New with fighting piggies

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pagan queen

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Hi everyone. I am new to piggies and have only had them for 3 weeks. They are around 10/11 weeks old and both boars. My son has called them Bubble and Squeak, they are his piggies really.

They have fought since we got them even tough they came from the same cage. They do all the dominance displays etc. Things have just got worse over time, they now fight really visciously.

Squeak has two cuts on his nose where Bubble has attacked him. Should they be seperated? There seems to be no let up to the fighting. Squeek is frightened of Bubble and both have had minor injuries.
It's very disstresing to see them fight but I would rather they stayed together if possible but not if they are going to seriously injure each other. My 8 year old son finds it very hard to see them hurt etc, he cries when they fight.

They spend their days in a run that is around 4ft by 2ft. At night they go into a smaller cage to sleep. Tonight after the incident in the run where squeek got hurt on the nose we gave then some time apart. Then when we put them into the night cage together all hell broke loose and I had to seperate a ball of teeth, claws and fur before they did each other a serious injury. Bubble is now sporting a 2 inch scratch on the top of his nose and has been put into the run for both their safty. The run is in the conservatory, so not outside as such but colder than the house where the night cage is.
I don't know what I'm going to do now, I don't have anywhere to put bubble over night except in the run.
 
Hi, welcome to the forum :) Excellent username by the way.

Sorry to hear you are having these problems, it's upsetting and stressful for both humans and the pigs. If they are consistantly fighting and blood is being shed I would definately separate I'm afraid. It's unlikely that once they have fought that badly they will get back together. It's a real shame as they are both very young aren't they...one thing you mention in your post is the size of your run - in all honesty 4x2ft is the minimum recommended cage size for a pair of pigs, a run should be much bigger. Boars need a LOT of space, and if they are in a 4x2 run then retiring in a smaller environment for the most part, it may have possibly contributed to the fallout.

There is a sticky post at the top of the Behaviour board about boars and dominance behaviour, it may help to determine why they fell out and what can be done to improve the situation, but it's just a guide and not guarunteed. It sounds like you may have to separate for good :(
 
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Oh no poor little guys n poor you too. Maybe once they calm down you could reintroduce them on neutral territory or bath them together but if that doesn't work they might just need to stay apart.
 
Have you tried bathing both pigs together and thoroughly cleaning their cage? Sometimes this can help with squabbles. Do they have two of everything? Bowls, hidey holes etc.?

However, if they are drawing blood, then they should be separated before they do some serious harm. If you have nowhere else to put Bubble, then provide him with all his necessary food, hay and water and give him a hidey hole, filled with hay or bedding in order to keep him warm.

The minimum recommended cage size for pigs is 4' x 2' but the bigger the better for boars! Pigs don't sleep as we do and they tend to cat nap so when they are put into the smaller cage for the night, they are getting in each other's way.
 
Thanks for the fast replies.

When they are sitting on our laps they are fine and even squeak for each other when they are apart. It's just when they are left alone the fighting starts.

When we bought the piggies we were sold a cage that is 30" by 19". We soon realised it was too small so set up the run it the conservatory. They spend all day in there except when we are snuggling them. I put them back in the cage at night because the consevatory gets cold at night.

Can piggies have an upright cage? We have one that is 5ft tall and 2ft square that we had our rats in. It has ramps and shelves etc for climbing but I don't know if piggies can use something like that.
 
Looks like I will have to clear out the consevatory and build a big area for them. I have had a look at the housing section and many people have made setups with some kind of mesh squares. Anyone tell me where I can get those from?

Once I have made them a bigger home I will have to re-introduce them. If we hold them together on our laps at snuggle times would it make it easier to put them back together, or will they eventually start to fight when we hold them?

I was just thinking how many poor piggies are living in tiny cages because that's what they have been sold. :(
 
We have bathed them once but not together. How does that help?

We already have 2 of everything but it makes the cage even smaller.rolleyes

Thanks for the link, I'll have a look.
 
You are not alone in being sold cages that are way too small, it happens all too often. Yep, Sokel is right about the rat cage not being suitable for guins unfortunately, they need length of space rather than height, they are not natural climbers and not flexible for falls or jumps etc.

If you can manage a C&C (mesh) type housing then you are only limited by how much space you have as you can make it into any shape you want :) if you can manage a 5x2 grid space (which is around 6ft long) then you can separate them with a mesh divide so that they can still interact and snuggle up together yet still maintain their own territory. I have all boars and most of them cannot be paired up, so this is the method I use. This is one of our sets:

bear5.jpg


B7.jpg


You can see in the first one that the mesh allows them to be close but not sharing space here. All our boys happily interact and chat away and curl up next to their housemates, but will not share space with them.
You can get these from B&Q and the correx (plastic base) is corrugated plastic that estate agent boards are made from and can usually be obtained by local signwriters. Although there is a thread in the Housing section that had it far cheaper than we paid out, I'll find it for you.
 
