My gorgeous pigs (two boys, one 7 months one 11 months) suddenly turned on each other last night. The fight was so bad my youngest has a ripped ear, bloody nose and tears on his skin all in a matter of seconds. My oldest seems fine. This has never happened before and they have lived together for 2 months quite happily, they share food and drink, toys and beds, cuddles, everything.
They're currently separated and have a huge house. We are just heading out to get separate bottles, bowls and hideaways but is there anything else i should do? I would be heartbroken if I had to remove my oldest. Please help
Hi and welcome
They can still continue to live in a divided large pen or in adjoining cages as a 'can't live together but can't live apart' boar pair with each their own patch but with ongoing interaction and round the clock stimulation from each other - which is what they need.
Please don't blame your older boy. It is most likely that he was badly pushed or cornered by the younger one and overreacted in defence as the only way out. Most severe bites happen actually out of fear/being trapped, not aggression.
In the end, they are both still teenagers without the option of the 'loser' removing themselves from the scene, like they would normally do. If anybody is to blame, then it is our own human pet keeping system which is in not geared towards boar needs and their specific social wiring, and therefore sadly fails them all too often on all sorts of levels.
Who thinks about a personality match first and foremost when rushing out to buy babies from a pet shop or from an online provider, neither of which cares one bit about species needs and welfare?
Rescues (Adoption and Dating), Shops, Breeders or Online? - What to consider when getting guinea pigs
A permanent separation with adjoining territories will give them exactly that way out but still cover their social needs.
This helpful guide has chapters on specific challenges for fallen-out piggies and an in-depth discussion of your various options with their pros and cons:
Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities
For territorial behaviours (which you will be observing quite a bit of in the coming days) see the relevant entry in this guide here; it also has an entry on biting behaviours:
A - Z of Guinea Pig Behaviours
Please take the time to read the coloured links in this thread. They contain lots of helpful in-depth information and how-to tips that we cannot repeat in every post but that will help you understand better what has happened and what all your possible options are for the future, so you can think things through and then make as informed a decision as possible to what solution does suit your own situation and local options best. Don't rush into a knee-jerk reaction in your upset which you may come to rue later.
it’s so sad I know
