Fighting A New Fight

[MsCarter8705]

So, my female cavies have always gotten along so I combine their floor time. The last time, one of my older females viciously attacked one of my babies. I was shocked but broke them up and separated them immediately. This is a first, I was going to move them all go one 2x6 cage but I'm a bit afraid now. Any help?

 

[SurfingPigs]

What do you mean by viciously attacked? And, how old/large is the baby?

Unfortunately, sharing floor time and then separating essentially equates to multiple introductions. With this happening, the pigs are likely working out a dominance structure. If you could describe what happened and provide more info about all of the pigs, we might be able to help a little better.

To hopefully provide some comfort: I just did intros last week with a new female being introduced to a trio. My neutered male and the new female spent the better part of 3 days chasing, chattering, rumbling, raising hackles, etc. Basically EVERYTHING listed here under dominance behavior (halfway down the page): Guinea Pigs Social Life

So long as nobody is being bullied to the point of bloodshed or inability to ever relax, eat, or drink, they should be allowed to work things out. My pigs sat in their introduction area for 2 hours while I cleaned everything in their cage and changed all of the bedding. Now, 2 weeks later, everyone is getting along very well with only the occassional rumble or nip.

 

[MsCarter8705]

Well my baby, Twixie, is only 8 months, the older one, Sapphire, is 3 years old. Sapphire had her cornered and was teeth chattering, which caught my attention. Sapphire then pounced on her and managed to rip out some fur. Twixie was screaming, I grabbed a towel and covered the two and separated them. Been separate since.

 

[SurfingPigs]

Have you read the link that I provided in my last response? If not, I would start by doing that. Without the information on that page you are really shorthanding yourself.

To do this, you must commit to giving them a shot together. Once you are ready, prepare a new area to introduce all of your pigs you want living together in. This should be an area that none of the pigs are familiar with, and with none of their smells around. Follow the instructions in the link on how to introduce the pigs, what behavior is normal, and what behavior is not. If introductions are done as suggested in the link and there is no blood drawn, place them in the cage (which needs to be completely cleaned, top to bottom, with no accessories either pig has had in the cage unless it, too, has been cleaned). Familiarize yourself with what behavior to expect, and be confident in your pigs. My last intros were full of (at times very scary) aggression, but now all is well. Best of luck, and let us know if you have more questions.

 

[MsCarter8705]

I'll try again, I'm going go be doing changes to the cages later and we will try again