Fight :( :( :(

[Coconut]

After three and a half weeks of living happily together Betsy and Forest had a massive falling out today to the point where Forest has now been separated from the girls. Since we got them Forest has always done a lot of rummblestrutting and mounting but the girls were fine with it and would either run (Lola) away or push him off (Betsy and sometimes Miss Piggy) and just ignore it. But the past couple of days Betsy has decided she had enough and has attempted several times to mount Forest who would just run from her. Then earlier today Betsy starting teeth chattering really loudly, I sat and watched them but as nothing else came of it (the other three pigs just ignored her) I decided to leave them and see how things got on. A little bit later I was sitting in my room when I heard really loud teeth chattering from both Betsy and Forest. I removed Forest and put him in the traveling case but with pressure from my family decided to give it one more go and put him back in, not a good idea. Both were teeth chattering like mad and before I could get in to remove one Betsy leaped at Forest, who retreated to the other side of the cage, showing her teeth with further teeth chattering. I immediately took Forest out and put him back in the case. I'm now waiting on the other set of towels to dry and will put Lola and Forest and the other cage once it is set up .

I feel horrible on one side I've got two pigs that can't stand each other: one with a nice cut on her nose and the other crying because he doesn't like being alone and on the other side I have my older sister moaning at me to put them back in with each other because she doesn't think my dad will like having two cages, even though he rarely goes upstairs so won't even know if we don't tell him (though I don't like not telling him I see no point in starting him off). Now I'm also in trouble because I wouldn't let her go get Betsy out whilst I had Forest out of the case on my lap. I would have been happy for Betsy to come out after but I'd literally just got Forest out and didn't want any tensions or anything to start. But like she does she kept going on and eventually it lead to the point where 'I think I am in charge of all the animals' which for one I don't and happily accept i share the dog but admittedly do tell them to not do stuff (my sister loves feeding her anything and seeing as she has a sensitive stomach and I get to pick up her poo I think I have a right to say something) and three out of the four Guinea pigs are fully mine as i paid for them and I do everything for all four of them (other than the fun cuddling, getting them out, etc which they'll all happily do) and that's the reason I paid for them because my brother kept saying Bailey and Miss Piggy were still part his because he initially paid towards them but later did nothing. So it got to the point where I was saying no just because I can't stand it that she won't accept no when these are my pigs and she doesn't know a thing about guinea pig behavior and actually wanted me to put forest back in after the fight because she didn't get to see it happen, very mature from someone who is supposed to be an adult and moving out soon.

Ahhh just realized I've really digressed from my original point :0 very sorry it's just really got on my nerves and needed to rant (another post would probably have been a better idea sorry). How long should I give it before I try them back together? Would it be better to split the c&c and put a pair on each side or should I give them their space? I'm really upset now as all I want is one cage with four happy piggies but things don't always work out 8... Pretty terrible timing as well as I start college on Thursday. When I do eventually try them back together how slow will I need to take it? Should I leave it until Forest is a bit older and calmed down? And finally how successful are these reintroductions normally?

Thank you for reading and well done if you made it through the whole post lol, just really needed to get that out and get some advice on the best way to go with this.

 

[piggyfan]

Oh you poor thing. That must have been a shock for you. I think you did the right thing to remove Forest. It sounds like it could have been a nasty fight. As they were getting on before have you thought about bathing him and Bety together? This could help bond them. It worked with my Sophie and Peronel who were teeth chattering non stop.

Your sister does not sound very understanding. You have to do what is right for your animals and not your dad. They are your guinea pigs as you do the cleaning and real work that helps keep them happy. No wonder you are annoyed with your sister. I would be too!

 

[flintstones]

Not a good day for you, it's horrible when our pigs decide they no longer like each other.

What is however jumping out at me is your girl decided to try and hump the little boy - it's possible she's in season and will calm down in a day or two I would take it slow though. Initially let them meet on your lap see how they get on any signs of aggression, take your cues from the pigs.

 

[Coconut]

Oh you poor thing. That must have been a shock for you. I think you did the right thing to remove Forest. It sounds like it could have been a nasty fight. As they were getting on before have you thought about bathing him and Bety together? This could help bond them. It worked with my Sophie and Peronel who were teeth chattering non stop.

Your sister does not sound very understanding. You have to do what is right for your animals and not your dad. They are your guinea pigs as you do the cleaning and real work that helps keep them happy. No wonder you are annoyed with your sister. I would be too!

Thanks Piggyfan. And it was the worst I've ever seen them, she's always been quite pushy with the others but she's never actually launched herself in such an aggressive way with full teeth showing. She was already bleeding so I wanted to get one out as soon as. I think I might try bathing tomorrow Betsy is still very wound up and on high alert. Hopefully they'll be happy together again, I just don't want to rush it and make it worse.

