Fighting Cleaned Cage and now fighting non-stop

[DNytAftr]

Hi everyone, we have 3 male cavies and we cleaned their C&C home about 24 hours ago. Ever since we cleaned, two of the cavies have been fighting non-stop, twice resulting in fur loss underneath the chin (we split them up before any blood could be drawn). In the past they havent acted like this, usually the most we would see in terms of fighting is clicking and raising of the noise, with occasional lunging (no teeth involved). :sad:

The cage is a 2x4 with a 1x4 loft, two water bottles , two food bowls, three pigloos and a pile of hay in the middle of the cage.

We are not really sure how to proceed with the situation right now, any advice would be appreciated

Thanks! :tearsofjo

 

[Leoseb27]

You should try to make the cage bigger. Add more water bottles as well there should be at least one of everything for each pig. Hope it helps!

 

[SuperGilbert]

Agreed, try to increase cage size

 

[jacqueline]

i know that the recommended size for 3 pigs is a 2x4, but i can tell you that especially with boys you really do need more that the minimum.

i have 3 boys and have had to expand their cage multiple times. right now they're in a 3x5, and even now there's still teeth chattering, chasing, and occasional nipping. it seems boys are just a little more territorial i guess.

the other thing that i've noticed that seems to help that i have a cabana and a 2 level tent. when one or the other want to escape being chased, running up to hide gives them better protection against being followed, as opposed to simply runnig in or through a rtunnel or forest, etc.

 

[bpatters]

Bigger cage (see Home page of this website for recommended cage sizes), take out the pigloos or cut an extra exit in them so no pig can get trapped, another water bottle and pellet dish.

With boars and clean cages, it sometimes helps to leave something in the cage that has the old cage smell. That's usually done to keep them from stanking up the place, but may also give them a sense that they're not in a totally new place. You could keep a few pieces of fleece, and throw them back in the clean cage, then replace them in a day or so.

 

[DNytAftr]

You should try to make the cage bigger. Add more water bottles as well there should be at least one of everything for each pig. Hope it helps!

Agreed, try to increase cage size

Thanks guys, we are going to expand the bottom level while keeping the top level similar to what they currently have.

i know that the recommended size for 3 pigs is a 2x4, but i can tell you that especially with boys you really do need more that the minimum.

i have 3 boys and have had to expand their cage multiple times. right now they're in a 3x5, and even now there's still teeth chattering, chasing, and occasional nipping. it seems boys are just a little more territorial i guess.

the other thing that i've noticed that seems to help that i have a cabana and a 2 level tent. when one or the other want to escape being chased, running up to hide gives them better protection against being followed, as opposed to simply runnig in or through a rtunnel or forest, etc.

Thanks for your input. By any chance do you have a picture of your cabana (or link to a cabana)? Your set-up sounds really good, we just wanted to make sure we are visualizing the cabana correctly.
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General Post to anyone:

So here are some designs we are thinking to expand their home, are there any recommendations on how we could improve the design for them, from what we planned. Ideally a 2x4 would be the best foot print (due to apartment room size) but we believe we would be able to move some things, since this seems to be a must at the moment.

 

[DNytAftr]

Bigger cage (see Home page of this website for recommended cage sizes), take out the pigloos or cut an extra exit in them so no pig can get trapped, another water bottle and pellet dish.

With boars and clean cages, it sometimes helps to leave something in the cage that has the old cage smell. That's usually done to keep them from stanking up the place, but may also give them a sense that they're not in a totally new place. You could keep a few pieces of fleece, and throw them back in the clean cage, then replace them in a day or so.

Thanks! we are defiantly going to put some more entrances into the pigloos (since they love sleeping in them). We also use small handtowls under and ontop of the fleece, so instead of changing them out all at once we can change those out in the middle of the week to keep part of the old cage scent.

 

[jacqueline]

here's a picture of jerry poking his head out of the cabana, cause he heard me open the refrigerator door!



and here's a picture of the 2-level bungalow/tent i have as well. it's hard to see, but the bottom is two grids, folded in half (like 2 grid tunnels, side-by-side), with the floor of the tent secured on top.

