Guinea pig aggression.....please help

Question

ok so a month ago i got three brother guniea pigs from pets at home. i was advised they neededto be oused together as they always had een and they are approx 1 year old.

they have been in on cage in my house for a month now......i had to take snowy to the vets today as he had what seemed to be bleeding scabs on him..... the vets said one of the opthers as bitten him.......this really worries meand i dont know what to do!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

should i seperate them?

Answer 1

yes separate them and start the introduction process over

Answer 2

Seperate them is the best bet.

Though the advise you got from Pets At Home was right, I think the number of guinea pigs you got was wrong- having three of any animal allow two to gang up on one. You find it in gerbil groups, hamster groups, and even rat groups. Two would have been better.

However, fighting can happen at any stage with male guinea pigs!

I would advise you split them up so you have the alone one alone and the other two together, and keep a close eye on the remaining two. Don't put them back together- once blood has been spilled, it is dangerous to put animals back together.

Answer 3

I'm glad you took snowy to the vet. Bite wounds can abscess very easily if not treated. Continue to keep an eye on the healing process.

I have heard of boars that live peacefully in groups of three or more, but personally, I have never achieved success with more than two. I have six sets of two boars that live very happily together.

The way I see it, you have two options:

Option #1: Separate the boar that was injured and adopt him a more compatible buddy. A baby or young boar will do quite nicely and you shouldn't have any problems.

Option #2: Build the largest cage you can and have three of everything (food dishes, water bottles, pigloos, etc.) so there is plenty of room for them to have their own "space" and there is nothing to squabble over. The cage should be in the neighborhood of 13-15 square feet in size.

http://www.guineapigcages.com/

Best of luck to you!

Answer 4

They most likely have mites. They can also make them irritable and squable. Most pet store pigs are sold sick with them : http://www.guinealynx.info/mites.html

You sure they are all males? They often missex them.  

Answer 5

u shouls seperate them if they fight and coz i just got hurt  

Answer 6

There is nothing wrong with owning three pigs.

Are you sure it's the guinea pigs fighting that are doing this? You would know if you had two dominent pigs that don't get along. What kind of behavior do they display? Do they chatter their teeth at eachother alot? Do they make snorting sounds and open their mouths? Let me know if you see them do these things. Let me know what kind of behavior they have period.

If they are usualy calm with eachother, the blood patches may be caused by mites. If this is the case, you need to find an exotic vet, where you should find a vet who is cavy savvy. They will give you Ivermectin for treatment.

However if it is fighting that is causing them to bleed, yes they must be seperated.

Answer 7

I would recommend that you separate these guinea pigs immediately, as they should not be together if they are fighting. Make sure that whoever is hurt, you take them to the vet and get some cream or medicine that will help make the curing process faster.

With male guinea pigs, it's very hard to tell whether they'll fight or not, because they are generally the more aggressive of the guinea pigs. If I had to choose the pair of guinea pigs that you would have, I'd have one neutered male, and a female guinea pig.

That is what I had previously, but now I have two male, but they're extremely calm and don't fight. As I said, it can happen anytime with male guinea pigs. It all depends on the personality.

Guinea Pig, Hamster Expert