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Can you please clarify what you mean by fighting? We see people refer to fighting but that isn’t what is actually happening.
Fighting is a full on, ball of rolling around which is likely to cause injury. If that occurs then the bond has failed and immediate and permanent separation must happen. These fights occur when they are not compatible and that won’t change.
If they are showing normal dominance - chasing, rumbling, mounting - then that is not fighting and is as long as it remains within the mild realms, then it is not a problem and not of concern. You don’t do anything.
This kind of behaviour is how they establish and and maintain their relationship lifelong.
This period of dominance is more intense when they move to a new home. They have to establish their bond again in every new environment and This takes around two weeks for them to complete this process.
What you can do is check that all your hides have two exits and that there are multiple of everything in the cage.
We advise that you don’t use food bowls and instead scatter veg and pellets onto the loose hay piles on the cage floor. This not only stops any risk of bickering over food but importantly provides mental stimulation and encourages their natural foraging abilities.
You can also sometimes with some pairs, find that a ramp to a loft can become a problem if the dominant claims it as their own and refuses to let the other use of
- What can trigger a new hierarchy sort-out?
- What can I do to mitigate the impact?
With an average life span of only around 3 years and a hostile environment, wild guinea pig social life is much more fluid and eventful, whether that is losses, births, regular leadership changes, new boars being accepted or changes to the territory due to climate extremes, infectious illnesses, predation and the waxing and waning of group fortunes and the amount of territory they can claim around their denning areas.
What can trigger...
1 List of dominance behaviours in ascending order of aggression
2 What may cause this type of behaviour in boars?
3 When do you see these behaviours in sows?
4 What can trigger fall-outs?
5 Further helpful guide links
I thought it may be handy to have a sticky on typical dominance behaviours for a reference - hopefully it may help humans understand guinea pigs and their behaviour a bit more and hopefully prevent some avoidable problems!
1 List of dominance behaviours...
1 Common myths and misconceptions
2 The different ages (including teenage)
- Important biological facts
- The formative 'School Weeks' (3 weeks - ca. 4 months)
- The Teenage Months (ca. 4-14 months)
- The Adult Years (ca. 15 months - ca. 4-5 years)
- The Golden Age (ca. 4-5 years until end of life)
3 What do boars need? (List of boar dos and don'ts)
- Space, space and more space!
- Respecting the hierarchy
- The 'one for each...
