Fighting

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SirMinter

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We've had our guineas for about half a year now, they've always had little tiffs for dominance but recently it's been getting much much worse with blood being drawn on one of them.

What would be the best course of action while we gather enough money to buy another cage to put alongside the one we currently have... Bought them from pets at home, who told us it'd be fine, and then we go onto help sites, to find its nowhere big enough.

The more dominant guinea just seems to be angry 80% of the time, wether he is with the other or not.
 
Popped a couple of pics on the introduction page, although most of them are a few months old... Sometimes they are pretty well behaved together, and when they sleep, they sleep quite close together.

Johnny is the golden long haired guniea, and Charlie is the black and white Abyssinian.
 
WOW sorry you are going through this. That's awful. If I was to get a second one that's what one of my concerns would be.

I am a new pig owner so unfortunately I have no words of wisdom but I hope you get this resolved.. Poor piggies.
 
SirMinter said:
Popped a couple of pics on the introduction page, although most of them are a few months old... Sometimes they are pretty well behaved together, and when they sleep, they sleep quite close together.

Johnny is the golden long haired guniea, and Charlie is the black and white Abyssinian.
Click to expand...

Ha ha ha My piggie's name is Charlie as well. Nice name. LOL. :))
 
ShawnaB said:
Ha ha ha My piggie's name is Charlie as well. Nice name. LOL. :))
Click to expand...

He is soooo energetic, hates being picked up, but loves the attention he gets when he is there. Unfortunately Johnny recently has decided he wants to be ultra dominant.

Good news is the vet says they are both healthy pigs, and we've got antibiotics for Charlies scar from the fight that caused the blood.
 
Welcome to the forum :)

Firstly - how big is their cage? boys need plenty of space so the bigger the cage you can get the better (4ft x 2ft is the minimum recommended size for 2 pigs)

The general advice is once blood is drawn to separate immediately - when pigs fight they can and will fight to the death and the last thing you need is an injured (or worse) pig.

Is there no way you can set up a temporary home for one of your boys? It would be better if for the moment they were apart, just at least until you can get a second cage - far better to have to 'make-do' than worry over what will happen if you are not there (and you cannot be watching them every minute of every day)

How old are your boys? Boars go through their 'teenage' years from 4-12 months old and this is normally when all male piggie relationships are tested to the max - so make it through - others just fall out - it happens I'm afraid.
 
Sodapops said:
Welcome to the forum :)

Firstly - how big is their cage? boys need plenty of space so the bigger the cage you can get the better (4ft x 2ft is the minimum recommended size for 2 pigs)

The general advice is once blood is drawn to separate immediately - when pigs fight they can and will fight to the death and the last thing you need is an injured (or worse) pig.

Is there no way you can set up a temporary home for one of your boys? It would be better if for the moment they were apart, just at least until you can get a second cage - far better to have to 'make-do' than worry over what will happen if you are not there (and you cannot be watching them every minute of every day)

How old are your boys? Boars go through their 'teenage' years from 4-12 months old and this is normally when all male piggie relationships are tested to the max - so make it through - others just fall out - it happens I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/rabbit-120-guinea-pig-and-dwarf-rabbit-cage-by-ferplast-15982 Is the cage, so literally just under 4 x 2.

We have quite a lot of plastic storage boxes, but there isnt a way to fit a water bottle onto them.

Sounds like they are in their teenage years, they are about 8 months old.
 
If you can do a spot of DIY then i would try and do that until you could get another cage - better to be safe than sorry

Ive got this cage for my neutered boy and his girlfriend - it's the same size as you've got and is the recommended minimum size as set by the RSPCA:

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/hutches_cages/rabbit_cage/120_cm_cages/83034

I used to have a water bottle that came with a sucker type fitting:

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/accessories/feeder_water_bottles/water_bottles/14360#more
 
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Tried the DIY, but anything that isnt tied down with something very heavy and very tall, Charlie will find a way over it...

The second I'm watching it always stops though, nackered from all the staying up worrying though, we did trial have Johnny in a large box full of hay, bedding and carrot overnight (as he is the aggressor) and he was pretty calm, but we're worried that its not going to be good for him.

Which type of bottle? I can only find ones you'd connect to a cage, we've got two of them.
 
I've just seen, I could convert one of the clear big ones into a temporary home with that :)

Thankyou!
 
God it's been a while since i've been here...

Well, I was finally able to afford a new cage for Johnny (god bless the recession) and moved Johnny into it yesterday, the cages have been moved so they are next to eachother but not touching.

Charlie seems to hate it, there is a lot of strutting and he is biting the cage a lot? Is this ok? I haven't moved either of them yet because I want them to get used to eachother again.

On the plus side I think Johnny must be pretty happy as he woke me up at 3am chirping quite loudly... I forgot they could even do this and went into the room expecting to find a bird in the front room.
 
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