Pigs fighting since baby pig died

[Cambria]

Hello!
Antecendent :
I have one 4 years old guinea pig , and on June 10th i bought 3 bonded baby pig . Everything was fine until on 28th of June one of the baby pigs unexpectedly died.

The pigs when i introduced them to eachother looked like they like each other, so i put the old pig in the baby pigs cage .(July 1st)

Since then all of the pigs fight with each other . 2 of them got wounds from the fighting. Now my old pig doesen't let me tuch him but still willingly climbs to my arm , he also looks stressful . I'm scared that he will get serious injurys because he has a bald spot on his back .

Currently it looks like on of the baby pig is the leader , the second one in the hierarchy is the other baby pig and the old one is the last.
The two baby pig often starts vibrating and shaking ther butt while the old one never does this.

I don't know what to do , should i seperate them ? Or they will stop fighting ?
The baby pigs cage is 183x75 cm with 3 house ,2 water tanks and 3 food bowl .

 

[Piggies&buns]

I'm sorry for your loss.

As you are trying to keep three male piggies together, then sadly, this is why there are problems, coupled with the fact that you cannot just put piggies into the cage of other piggies (it will be seen as a territory invasion).
Unfortunately trying to keep three together will not work. They may have been fine originally, but it would not last long term if you are dealing with young piggies. Boars can only be kept in pairs and trying to keep three or four together will always end in fights.
(Not that three boars together works, but unfortunately your cage also isn’t big enough for three boars (the measurements you give are only big enough for two boars) in any event and lack of space will cause problems between them.)

The shaking and vibrating is called rumblestrutting and is a normal behaviour for boars.

Unfortunately if all three of them are fighting with each other, then you are going to need to separate all of them, so you will need three separate cages. They will need to be kept separate for life.
If two of them are character compatible and are not fighting, then they can remain together in one cage. Their cage will need to measure 180x60cm. The third piggy will need to be kept in a separate cage but will need to be alongside the other two for interaction through the bars only.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars

 

[Wiebke]

Hello!
Antecendent :
I have one 4 years old guinea pig , and on June 10th i bought 3 bonded baby pig . Everything was fine until on 28th of June one of the baby pigs unexpectedly died.

The pigs when i introduced them to eachother looked like they like each other, so i put the old pig in the baby pigs cage .(July 1st)

Since then all of the pigs fight with each other . 2 of them got wounds from the fighting. Now my old pig doesen't let me tuch him but still willingly climbs to my arm , he also looks stressful . I'm scared that he will get serious injurys because he has a bald spot on his back .

Currently it looks like on of the baby pig is the leader , the second one in the hierarchy is the other baby pig and the old one is the last.
The two baby pig often starts vibrating and shaking ther butt while the old one never does this.

I don't know what to do , should i seperate them ? Or they will stop fighting ?
The baby pigs cage is 183x75 cm with 3 house ,2 water tanks and 3 food bowl .

Hi and welcome

Can you please confirm: You currently have three boars in one cage? How may weeks/months old are your 'babies'? Babies are technically babies until 3-4 weeks (weaning), then they are sub-teenagers in their 'school' weeks until ca. 3-4 months when teenage starts with the descent of the testicles and some huge hormone spikes. A change in the group around that age can aggravate/precipitate a hormone spike.

Please separate your fighting piggies asap. Once there are bloody bites, they will never go back again and you will have to find a different solution. With trios, you are lucky if you end up with two boars getting on but you can also have three single boars that will not get back together after a really bad fall-out.

Boar trios and even more so quartets do not often work out unless you have oodles of space (at least 1 sqare metre per boar or more) so the boars can get away from each other and have an amicable divorce if needed. The more sub-adults you have in a boar group, the less likely they are to make it through teenage. Any change in their group composition and their territory will necessitate a new hierarchy re-establishment, which can unfortunately lead to fights if the boar on the losing side cannot simply remove themselves from the territory.

PS: Please never just stick a guinea pig into another cage without a formal introduction on neutral ground outside any cages. What most owners are not aware of is that bonded guinea pig groups are territorial.

Please take the time to read this very helpful practical information:
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
A - Z of Guinea Pig Behaviours

Neutered / De-sexed Boars And Neutering Operations: Myths, Facts and Post-op Care
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

Journey through a Lifetime: The Ages of Guinea Pigs

 

[Princess Dustmop]

You say everything was fine between the 10th and 28th of June, was that with everyone together or two separate cages?

You then said that they seemed fine at introduction, so you added the older pig on the 1st of July. Was this their first introduction and did the introduction occur in a separate, neutral space? Was the babies' cage cleaned prior to everyone being put together in it? If the older pig was just added directly to the babies' cage, it could have been perceived as an intruder into a claimed territory.

Are these all boys? It's hard to bond more than two boys in a single space. Also, how old are the babies?

Fighting that has resulted in wounds sounds like these pigs have decided that the bonding is not going to work. Once they've decided not to get along, that's pretty much the end of story on trying to put them together; they will likely need separate housing.

 

[Freela]

Are they males or females? Unfortunately, a group of males is usually unable to live together. You may have to look at trying to form two pairs of two each.

How did you go about introducing them? In a neutral place? Did you clean the larger cage before placing the older pig in (it's generally advisable to make a cage seem 'new' and hence neutral territory- just putting a pig into another pig's established territory is a recipe for fights, as the pig who was previous boss of that space will feel the need to defend it from an intruder.)

How much space do they have? Four pigs living together need a lot of space... anything less will potentially prompt more fights because they can't get away from each other.

Generally pigs who have drawn blood are not going to go back to peacefully living together, so you are going to have to make some sort of different living arrangements for them going forward.

 

[Cambria]

I'm sorry for your loss.

As you are trying to keep three male piggies together, then sadly, this is why there are problems, coupled with the fact that you cannot just put piggies into the cage of other piggies (it will be seen as a territory invasion).
Unfortunately trying to keep three together will not work. They may have been fine originally, but it would not last long term if you are dealing with young piggies. Boars can only be kept in pairs and trying to keep three or four together will always end in fights.
(Not that three boars together works, but unfortunately your cage also isn’t big enough for three boars (the measurements you give are only big enough for two boars) in any event and lack of space will cause problems between them.)

The shaking and vibrating is called rumblestrutting and is a normal behaviour for boars.

Unfortunately if all three of them are fighting with each other, then you are going to need to separate all of them, so you will need three separate cages. They will need to be kept separate for life.
If two of them are character compatible and are not fighting, then they can remain together in one cage. Their cage will need to measure 180x60cm. The third piggy will need to be kept in a separate cage but will need to be alongside the other two for interaction through the bars only.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars

Thanks for the reply !
All pigs is a boar .Before i put them into 1 cage they meet in the garden ,terrace and in front of the cage . They just smelled, licked and lay next to each other ,that is why i thought they will work.
I separated the old pig and put the cage next to the other cage . The little pigs stoped fighting .