Newbie with sudden aggressive pig problem

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Hi, so we've got two female pigs, each about a half year old. Ruby is a Silky, and Alice is an Abyssinian. Ruby was the first, and Awas introduced shortly after.

Ever since we've paired the two together in the same cage. Alice has been seemingly infatuated with Ruby. Always seeking her company, sniffing her butt, etc. Ruby has always been the more confident of the two, so we just assumed Alice was seeking comfort from Ruby. After some time we suspected that Alice was falling in love with Ruby, she seemed so smitten.

Yesterday, Alice's infatuation became too much. It was a particularly hot day, and Alice was more aggressively chasing Ruby, sniffing her butt, invading Ruby's igloo refuge. Suddenly, we saw the igloo spinning around wildly, the two of them were chasing each other within the igloo. It was an escalation of their usual, intermittent chases. Ruby had a tuft of Alices's hair in her mouth. So we separated them into different cages. We waited a day and tried putting them together again. Alice immediately pursued Ruby again. Relentlessly pestering Ruby, not leaving her butt alone, until Ruby flipped out and they wildly chased each other again....

What the hell? Why is this happening all of a sudden? What should we do?
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.

The first question is are you certain they are females? This is pretty typical behaviour for young males. Though girls ,when they are in a particularly strong season, can sometimes behave this way too.

If they have fallen out to the point of fighting it is unlikely they will accept each other again.

If they are not both the same sex then there is the good chance that there are babies on the way - if you are not confident of the sexing and need help please post pics of their privates as in focus, well lit and close up as possible and we will see if we can sex them for you.

These links may be of help.

To help confirm the sexing
http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm

How to re-introduce
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562

Boar behaviour
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949

Sow behaviour
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38561

Suzy x
 
also how big is the cage? have you got two hides each - sometimes they just dont want to share.

For my herd of 4 I have 5 beds/hides minimum for them so there is no problems of them finding somewhere to get away from the others, there are 3 bowls and 2 water bottles so they should all manage to get food and water, oh and 3 hay racks (or inside one very large long one). For my two boys I have 3 bowls of food, 2 hides and a tunnel, a very large hay rack and one water bottle - with the option to include a second should they no longer share. Both are in pens of more than the minimum recommended space for each group.
 
Thanks for your swift responses.

Yes they've been confirmed as female by our veterinarian.

We have them in a baby's play pen. There are two igloos, plenty of hay, one water bottle, and one pseudo log which Ruby likes to take refuge in.

It doesn't seem to matter though, Alice will inevitably find her way into where ever Ruby is. As I said, in the past Alice would slowly inch her way closer and closer to Ruby, but she's become more bold in her encroachment.
 
My sows are doing the same thing. Sasha was my first sow, and she's under a year old. I got Penny two months later, and she's also 2 months younger than Sasha. They were the best of friends at first, always popcorning and chasing each other in a fun way. But the past two weeks, Penny has become a HUGE RAGING b!+C#, and antagonizes Sasha constantly. Which confuses me, because Sasha is the older, bigger piggy, and could stomp Penny if she wanted to. At this point, after watching Penny be this new aggressor, I kinda wish Sasha would just ragestomp and put Penny back in her place. I had no idea I'd have to deal with alpha piggies. I'm learning, too, man. It scares the crap out of me when they whirlwind.
 
Sows can suffer from hormonal spikes especially during the first year of their life, the same as boars - only they rarely lead to serious fights with bites. These surges are often triggered by coming into season. There is also usually some dominance mixed in as the sows' growth rate is slowing down.

Weigh both girls weekly. If the pestered sow is losing weight, separate; otherwise, sit it out. Things will usually calm down after a while, even though it is not easy to watch.

If possible, remove anything with just one exit and replace it with hideys that have two exits to remove the potential of scuffles sparked by one piggy feeling trapped.
 
My girls are terrible for pestering each other when in season. They don't act aggressively but will chase each other round and round and round until the chasee gets annoyed and snaps. Then as soon as they move it starts up all over again rolleyes
 
Lol. No disrespect. I am a man raised by a woman. I have a ton of sisters. I chose sows. But man, two more women telling me what to do?! (wink wink joke)
 
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