Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Register for free to enjoy the full benefits.
Find out more about the NEW, drastically improved site and forum!

Register

Behavior 2 Fighting Pigs!

JDanielle67

Member
Cavy Gazer
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Posts
5
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Messages
5


Hi! We got 4 pigs 2 months ago. They've all been getting along fairly well. However just today I noticed our 2 most dominant girls fighting ( Peaches -American Guinea Pig 4 months old - and Snickers -Abyssinian 3 months old) . There was teeth chattering, angry chirping at each other and chasing each other around the cage. We had pig hair flying in chunks from both girls. I read that unless it's a full blown out fight you should just watch carefully. However I noticed that when another one of our less dominant pigs accidentally gets in the way the upset pig turns on the poor bystander pig. We have plenty of hideys with an upstairs as well. They have plenty of space. What should I do? Thank you! I also noticed Peaches seems to be the instigating the fights she gets along with everyone else but Snickers, and even then her and Snickers get along the majority of the time they just started fighting today. I noticed Peaches eating a lot, it was mentioned to me that she might be going through some hormonal changes? We got Peaches and Fay together (Both American) , then about a week later we got Snickers and Fawn (Both Abyssinian) I hope I provided enough info! I love my pigs and I want to help them the best I can. My husband tells me I over mother them sometimes! Thank you
 

JDanielle67

Member
Cavy Gazer
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Posts
5
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Messages
5
P_20151221_213119.jpgP_20151129_144557.jpgP_20151221_213134.jpgP_20151221_213304.jpg These are my pigs, 1st picture is Peaches shes the oldest, 2nd Picture is Snickers who is the dark Pig, and Fawn who is the light colored one, they were litter mates so they are the same age. 3rd Picture is Fay, Shes a few weeks younger than Peaches we think .
 

bpatters

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Posts
29,251
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
29,251
I answered you over at GL, but will just add here that those hideys take up nearly all the space in the cage. Guinea pigs need room to run.
 

Saylavi

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Posts
529
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Messages
529
Hmm, sometimes pigs just go through behavioral changes as they age, or they might be fighting over a limited resource.
do you have 2 water bottles, 2 hay sources, 2 spots for veggies in the morning, and does your ramp to the upstairs have enough space for two pigs? These could lead to bickering.
Also I think I see a Midwest in the picture, even if you add a loft to it a Midwest won't be big enough for 4 piggies. Each piggy needs 4 square feet, technically more but I don't like decimals. A Midwest barely meets the space requirements for two pigs, so four pigs would need at the very least two midwests, and that's assuming all the space is usable. Once you add hideys and ramps and hay and water bottles four pigs should really have a lot more room than that, it'd be like sharing your bedroom with 3 other people, and each person has their own bed and dresser. Four people fit in a room easily until you add furniture. Space is important with aggression issues. That's part of the reason why so many people on here go for c&c cages, they're easier and cheaper to expand once they're set up.
Also have there been any recent changes to have led to this? Changing up the cage or something?
lastly how did you originally introduce them? (Just curious)

edit: you have pictures of 5 distinctly different pigs, are they all in the same cage? If so take that up to a minimum of 3 midwests. The more pigs you add the more space you need.
 
Last edited:

bpatters

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Posts
29,251
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
29,251
@Saylavi, the minimum space recommended for one pig is 7.5 square feet, not four.
 

JDanielle67

Member
Cavy Gazer
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Posts
5
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Messages
5
Thank you. Do you know of anything we can do in the meantime? As we cannot add to the cage immediately? They seem calm right now, I'm concerned were going to leave the apartment and they are going to get into a more serious fight when we aren't here. When they do fight, should we separate them, or let them figure out who is the "alpha" pig so to speak? Thank you. I do sincerely want what is best for them. Do you have any ideas of cost effective ways to expand the cage? Our budget is tight... [MENTION=36306]Saylavi[/MENTION] We got them a week apart, put them in a neutral territory together for a bit then after a bit of getting to know each other we out them together in a clean cage.
 

