Female Problems....help

[Natyna vidato]

I need help please. I am a new piggy owner. So I have done some good things and made some mistakes (please don’t judge). I have had two Guinea pigs females for a month now. They are adorable together. Squeakers (is about 4 months) and Guinea (1 month old). They are best buddies and I love to see them together. My husband and I made a huge cage we call it the Guinea hotel. It is connected to the original cage a pvc pipe runs to both and the second cage we made was huge. So needless to say they have plenty of room and love to popcorn around. I went to the pets store and we saw a (8 month old female) Penny. The pet store worker said that the female guinea pig was her guinea pig and she was looking for a good home for her. She was described as sweet and loving. She loves to sit and watch movies. She has had one liter already. I asked her how she did with other Guinea pigs. She said she was alone but got a lot of love. She also said she should be very sweat to the Guinea pigs. Well I was sold.

I bring her back to the house and this is where the problems start. I introduced the pigs wrong. Man wished I would of read the thread sooner. I put her in the cage and she punks the young one. Then squeakers goes to defend her friend. She says some loud mess in Penny’s ear and flings poop at her. We took all the guniea pigs out and put it them on our shoulder with food. They sniff and eat. I put them in a neutral play area and man good thing I have read about guinea fights. The young one was running around squeaking because penny is chasing her so we pick her up. Then my oldest guinea starts to mouth off to the new one. Squeakers and Penny go at it. They bite each other no blood some fur. Then Squeakers seemed to have enough of the fighting and starts to squeal loudly and stand still. Almost like saying ok you are in charge.

Penny has been a little terror. She bullies the other pigs. She bumps squeakers out of her hammock. She chases guinea and squeakers around the cage. She will come up and they will run to the lower cage. Then she will come and bully them to the lower cage. I have given them two of everything. The upper cage has the same as the lower cage. One time I even sow the little one getting in front of squeakers when penny bumped her to her back. It was almost like she was trying to protect her friend. Then penny goes on and chases her until she goes to the other cage. However, I am worried about the health of my two original guinea pigs. I don’t want them to be depressed. I know its only been a few days but its like enough already. She is dominate and why does she keep going? No one is contesting her dominance. Every time she comes around squeakers, squeakers will squeal loudly. Then penny will look at her chatter her teeth and chase her around. My questions are should I separate them? I feel horrible because everything was going so well but I feel like a ruined my pigges life. ANY advice would be helpful

 

[sport_billy]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Sorry you are going through this. tough times No one is going to judge you, we have all been there with piggies at some point or another....

Has any blood been drawn? How are they acting now? What size is the cage? They will need three houses preferably with with 2 ends so they can't get cornered in them like these playsticks, we use them for our pigs http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/wooden-playsticks-large

It may be worth one last try at bonding, have you seen this thread? Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics Clean the cage so it is fully neutral then introduce them in a neutral playpen where they have plenty of space.... It does sound like there are lots of dominance issues going on. Am tagging @Wiebke in for you she is a behavior guru and there isn't much she doesn't know about piggies and bonding

The other choice is to keep them as a two and a one if Penny is so aggressive - was she in with any other pigs at pet store?

 

[Natyna vidato]

The cage size is the bottom cage is 4 by 2 foot and 24 inches tall and the top cage is 40 inches by 19 inches there is a pvc pipe connecting both cages. The bottom cage has a water bottle , food dish and a hiddie hole that is basically strip's of fabric on both side. I made some pouches for the guniea. Then they have two little platforms the top cage is smaller and is a typical cage. There is a hammock , hay feeder a water bottle a food plate. The hidey hole is a an inclose one. I may have to close it off til an issue is resolved. They don't get cornered except in the up hide hole. They don't go in there if penny comes they go down to the bigger cage and vise versa. The lititle one seems to try to sniff penny but as soon as she turns her head she runs. Squeakers she will ignore her if she even turns in her direction she is gone. If she comes to close she will squel then stand still and Penny will chase her. She is quicker so she will jump and split. We can split the bottom cage and add a cage underneath so penny can still see the pigs bit not bully them. I just dont want to jump the gun. Sigh . I will try the nuetural cage and reintroductions. I am going to cross my fingers

 

[Natyna vidato]

Also she has not drawn blood. Just chunks of fur pulled out once. Now nose pushing , nipping and lots of chasing. And they bulled out chinks of fur. But squeakers gave up and then let her sniff her raised chin ma king noises.

 

[Wiebke]

I need help please. I am a new piggy owner. So I have done some good things and made some mistakes (please don’t judge). I have had two Guinea pigs females for a month now. They are adorable together. Squeakers (is about 4 months) and Guinea (1 month old). They are best buddies and I love to see them together. My husband and I made a huge cage we call it the Guinea hotel. It is connected to the original cage a pvc pipe runs to both and the second cage we made was huge. So needless to say they have plenty of room and love to popcorn around. I went to the pets store and we saw a (8 month old female) Penny. The pet store worker said that the female guinea pig was her guinea pig and she was looking for a good home for her. She was described as sweet and loving. She loves to sit and watch movies. She has had one liter already. I asked her how she did with other Guinea pigs. She said she was alone but got a lot of love. She also said she should be very sweat to the Guinea pigs. Well I was sold.

