What to Do When Your Guinea Pigs Fight

Having a hard time distinguishing whether your guinea pigs are fighting or playing? How do you handle this situation?...
Guinea pig fight

Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish if your guinea pigs are fighting and how to handle it. Guinea pigs are social animals, however they can take time to warm up to another guinea pig. Sometimes when guinea pigs participate in aggressive play. As you can see from my recent YouTube Vlog, there are a few scenes where my guinea pigs seem to be fighting but that is sometimes not the case. Let me break down for you how to tell if your guinea pigs are fighting, and what you should do when your guinea pigs fight.

Are My Guinea Pigs Playing or Fighting?

Sometimes guinea pig bonding can give you the impression that they are fighting. Usually when you own more than one guinea pig, it is common for one of them to establish dominance. In my case, I usually see Tofu establish her dominance around Dumpling pretty often, you can recognize the similar habits in most of our YouTube Vlogs.

Guinea pigs showing dominance

Dominance can seem a lot like fighting, but it is actually normal and can happen often. Normal bonding and dominance signs can look like chasing each other, lifting their head high, teeth chattering, rumbling, mounting, and butt-sniffing. To learn more about how guinea pigs express their dominance through sound you can visit our blog Guinea Pig Sounds and Their Meanings!

Guinea pig dominance

When your guinea pigs are playing you may notice they interact through behaviors and sounds. When guinea pigs are playing they will chase each other, follow each other (sometimes called piggy train), interact with the same toys and hideys like Crunchy Condo or Queen's Castle, or make purring sounds. When you witness your guinea pig behaving this way, it is safe to know that they get along.

6 Signs Your Guinea Pig Is Expressing Dominance

Signs My Guinea Pigs Are Fighting

If your guinea pig is behaving more aggressively towards other guinea pigs, they may not be getting along. Some signs to distinguish fighting behavior are biting with harmful intent, drawing blood, using full force to lunge at other guinea pigs, loud aggressive teeth chattering, and/or full blown physical altercations. My guinea pigs are females, and females don’t tend to fight as much as male guinea pigs. However, they have had a few fights in the past. To learn more about why guinea pigs fight and how to prevent them, read our blog 5 Reasons Your Guinea Pigs Are Fighting.

5 signs your guinea pigs are fighting

How to Handle a Guinea Pig Fight

Once you establish that your guinea pigs are fighting, it is recommended that you separate them. Due to the fact that guinea pigs are social animals, I wouldn’t recommend that you remove them from the cage or room that they are in. Your guinea pig cage should be large enough to separate them by placing a soft object that divides the cage. This will give them the space they need to cool down, and they will still be able to see and hear their cage mate while doing so. If the aggression continues, you may need to place your guinea pig in a separate cage close by. Remember that it is also important to introduce your guinea pigs before placing them into the same cage, you can read more in our blog How to Introduce Guinea Pigs.

Want to learn more about guinea pig behavior and what it means? Read our other guinea pig blogs:

Guinea Pig Sounds and Their Meanings!

Are Guinea Pigs Nocturnal? Guinea Pig Sleeping Habits!

What Are Your Guinea Pigs Trying to Tell Each Other?

Guinea Pigs Know Their Names!

Every Guinea Pig is Different!

Where Do Guinea Pigs Like to be Pet?

How to Train Your Guinea Pigs to do Tricks!

4 Steps to Bonding with Your Guinea Pigs!

 

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10 comments

I got a Guinea pig and she had these issues
1. wouldn’t let me hold or touch her ( still skittish been over 2 weeks)
2. pees on me ( recently started doing this)
3. bites me ( drew blood once)
4. tries to jump ( out of my hands when placing her back inside the cage) Ended up getting another piggie and hates when she shows these signs
1. Lunges
2. chatters teeth
3.make noises( sounds like loud squeaks , Bird noises as well)
4. Bite the other one ( once maybe twice, no blood drawn)
5. Doesn’t share ( like when Jenny comes up towards the bowl, coralline lunges)
6. makes sure Jenny doesn’t steal her hideout
7. Raises her head a lot

It’s been over 2 weeks and Corra refuses to get along. The guy was working and couldn’t hold her as much. Ummm didn’t have a clean cage. Didn’t have another Guinea pig with her. The nails weren’t trimmed. He got her from a pet store. Had her for a Year. She wasn’t properly taken care of whatsoever. Coraline is getting worse every single day.

Aubryanna

Hi, one of my pair died last year so I got a young one to bond with my senior, both females, sadly the senior has died 3 days ago. So I got two more young females of similar age yesterday, two of them have bonded greatly however my older one has been constantly nipping my youngest. I have bonded them as usual in a neutral area. No non-stop fighting has occurred, it seems more like dominance but there has been little blood. The blood has only happened once on the backside where my oldest has been sniffing. Is this normal?

Beth

Hi, one of my pair died last year so I got a young one to bond with my senior, both females, sadly the senior has died 3 days ago. So I got two more young females of similar age yesterday, two of them have bonded greatly however my older one has been constantly nipping my youngest. I have bonded them as usual in a neutral area. No non-stop fighting has occurred, it seems more like dominance but there has been little blood. The blood has only happened once on the backside where my oldest has been sniffing. Is this normal?

Beth

Hi,
We had 2 males together since babies and no issue at all. At age 9 months we went on holiday and paid a professional to look after them but they fought while we were away and have not been able to be out back together since due to fighting. I am worried that they will be lonely but they have been apart for several months now? Any suggestions? Thanks

Penny Young

Hi , I just got to your male Guinea pigs and they just met today and the little one is humping the other one a lot,they don’t seem to be hurting one another they are both hiding in their house together,is that okay since they are new with each other? Also they both are terrified of me and it’s been hard to get them to eat or drink I’m concerned 😦 what should I do ? Thank you ❤️ your products,Tracy

Tracy

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