Saylavi

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Posts
529
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Messages
529
Thank you. Do you know of anything we can do in the meantime? As we cannot add to the cage immediately? They seem calm right now, I'm concerned were going to leave the apartment and they are going to get into a more serious fight when we aren't here. When they do fight, should we separate them, or let them figure out who is the "alpha" pig so to speak? Thank you. I do sincerely want what is best for them. Do you have any ideas of cost effective ways to expand the cage? Our budget is tight... @Saylavi We got them a week apart, put them in a neutral territory together for a bit then after a bit of getting to know each other we out them together in a clean cage.

Uh, the cheapest thing I can think to do is get C&C grids and add them to the Midwest grids, that being said if you don't have the space in your home to have a 3'x10' cage you may need to get creative.
 

JDanielle67

Member
Cavy Gazer
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Posts
5
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Messages
5
Uh, the cheapest thing I can think to do is get C&C grids and add them to the Midwest grids, that being said if you don't have the space in your home to have a 3'x10' cage you may need to get creative.
Where can you find C&C grids and the coropast(?) to go underneath? Would an upstairs suffice?
 

Saylavi

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Posts
529
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Messages
529
Yes and no, they need floor space more than anything, I wouldn't do more than 2 levels.
i get my grids on Amazon.com

also @bpatters I know what I did wrong, https://www.guineapigcages.com I keep thinking a square meter is 6 square feet, it's 10.7 (says google.) Yay imperial measurements and my bad math. :)

Danielle floor time will help, give them ample floor time to wear themselves out as often as possible, tired piggies fight less. Yes that means poo on your floors, and you shouldn't do that if you have dogs, but...
 

bpatters

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Posts
29,251
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
29,251
This is a great time of year to get cage materials. Find a bunch of old candidate signs from last month's elections, tape them together on the bottom size, and all you need to add is grids. They're available from Walmart for about $25 for a box big enough to make a large cage. Or you might find the grids on Craigslist or Kijiji. See the Main tab at the top of this page for information on how to make a C&C cage, and look through the photo galleries for cage styles.

You need a large flat area, not levels. Ramps are just invitations for one pig to block another, although many pigs do manage to live with them. But they need the room to run. You'll be amazed at the difference in the behavior of your pigs when they've got room to do "zoomies."

As to what to do, I'd separate them into pairs if I couldn't provide a larger cage immediately. Someone's going to get hurt badly with that many pigs in that small cage. You'll have to do full reintroductions when you put them back together if you do that, but it's better than one of them losing an eye or developing a serious abscess from a bite.
 

JDanielle67

Member
Cavy Gazer
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Posts
5
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Messages
5
Yes and no, they need floor space more than anything, I wouldn't do more than 2 levels.
i get my grids on Amazon.com

also @bpatters I know what I did wrong, https://www.guineapigcages.com I keep thinking a square meter is 6 square feet, it's 10.7 (says google.) Yay imperial measurements and my bad math. :)

Danielle floor time will help, give them ample floor time to wear themselves out as often as possible, tired piggies fight less. Yes that means poo on your floors, and you shouldn't do that if you have dogs, but...
I can try floor time, and save up and figure out the cage thing. The pigs are the only pets. One more question. Whenever we've done floor time in the past they just hide...any suggestions on getting them to be active in floor time? We have a big linoleum covered area we've used. Then put down newspaper and fleece so they can grip the floor.
 

Saylavi

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Posts
529
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Messages
529
I'd follow bpatters on this one, separating them for now.
as for floor time start by blocking off a smallish area (6'x6' ish) and work your way up.
 

bpatters

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Posts
29,251
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
29,251
If you've got a big linoleum area, block it off with boxes or grids, put some bedding down, and let that be the cage until you can get a bigger one made. Seriously, you're going to have a badly injured pig if you keep four pigs in that small cage.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.

Similar threads

P
Replies
8
Views
439
ItsaZoo
ItsaZoo
K
Replies
1
Views
286
bpatters
bpatters
Guinea_Pigs_Are_A_lifest
Replies
9
Views
584
memorablereceive
M
Top