I bring her back to the house and this is where the problems start. I introduced the pigs wrong. Man wished I would of read the thread sooner. I put her in the cage and she punks the young one. Then squeakers goes to defend her friend. She says some loud mess in Penny’s ear and flings poop at her. We took all the guniea pigs out and put it them on our shoulder with food. They sniff and eat. I put them in a neutral play area and man good thing I have read about guinea fights. The young one was running around squeaking because penny is chasing her so we pick her up. Then my oldest guinea starts to mouth off to the new one. Squeakers and Penny go at it. They bite each other no blood some fur. Then Squeakers seemed to have enough of the fighting and starts to squeal loudly and stand still. Almost like saying ok you are in charge.

Penny has been a little terror. She bullies the other pigs. She bumps squeakers out of her hammock. She chases guinea and squeakers around the cage. She will come up and they will run to the lower cage. Then she will come and bully them to the lower cage. I have given them two of everything. The upper cage has the same as the lower cage. One time I even sow the little one getting in front of squeakers when penny bumped her to her back. It was almost like she was trying to protect her friend. Then penny goes on and chases her until she goes to the other cage. However, I am worried about the health of my two original guinea pigs. I don’t want them to be depressed. I know its only been a few days but its like enough already. She is dominate and why does she keep going? No one is contesting her dominance. Every time she comes around squeakers, squeakers will squeal loudly. Then penny will look at her chatter her teeth and chase her around. My questions are should I separate them? I feel horrible because everything was going so well but I feel like a ruined my pigges life. ANY advice would be helpful

Hi and welcome!
It is often the case that a single guinea pig with a strong human orientation struggles when being introduced to guinea pigs. At the extreme, they will lose the ability to perceive themselves as guinea pigs; most often, they will be on the fear aggressive side, especially if she has been put directly into other piggies' territory, which will have made her feel like an intruder and have contributed to a stronger response - however, if piggies don't like each other, they will not go together. I have plenty of failed sow bondings with my own difficult sows and have found the introduction of single ex-pets the most difficult, especially when they are on the dominant side.

What worries me is not so much the chasing around and the submission squeaking, which are normal dominance behaviour, but the fact that Penny is still teeth chattering at yours, which rather agues that acceptance has not happened.
I would in your case recommend to try a short separation and see how the guinea pigs behave then; re-introduce them on neutral ground. if they all perk up noticeably during separation or if tensions are right up there again the moment they are back togethet, then your bonding attempted has not been successful and - in my own experience - even if the girls settle in some kind truce together mostly by keeping our of each other's way as much as possible, problems will continue to crop up.

If there is no love lost between the three girls, you may want to consider splitting your cages and rather find Penny a baby friend of her liking, provided they can meet before you bring them home, so you can be sure that acceptance has happened or otherwise keep her as neighbour piggy with interaction through the bars.

How big is a single cage of yours? Have you got access to a good rescue from this list here?
Guinea Lynx :: UK Rescue Organizations - The Guinea Pig Forum List

Since we have got members from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country and state, so we can always tailor any advice according to what resources(good vets/rescues or not), climate and brands are available where you are straight away. Click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location.

 

[Natyna vidato]

So I did what you recommended. I put the guniea pigs in a neutral place with two stacks hay and 2 water bottle on each side. I am a little hopeful about there interaction. They started to eat hay. Penny actually tried to sniff squeaker and guinea. They were a little scared so ran away but they are not being hostel. Penny nudged a little but nothing like she been doing. Also when they were in the cage the two piggies areally trying to eat with penny. They will go to the far end of the bottom cage and start to eat. However if she comes to close they will run. .... so does this mea. They are bonding ?

 

[Natyna vidato]

I am in Los Angeles california

 

[Swissgreys]

Firstly welcome to the Forum.
You will get lots of great advice here.

Wiebke asked a good question about cage size.
It sounds like they could be starting to get on, but it would help to know how big their cage is.
Even guinea pigs that get on still need enough space to get away from each other too, and sometimes the stress of being in a small space can make them bicker.

 

[Wiebke]

It is great that dominance has been minimal when you re-introduced. I hope that they will settle down together with Penny in charge.
As long as you give your girls a chance to get our of each other's way if needed, they may be getting on. It sounds like the very worst of the dominance behaviour is over now. Your two other girls are still somewhat wary, but as Penny is hopefully getting more relaxed in her new role, things should normalise.

Just keep an eye out for possible flare-ups whenever Penny is coming into season.

Could you please add your state or city to your details via your profile at the top (accessible by clicking on your username, so it appears under your username and avatar picture on the left. That will allow us to always tailor any advice to brands, climate and conditions in the US straight away and saves time consuming questions.