They Hate Eachother

[cAvYcRaZy]

Hello. I'm fairly new here. My two boy piggies have been fighting so much lately. It's driving me crazy! One pig is 1 year old and the other is 9 months old. The younger one (Pappy) has been picking fights with the older one (Figgie). Figgie doesn't even want to go out of his cage to floor time anymore. I cut this door on the side of the cage so they can go in and out. When Pappy is back in the cage, that's when Figgie goes out and plays. He starts to popcorn a lot too when Pappy's not around.

Can anyone please help me!?!? I know a bigger cage will help but thats not an option right now. Any other ways to stop this fighting?

 

[loves2travel]

what size IS the cage?

 

[three_piggies]

Yes what size is you cage?

You can easily make a bigger temporary cage really cheap. All you need is some card board (free) and cubes ($9-$15) or any type of wire that is higher than 12 in (if you also want to make the card board last even longer you can use lino tiles with self adhesive backs (Dollar Tree 3 for $1, 12inx12in tiles) and cut them to fit inside the cardboard and then stick them on). You make the cage the exact same way as you would with coroplast except you use card board. I just made a 2x4 cc cage out of card board, cubes, and lino tiles because I am getting a new piggy (this weekend) and I will be trying to introduce a third boar to a bonded pair which could take a while.

If space is the problem try rearraging furnature, or trying to fit a bigger cage in where ever you can (example you might need build longer rather than wider).
Other than making a bigger cage, I would suggest separating them by spliting the cage in half. You can use grids, plexi glass, or really anything where they can't break through as a divider.

My 2 boys have occasional squabbles but they have a large cage (CC 2x7) so they just sort it out, or stay out of each others way. Two boars in a small cage tend to squabble a lot because they are always in each others faces. Do you have two or more of everything (water bottle, huts, food dishes etc) in the cage? That sometimes helps. They won't squabble over who gets the water first or who gets to eat first or who gets the hut etc.

Oh also how long have they (your two boars) been housed together?

 

[three_piggies]

Welcome to the forums!!!

 

[critterlover]

Are your 2 boys the only pigs in the cage? Why is a bigger cage not an option right now? Like you've suggested, they're probably very stressed if they're living in too small a cage. Can you keep one of them on the floor for much of the day?
A large C&C cage can be made for less than $100 and it's easy to do. Or you can use cardboard boxes and packing tape to put one of your boys in until you can make a better cage. Just remember to put something down to prevent the cardboard from gettting wet. My piggy was in a cardboard box cage when we first got him and he was just fine.

 

[cAvYcRaZy]

Hi. Thanks for the comments guys! Their cage isn't that big. It's only 2 and a half grids X 3 and a half grids. I'll try keeping Figgy in floor time for most of the day. Figgy and Pappy have been housed together ever since Pappy was 3 weeks old since we had an accidental pregnancy when I first got my two piggies. I had 1 girl and 1 boy.

I'll try giving two of everything too. I gave them 2 veggie dishes today and they didn't fight over the veggies like they usually do.

If anyone has any other ways they got their boars to get along please tell me!

 

[three_piggies]

Ok! hope everything works out!

Now I feel kind of stupid because I said welcome to the forums.When you joined back in like June lol.... silly me....

Oh the cage isn't that small. But for a pair of boars people reccomend a 2x5 cc cage (this is what people told me, they could be wrong though.).....

 

[mncavylover]

They are sort of in their adolescent stages, and can be rather territorial. Just watch them for a while, and see how things go. Good luck!

 

[roosterboy]

That cage is not too small, but eliminate territory and competition. Take out all of the housing igloos and stuff like that from the cage. Turn the cage around 180 degrees and move it around to a different spot every so often. Put the food dish in the center. If you have any sows, put the boars in an area away from them. Anytime one gets agressive, pick him up for awhile. If they continue to fight, make a divider.

 

[Piglet]

5 x 2 for boys? Never heard of that before, but the bigger the better

 

[three_piggies]

I was reading through some threads a while back on lots of guinea pig forums, and a lot of people reccomended 2x5's. As I said above I could be wrong, and obviously I am... This is just what people told me or what I read.
Sorry for the wrong info....

 

[Piglet]

I don't think you're wrong.

I've heard that bathing them together is helpful.

 

[mncavylover]

It's fine to have a cage that is 2x5, the minimum is 2x4 for two though. I agree that boars can be more territorial and this is probably better, but it's not an absolute necessity. Look at the introduction info on www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm for some ideas on how to help them get along.