New Guinea Pig Fighting With Older Guinea Pig

[sellah]

I’ve recently lost one of my Guinea pigs, Shaggy, who was bonded with my other Guinea pig, S’mores, and they never fought before. S’mores would always show his dominance to Shaggy but he just let him do it since he never really cared and I’ve never had an issue with them not getting along.

However, since Shaggy unfortunately passed away, I got a new piggy a little after he had passed and he’s 4 months old. I got a younger pig because I heard it was good to get a pig younger so it helps to prevent fighting, as the younger pig would typically surrender to the older pig. That hasn’t been the case with this piggy though.. I introduced them in an open area away from S’mores cage, and put some hay down.

But, when S’mores realized there was a new pig he obviously immediately showed his dominance towards him, teeth chattering, chasing, etc.. it ended up getting worse and they fought. I grabbed the new pig with a towel and separated them, I put their cages right by each other so they can sniff each other and still see each other. S’mores shows his dominance still by teeth chattering but the new pig doesn’t show any dominance back, he just looks at him and kinda continues on what he was doing. It’s been about a week now and I re-introduced them but they still were both VERY dominant. S’mores had his hair sticking up, teeth chattering, chasing each other and so on. They looked like they were about to lunge at each other again so I de-escalated the situation and separated them again.

I don’t know what to do though, is there any way I can get them to get along even though they keep being so dominant towards the other? I would hate to have to re-home the new pig but I don’t know if they’ll ever be able to share a cage together. Any advice?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.

While introducing a younger pig can help, it still comes down to character compatibility and mutual liking. At four months of age, your piggy is a teenager so is starting to get quite hormonal which won’t be helping.

Unfortunately If they don’t have compatibility then bonding will not work. It’s not something they will tend to change their minds about.
It sounds as if your two piggies will not get on particularly if they have had an actual fight and sadly they will now need to be kept permanently separated.
If you have space for two cages side by side permanently, then they can live that way quite happily without you needing to rehome him.
They can interact between the bars so still have companionship but not have to share a territory when they don’t get on.

Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[Bill & Ted]

So sorry the bonding didn’t work out, you can never tell with piggies they are all such individuals but they will be fine as neighbours

 

[PoptartShop]

So sorry it doesn't look like the bonding worked out. It happens.
You could always try again, in a neutral space (no food, hay, hideys, etc.).
Otherwise, you could just keep them separate and the cages next to each other as an alternative.