New Guinea Pig Troubles :/

Kidkay17

Kidkay17

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So a few days ago I bought my first guinea pig (cocoa bean) she's 6 weeks, petrified which I've read is normal when they're new. I thought having her alone would be a good way to bond but read that they need companions, so the next day i went back to the store and bought another guinea pig (meatball) which is one of cocoa's siblings. But when I brought meatball home and put her in the cage with her sister, of course they hid from me in the corner, but whenever I was out of sight i could hear them fighting. And when look, they'd run and hide together but then repeat. It happened like every hour last night and today I was scared to leave them alone together but didn't have another cage, their cage is pretty big so that they don't have to be near eachother if they didnt want to, so when I came home they started fighting again and I had gotten another cage temporarily and so I seperated them, but meatball is still squealing and running around as if being chased. I feel bad and dont know what else to do?
 
Hello and welcome to the Forum
:wel:

Firstly you might wan to start with some general information on guinea pig ownership:

Quick Information Bundle For Wannabe Owners

The second step would be to read up on how to bond guinea pigs successfully:

Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs

In the short term you have done the right thing by separating your piggies.
Give them a couple of days to settle and get used to the new sights and sounds in their home and then try to bond them again, but this time do it in a neutral area as described in the thread above.
new piggies will always be shy and nervous to begin with, but they will settle down and become braver, and having a friend will help with that.
When you do put them back into a cage together (assuming bonding in a neutral area goes well) then make sure they have lots of places to hide, but that all of them have 2 exits - cardboard boxes work well for this.
Good luck.
 
Swissgreys said:
Hello and welcome to the Forum
:wel:

Firstly you might wan to start with some general information on guinea pig ownership:

Quick Information Bundle For Wannabe Owners

The second step would be to read up on how to bond guinea pigs successfully:

Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs

In the short term you have done the right thing by separating your piggies.
Give them a couple of days to settle and get used to the new sights and sounds in their home and then try to bond them again, but this time do it in a neutral area as described in the thread above.
new piggies will always be shy and nervous to begin with, but they will settle down and become braver, and having a friend will help with that.
When you do put them back into a cage together (assuming bonding in a neutral area goes well) then make sure they have lots of places to hide, but that all of them have 2 exits - cardboard boxes work well for this.
Good luck.
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I agree with this fab advice!
One thing to consider is that the fighting might have started because you put meatball straight into Cocoa Bean's cage which is her terratory because she was in it alone first for a period of time,
By introducing a brand new pig into her environment she's now basically giving them a lot of grief for being in her terratory.

So I suggest reintroducing them on neutral terratory, and giving the cage a compete clean so it doesn't smell like Bean's area to her anymore :)
 
First off, welcome bro. Second off, I am currently in the same situation as you. My pigs Chester and Bojangles are siblings and we're fine the first night of being together in a cage then fought. They're just VERY nervous and need some time to relax and be togethor. I'd say do what I'm doing and give them about a week to chill in their new surroundings and then try to keep them in the same area - they might not need bonded, but they need time to fit in!
However, if they are siblings from the same pet shop they may have a disrupted hierchy from the sepeperarion and will need bonded AFTER some time alone.
Best of luck,
P.p
 
Unfortunately with guinea pigs you can't just add in more piggies to a cage, they will fight unless properly bonded. @Swissgreys has given some very good advice, have a read through the threads provided and hopefully it will go better. Well done on getting 2 piggies, they definitely need a friend.
 
With new pigs it's less likely to be actual fighting and more likely to be dominance displays.

I know a lot of people have been struggling to tell the difference lately but you should not separate them during the dominance stage.

Please watch some videos and look through some threads, if they were actually fighting there would be blood and they wouldn't be backing down and hiding together when you're around.

You'll have to look at the introducing threads now as well, just remember that dominance displays look brutal to us but chasing and squealing is NORMAL. It's not fighting.

Hope they settle down together soon :)
 
You may find this bonding guide here; it explains a lot about bonding behaviours and different phases guinea pigs establish a working group hierarchy. Yours are not fighting, but they are establishing a group hierarchy. Please remove any hideys with just one exit during this phase and also at all times provide at least the same number of hideys as you have piggies living together.
Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
 
Thank you everyone for the advice, i definitely will do some more reading on those topics, but still wondering why meatball is squealing now that shes alone?
 
Kidkay17 said:
Thank you everyone for the advice, i definitely will do some more reading on those topics, but still wondering why meatball is squealing now that shes alone?
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She's probably still getting a bit of grief through the bars of the cage if Bean can see and chat to her then she's probably still letting meatball know that she intends to be the top pig even if she can't physically show her at the moment.
My girls do it all the time with the other pigs they can chatter at through the bars.

It sounds like Meatball is being very submissive by running away and squealing even when Bean can't get to her, it sounds like normal domance stuff,
But have you checked her for injuries?
It's possible it's a pain squeal but more likely dominance stuff :)
 
TheLottiediarys said:
She's probably still getting a bit of grief through the bars of the cage if Bean can see and chat to her then she's probably still letting meatball know that she intends to be the top pig even if she can't physically show her at the moment.
My girls do it all the time with the other pigs they can chatter at through the bars.

It sounds like Meatball is being very submissive by running away and squealing even when Bean can't get to her, it sounds like normal domance stuff,
But have you checked her for injuries?
It's possible it's a pain squeal but more likely dominance stuff :)
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Yes, she seems to be fine, no Injuries, she seems to be squealing when chewing at the bars of her cage
 
My Tonks squeals like a little piglet all the time! Honestly I wouldn't be worried, Tonks does it for no reason sometimes. She's the bottom pig of my lot so I think she's just reminding them that she's submissive.

It sounds horrible when they make that noise but to them it's just communication :)
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
My Tonks squeals like a little piglet all the time! Honestly I wouldn't be worried, Tonks does it for no reason sometimes. She's the bottom pig of my lot so I think she's just reminding them that she's submissive.

It sounds horrible when they make that noise but to them it's just communication :)
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I think you guys are all right, i put them in a neutral environment I'm supervising, and they seem to be ok, only occasional nicks when meatball gets too close or tries to steal her sisters hay :)
 
Kidkay17 said:
I think you guys are all right, i put them in a neutral environment I'm supervising, and they seem to be ok, only occasional nicks when meatball gets too close or tries to steal her sisters hay :)
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That's great :) My lot have been bonded for ages and still nip at each other. Girls are notorious for bickering but it's nothing serious. They're literally just sisters having a bit of a domestic over silly little things :))
 
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