 

[suzilovespiggie]

Just to add a note. 2x4 is min. cage size for 2 GPs. 2x5 min. for 3. With males bigger is always better. And as everyone has said, dishes, hideys, water bottles one for each pig.

Cage design looks great. Being bigger I am sure you are going to see a big difference.

 

[DNytAftr]

here's a picture of jerry poking his head out of the cabana, cause he heard me open the refrigerator door!

*snip*

and here's a picture of the 2-level bungalow/tent i have as well. it's hard to see, but the bottom is two grids, folded in half (like 2 grid tunnels, side-by-side), with the floor of the tent secured on top.

*snip*

Thanks for the pictures! We were trying to imagine what you were talking about, but couldn't figure out the whole picture. That's a great idea. Thank you for your helpful advice. (p.s. Jerry looks very cute )

Just to add a note. 2x4 is min. cage size for 2 GPs. 2x5 min. for 3. With males bigger is always better. And as everyone has said, dishes, hideys, water bottles one for each pig.

Cage design looks great. Being bigger I am sure you are going to see a big difference.

Thanks for the advice. We're currently "renovating" their home. It's much bigger and much better.

I'd say the Design 2 looks best. The large rectangle will make it harder for a pig to corner another, and it'll seem a lot more open to them. I don't have a loft so I don't know how much pigs use them, but I think keeping the loft the same size is fine. With it in a square shape too, pigs can't be cornered as easily up there either.

We've made the loft into a big rectangle and have tried to keep the bottom piece a rectangle with a little 1x2 piece add on to the rectangle. We didn't have enough table support, so that will have to do for now until we can make room for more space/furniture.

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General post:

Heres what we got so far, still have some work to do on it but our piggy renovation is almost complete. 2x6 top loft and a 2x5 rectangle bottom with 1x2 add on to the side for support of the loft. We widened the ramp to accomodate 2-way guinea pig traffic and moved the ramp to the middle so they can run around it.



(Side note: Earlier i was referring to us as "we", thought i would say that we is referring to myself and my girlfriend lol ... to those who are interested)

 

[suzilovespiggie]

Looks awesome! Cant wait to see the finsihed product

 

[jacqueline]

nice job!! I'm a coward about two-levels and ramps myself - they look too hard to clean! it's hard to tell from the picture, and i know it's still a work in progress. just double check to make sure the ramp isn't too steep!

post picts when you're done and the pigs are doing zoomies!!

 

[DNytAftr]

Renovations complete! You can see Patches sticking his head in one food bowl, Panda is by the ramp and looking at it, and Picasso is by the green Pigloo. We still need to get some little items to fully complete the new renovation (i.e. hideaways w/two exits, extra water bottle, food bowls).

The ramp is at a 30 degree incline. We initially designed the ramp to have a low incline, but not so low that it takes up a lot of cage room. The design of the ramp also included easy cleaning features. It is plastic gutter with two parts stuck together and coroplast as a base of the two pieces for them to walk up. lolWe used velcro (the soft side ONLY! :heart as catchers so they can easily climb up. The velcro is easily removable so it can be changed out frequently.

This picture is taken an hour after we let them back in. So far they haven't had any major showdowns, but any little "bickers" are sorted out by one running away. Your advice on the space really helped. We just have to wait and see what happens in the next fews day.

Thanks guys! lol

 

[jacqueline]

Brilliant!! you did a good thing for your boys. it may take them some time to adjust, so the bickering may not ease much until after they feel at home and have claimed their space. i also think that every time i expanded the cage, they went through some version of the "who's the boss" thing again. of course, George always ​wins!!

 

[henea guinea]

I too am having a fighting issue with my girls. I was wondering if you guys break the fights up immediately or let them work it out a bit. Thank you.

 

[bpatters]

Leave them alone unless someone is bleeding. You'll just slow the adjustment process down if you keep separating them.