Thank you for all your help.

Could you tell me if the bottom of the cubes is mesh or just open, it's hard to tell from the pictures on the sites. I am just trying to work out how big an area they can cover per set of cubes IYKWIM.
 
Any floor for guineas should always be flat/covered and not wire or mesh as their feet aren't able to cope with floors like chinchilla cages for example :) Good luck, if you need any more help, do ask away :)
 
I have spent most of the day making a new housing complex for my boys. We bathed them before putting them into it and I was going to give them another chance to be together but even in the bath they were chattering their teeth and squaring up to eachother so decided against it.

I have used a chest of drawer carcass to extend the "run" which was actually the 5ft rat cage.

I have videoed the boys in their new home, if you could have a look and tell me honestly what you think I would be very greatful. Don't be worried about being critical as I need to know if it's ok or if there is anything I can do to make it better.

Bubbles is the blond piggy and Squeak is the tri colour.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spxh9I2T0Cw[/ame]
 
I'm really sorry, I can't see it, for some reason I can't see any videos that people post on here, it's very frustrating! If you have uploaded it onto a site like Photobucket, do you have a direct URL for it?
 
It's on youtube so if you look for "piggies new housing complex" you may find it. I cant post the link because it just changes to the video.

http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=Spxh9I2T0Cw

Unless putting a space between you and tube will work, then you can paste it into your toolbar thingy and take out the space.
 
Well, it looks to me that you've taken a great deal of care and thought into making a big enough home for each of them, yet where they can see and talk to each other if they want to (it was a very good video too, letting us see everything - although I couldn't see where their water bottles are). They seemed perfectly happy, pottering about and eating, and to me, it seems like a very good set-up for them. And then if you have cuddles and lap time with them and they are fine together, but then they go back into their separated living quarters, hopefully they'll be contented little piggies.
 
the water bottles weren't on there at the time I did the video. They had just got out of the bath and I had only just finnished sorting things out. They had bottles as soon as I finnished the video. Well spoted. :)
 
Thanks, got there in the end!

What a a load of hassle for you having to whip that up at short notice, well done! And what a fantastic amount of space they have. The main things to remember with housing are:

- Secure - so they can't get out, or in to each other (they have a tendancy to try and barge their way through a pen if they really want to get somewhere!)
- Draught free - draughts can lead to URIs and general discomfort
- Safe -that everything in there is kept clean, no sharp/harmful inedible bits (they will chew everything they can find including wood, carpet, plastic, rugs, everything) or high ledges/levels that they can fall off as they are not natural flexible climbers.
- Lots of hidey spaces and general space

It looks like you have definately provided the space and the hidey holes, they also love to run through cardboard tubes, which can either be bought from petshops or you can get them for free from carpet shops and cut them up. The only thing that jumped out at me was the drawer back bit in the far pen that the piggie either has to jump over or crawl under which can be easily sorted if you don't mind carving up your drawer set. You can buy cheap fleece from Adsa which I would recommend doubled over as a floor covering to both protect them from eating the carpet and clogging up their insides and protect your carpet, it will also provide a nice spongy and comfortable base for them to lie on, but obviously you have had to knock this up pretty rapidly so you certainly could not be faulted for your current arrangement as an emergency measure. However if you manage to get C&C mesh together much of the above won't even be an issue.

As long as it's draught free and secure, great job :)
 
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Thank you for your kind and useful comments. I am adding to it all the time.
The room isn't drafty. It has a concrete floor and is brick built. It does cool down during the night though.

I am waiting for my husband to get home so he can drill some holes into the draw carcass to thread cable ties through to attach the cage parts more securely and remove the bar you mentioned. I will be buying some fleece blankets tommorow for the floor. I have a shower curtain over the carpet secured under the cage and drawers then newspaper and old quilt covers on top of that.

They are different pigs now. I have never seen them run around like they have been today. And popcorning like mad too. They also lay down anywhere they are which they never did when they were together, they always hid in a house to lay down.

Just to add that I should have been in Thorp park today with my family but decided not to go so I could sort out my little guys.
 
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Aww, that's great news that they are looking so much happier! It may be that in time you could start to introduce them again, none bar two of ours will live together but they all love lap time with their neighbouring cagemate, they are very funny little creatures!

It's a shame you missed out on Thorpe Park, but your piggies have rewarded you in the best way they can by their change in behaviour :) Congratulations and welcome to the wonderful and addictive world of the guinea pig slave!
 
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