Dominance Two female guinea pigs suddenly fighting after pregnancy

MomoPrincess · Dec 9, 2020

I bought two female guinea pigs (they were mother and daughter) from craigslist (not a very smart idea) and 1~2 months later when I was checking on them in the morning there were suddenly two other tiny guinea pigs! I figured out that the mother (we call her Momo) must have been pregnant and gave birth. On that same day, the daughter guinea pig (her name is Princess) was in labor too but sadly her baby didn't survive. I think it might be because of "young age" since she was only 4~5 months old and I heard they can't do birth naturally during this age or maybe because of "premature birth" (how could they be pregnant the same exact day)... although I don't want to think of this as an option but I think the baby might have died because she bit and ate the baby and the baby stomach was open and you can see the organs inside... that was a extremely painful sight to see and we buried the poor dead baby.

Anyways, Princess have been feeding the babies even though they aren't her babies. And I saw her once feed from Momo even though she is 4 months old! Princess and Momo always got along and were quite a pair but now I'm having a feeling Princess is either jealous or Momo doesn't wanted Princess around her babies.... I have noticed around one of Momo's eyes, it is kind of pink~red and I saw Momo had hair on her mouth (like she barbered Princess) and whenever they face each other they start growling and making weird noises. It must have something to do with dominance because Princess just tried to spray pee on Momo.

Should I separate them? OR take away the babies after 2~3 weeks? How should I handle the situation... I really don't want them to fight

Smileandnod · Dec 9, 2020

First question which is asked a lot on the forum...but makes a huge difference...How big is the cage they are sharing?

A lot of people try to exaggerate their cage size and continue to look for a reason for multiple guinea pigs not getting along...and it basically comes down to not having enough room. You will need a bigger cage with babies as well.

Post a picture and we can offer suggestions.

The baby that died was most likely stillborn or died from defects. Doubtful that the young mom caused the death but may have tried to clean the stillborn and inadvertently caused what appeared to be injury.

Two moms feeding each other's babies is normal and not a problem.

I suspect the eye thing may be fungal related. If it is fungal, you want to take care of it as soon as possible. Post a picture and we can take a look.

MomoPrincess · Dec 11, 2020

The cage I'm using is midwest plus which I believe is 47 x 24 x 14 inches. I think you're right because they didn't used to fight before but ever since the babies arrive they have started to fight/act dominant. I'm making a wood cage (48x48 inches- it's a square shape) currently and might be connecting it with midwest cage. This should be big enough right?

I don't think it's fungal infection because it's healing now and I recently gave both of my guinea pigs a bath (because they were scratching alot) and ivermectin.

bpatters · Dec 11, 2020

You need to hurry with the larger cage before the pups' ears get chewed off. That happens very frequently when the cage is overcrowded with pups.

A Midwest is not really large enough for two sows, much less two sows and pups.

MomoPrincess · Dec 13, 2020

I stayed up until 3am haha to make the cage, they are settled and aren't fighting one bit (sometimes for the hidey, so we made/ also bought new hideys). Thanks alot guys!

bpatters · Dec 13, 2020

Make sure all the hideys have two doors. Otherwise they're just invitations for one pig to trap another and get a face slashed.

Smileandnod · Dec 13, 2020

I am very glad things have improved. More room is a wonderful way to increase the peace between pigs.

Here's another suggestion: Fleece forests work great as an alternative to hideys to keep things peaceful. Easily & cheaply made with fleece.

Enjoy the little ones and remember to separate male babies from the females at 3 weeks (this includes mom!). This is very important.

MomoPrincess · Dec 14, 2020

Oh no... this had happened a lot of times, I thought it just meant "oh it's my turn now!", it had two doors but they still fought over it...

MomoPrincess · Dec 14, 2020

Smileandnod said:
Fleece forests work great as an alternative to hideys to keep things peaceful. Easily & cheaply made with fleece.

Enjoy the little ones and remember to separate male babies from the females at 3 weeks (this includes mom!). This is very important.

I didn't know there was a name for this but I actually have 2~3 fleece forests around and they absolutely love it because they don't fight or get "face slashed", fleece forests definitely works for my guinea pigs!

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Dominance Two female guinea pigs suddenly fighting after pregnancy

MomoPrincess

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MomoPrincess

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bpatters

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MomoPrincess

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Smileandnod

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MomoPrincess

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