once they hit pubirty the dominant one started to beat my pig (Mick) up. They lady I got him from thought that she would try and re-introduce them after a couple years but it never worked out thats how I got Mick. I would keep them together until someone draws blood. I hope it dosent come to that. Maybe someone els will know more and be able to help you.

[sparkyisnumber1]

My boys will do the same thing, I always just take the dominate one out for a while then put him back in the cage. That way he will settles down, If blood is drawn then it is time to seperate them. If not, they should grow out of it. Puberty could be the cause.

[arock]

When you say seperate, how long do you mean? minutes, hours, days? The dominant one is now in the old cage by himself, but he still has a view into the new cage. He keeps trying to get back into it, always climbing up on the walls and stuff like that.

I haven't seen actual blood, just tuffs of fur torn out.

[Ly&Pigs]

New cage can mean new dominance issues to sort out. If there is no bloodshed you should leave them together to work it out.

How old are they?

[arock]

They are about a year old, but could be a few months less. There is no blood that I've seen but he is biting at him pretty viciously and every time he rips out some more hair. They really yell at each other a lot too

[Laurenashley85]

Mine are doing this right now too, although I really have no explanation as to why. They're both over the age limit for puberty...2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old. My dominant one just starts randomly beating up on my submissive one whenever he feels the need. They could be fine for weeks or months and then all of a sudden they're going at it. They yell at each other constantly too. The noise at night is really obnoxious. However, I haven't separated yet. There's no blood and my dominant one isn't actually the one biting...the submissive one is. He tends to take nips because he gets annoyed with being chased/humped/bothered all the time. The only time they actually get along is when they're sharing a plate of food. Odd.

Sorry you're having trouble. I know how you feel

[ronald305]

Mine to, my two girls were fine for 2 month and today My Sophie as it looks want's to hurt Lucie as I can hear her (Lucie) weeping sounds to get away, Anyway, Before they would just rumblestrut around each other, normal stuff but now I don't know why Sophie is acting like that, could she be in season should I keep the divider up for now,they each have their own food bowls and water bottles,OOh and Sophie is nawing at the divider to get to Lucie, can any one help here-thank you

[relay]

I didn't know girl piggies rumblestrut. Hmmm... how odd. What is the age for piggie puberty? My pigs are about 6 months old at the moment. They're brothers and have been together ever since they were born. They fight on occasion but not too much. There's never any blood and no hair torn out. I think one of them did bite the other and left a scab of sorts. Should this extreme fighting be something I should be planning for or worrying about? Do all male pigs have the tendency to go through this "emotional" puberty?

[arock]

Ok here is an update.

Changed their cage size to 4x3 and setup a divider in the center (just 2 walls, but I can add a 3rd to totally seperate them as needed). So far they still chase each other around a bit, but no longer tear hair out.

[Ziggy&Herald]

Originally Posted by relay

I didn't know girl piggies rumblestrut. Hmmm... how odd. What is the age for piggie puberty? My pigs are about 6 months old at the moment. They're brothers and have been together ever since they were born. They fight on occasion but not too much. There's never any blood and no hair torn out. I think one of them did bite the other and left a scab of sorts. Should this extreme fighting be something I should be planning for or worrying about? Do all male pigs have the tendency to go through this "emotional" puberty?

Female pigs do rumblestrutt and go through all the dominance issues that males have. They just tend to be slightly less physical.

Males can live very happily together. It just depends on the pigs personalities as to how bad squabbles will get. The cage size and having to share contribute to all of it as well.

All males will go through puberty to the sense that they may try to establish dominance again and have a few more bickering between them. Unless they start drawing blood, I would not worry too much about it.

Originally Posted by ronald305

Mine to, my two girls were fine for 2 month and today My Sophie as it looks want's to hurt Lucie as I can hear her (Lucie) weeping sounds to get away, Anyway, Before they would just rumblestrut around each other, normal stuff but now I don't know why Sophie is acting like that, could she be in season should I keep the divider up for now,they each have their own food bowls and water bottles,OOh and Sophie is nawing at the divider to get to Lucie, can any one help here-thank you

I would leave them together. A females season comes and goes pretty quickly.