My newly introduced guinea pigs are fighting. Please help!

[Michaeldeebear]

Hi, please help me to understand how I should best bond my two pigs. I have researched as much as I can, but seem to get conflicting reports online and I’d really just like advice.

I adopted my first pig (female, 2 years), who had been living alone for most of her life with her previous owner.
So I had her for about a month before I was able to find another pig (unsure of age, also female) who had been separated from her sister and babies

I figured because of these histories, they might be a bit antisocial. So for the first few weeks, I put a c & c divider between their cage. They seemed to be doing normal dominance displays, rumble strutting, teeth chattering, etc.
So finally I decided to let them interact without the divider. And immediately there was a blur of piggies as they began seriously fighting!
So I separated them again for a bit with the divider.
Now every time I try to bring them together, whether in a neutral place, or in their cage, they immediately fight.
Is this normal at all? Is their relationship doomed? They haven’t drawn blood.
Also weird note. One of the pigs will often get the zoomies and popcorn a lot after getting in a dominance battle. What does that mean?
Btw their cage is 12 sq feet, and so when I split it in half, they each have about 6 sq ft.

Sorry for the really long post. If anyone has bothered to read this far, I’m very grateful.

 

[Claire W]

Hi, please don’t just removed the divider to the cage as they could be fighting due to invasion of territory. When you bond, you need to do so in a neutral space where neither pig has been before. But if they are generally fighting, then they don’t like each other and I’m afraid they will have to live side by side with the divider so they can still interact through the bars without physically getting to each other.

Please have a read of the following links

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

Bonds In Trouble

 

[Piggies&buns]

with everything above. Removing a divider and allowing the piggies to wander into each others cages will be seen as a territory invasion.
I also agree that the fact they are actually fighting means that sadly they do not like each other and they must remain separated permanently. They do not need to have actually drawn blood for this to be determined a failure in bonding given there is an actual fight occurring. They will need to live as side by side neighbours with through the bar interaction only.

However, you will also need to increase the size of each half of the cage. 6sq ft falls below minimum welfare standards. The smallest cage a single piggy should be kept in is 8 sq ft.