My Sows are fighting!! I need help

[lmarieaa]

My girls Basil and Beans are fighting. It started last night when it appeared they were screaming, grunting, and teeth clicking at each other, and having stand offs. They lunged at each other several times before finally settling down. Today, i decided to give them a buddy bath since intervening when they were fighting over a hidey house. During the bath, i noticed they have been giving each other bite wounds. They have a 4X2 cage, with 4 hidey houses, and plenty of food and everything. They were never really best buds, but they have never fought like this before. Basil is 1 1/2 years old (she spent her first year of life alone in a pet store cage before i got her). Beans is 6 months old now. Basil seems antisocial and wants nothing to do with other guinea pigs. When does it become apparent that they need to be seperated? And will the seperation be permanent? I dont know what to do!:ashamed:

 

[AnimalHouse36]

If there is any blood shed they need to be seperated. Could they be in heat?

 

[lmarieaa]

I don't know how to tell if they are in heat. As of right now, they are peaceful together in the cage. They have been together 5 months, why would they be fighting NOW?

 

[AnimalHouse36]

Guinea pigs go into heat every 16 days have you noticed bickering in the past couple of weeks? Usualy it's pretty hard to tell if they're in heat.

 

[lmarieaa]

They typically don't bicker much unless they both want the last chunk of carrot. Its only been in the past few days, and things just seem to be getting progressively worse.

 

[AnimalHouse36]

Try having a blow out cage clean up. Clean food bowls, fleece, grids, anything that might hold a scent. Maybe that will help so that nobody will have there scents.

 

[PixieStix]

Has there been changes to the cage made? It may be something new is causing them to be territorial.

 

[5guinea5pig5]

I think alot of piggies are in heat around now. I have 26 females and out of nowhere they fight. If there's blood seperate.

 

[lmarieaa]

I separated them for the night yesterday because i didnt want them to be left unsupervised with the way they were acting. When i put them back together in the same cage in the morning, it seemed like the separation did the trick- at least for now. :melodrama

 

[breezy2]

Do they each have their own food dish? Even though most piggies do eat out of eachothers, sometimes having two stops bickering over food.

 

[lmarieaa]

Will my piggies ever bond together and like each other, or will they always hate each other? If its the case that they will never warm up to each others presence, is it best to separate them permanently and find them their own separate cage mates rather than force them to unhappily live together? Do piggies that first don't like each other EVER become buddies? Its been about 6 months, is that long enough to know that they will never become buddies?:sad:

 

[Caviekisses]

I had a female, she remained alone and was perfectly fine, she wouldn't associate with anyone (pig or person) other than me and after a few months she finally warmed up to my mom.

Females can get set in their ways and if she's used to being alone then she might not ever change. The easiest solution would be to try putting a divider in their cage for awhile, this way they're still close but don't actually have contact, and then introduce them during playtime and see if her behavior improves.

Good luck.