And she really isn't understanding, I admit I can be very obsessive and controlling but I'm just generally trying to stop things from getting worse but she's just doing what is convenient for her. In all honesty my dad was mainly angry the other day because they are in the middle of our room but this is only because all her stuff for her new flat is in the space they're meant to be. I hate moaning about my family to other people (I'm pretty much of the mindset that these things should be kept between the family) but it is the same arguement every time and I literally don't have anyone to talk/ moan to about it.

 

[Coconut]

Not a good day for you, it's horrible when our pigs decide they no longer like each other.

What is however jumping out at me is your girl decided to try and hump the little boy - it's possible she's in season and will calm down in a day or two I would take it slow though. Initially let them meet on your lap see how they get on any signs of aggression, take your cues from the pigs.

It really wasn't . I had wondered if it was related to something like that as they've been pretty much fine for three weeks then she suddenly decided she wants to mount him, which he didn't want her to do. I'll give it a couple of days then try these things. Thank you it really is appreciated.

 

[gogoguineas]

I've had the same thing today! I've posted a thread too, just called 'Help!' lol but i got another pair of boys and this morning they've decided they hate each other. They are now in seperate cages and after reading this and seeing how similar the fights were, no damage on my part tho, i do feel we've both done the right thing in seperating.

Mine have been apart all day and ive tried again tonight but no luck I'm gonna give it a few days to a week and try again and if no luck I need to rethink my plans. Hope yours works out hun, esepcially as one doesn't like being alone, breaks your heart doesn't it? xx

 

[piggyfan]

Thanks Piggyfan. And it was the worst I've ever seen them, she's always been quite pushy with the others but she's never actually launched herself in such an aggressive way with full teeth showing. She was already bleeding so I wanted to get one out as soon as. I think I might try bathing tomorrow Betsy is still very wound up and on high alert. Hopefully they'll be happy together again, I just don't want to rush it and make it worse.

And she really isn't understanding, I admit I can be very obsessive and controlling but I'm just generally trying to stop things from getting worse but she's just doing what is convenient for her. In all honesty my dad was mainly angry the other day because they are in the middle of our room but this is only because all her stuff for her new flat is in the space they're meant to be. I hate moaning about my family to other people (I'm pretty much of the mindset that these things should be kept between the family) but it is the same arguement every time and I literally don't have anyone to talk/ moan to about it.

You did the right thing. If guinea pigs actually make one another bleed you cannot possibly leave it.

I hope your sister moves out soon then. I can understand you needing to talk about family issues. You cannot help it. If you ever need to talk you are welcome to pm me.

 

[Coconut]

I've had the same thing today! I've posted a thread too, just called 'Help!' lol but i got another pair of boys and this morning they've decided they hate each other. They are now in seperate cages and after reading this and seeing how similar the fights were, no damage on my part tho, i do feel we've both done the right thing in seperating.

Mine have been apart all day and ive tried again tonight but no luck I'm gonna give it a few days to a week and try again and if no luck I need to rethink my plans. Hope yours works out hun, esepcially as one doesn't like being alone, breaks your heart doesn't it? xx

Ahhh sorry to hear that, funny isn't it how they can go from being the best of friends to hating each other in a matter of hours? And that was one of the worst bits he wouldn't stop squeaking until he was with one of the others. Thank you , I hope everything works out with yours as well, hopefully a little time away from each other will let them cool down and realize how much they miss each other.



I've actually got great news the group is back together. I decided instead of splitting them into totally different cages I'd just split the c&c with Lola and Forest on one side and Miss Piggy and Betsy on the other, this didn't go brilliant. I'm gonna cut a long story short because I tend to go over board with too much detail lol. This didn't go well as there was still a lot of fighting signs when they could see each other but when they couldn't they were fine. So I took both of them out in the garden today and being something they're not used to (only had them a little while mixed with the rubbish wet weather we've had) Forest was quite scared and literally followed Betsy everywhere. When I put them in the run there was a little bit of teeth chattering and chasing but nothing too bad. I added Lola and Miss Piggy and they continued to be fine. I then brought them inside for some inside running time and although they didn't really take much notice of each other this was a good sign for me so I thought I'd try them back in the cage as a group. By this point I'd already cleaned the cage and changed it quite a bit. So they've now been back together for about two hours and other than a little bit of teeth showing from Betsy it is going well. He doesn't seem to be bothered about teeth chattering back and she is laying off him a lot more. This has lead me to think even more that it might have been Betsy in season as she has calmed down a lot since yesterday and isn't attempting to mount him anymore.

Thank you for the help it really is appreciated. Hopefully they'll remain as one happy, piggie family |).

A little evidence lol :

 

[Coconut]

You did the right thing. If guinea pigs actually make one another bleed you cannot possibly leave it.

I hope your sister moves out soon then. I can understand you needing to talk about family issues. You cannot help it. If you ever need to talk you are welcome to pm me.

Thank you I really appreciate that .