Why are my female guinea pigs fighting? How to stop dominance?

In any grouping of animals you will have some sort of dominance hierarchy. Problems arise when one is so dominant that it won’t allow the other to eat enough, or when they start to injure the others then I worry that it isn’t a safe situation. If you have noticed scabs or wounds on them you may need to consider separating them when they are not being supervised. The same situation will apply when you add in a third. The dynamic will shift with 3. Either it will be easier and they will get along better, or one will clearly be the submissive and get picked on too much. Monitor closely and make decisions to make sure they are all safe. Best of luck and have fun with your pigs! Thank you for using Pet Coach.

This is typically a dominance issue. You may need to provide a larger cage for them, providing additional bowls, toys and hides to prevent resource protection. If that doesn't work, you may need to separate them.

Often guinea pigs do fight and can not cohabitate. It sounds like you already have 2 cages set up, I would plan on the fact that they can leave as neighbors, but probably never in the same cage. I know it is not what you want, but it is probably what is most safe. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

Based on the behavior you are describing I would not recommend housing these pigs together right now. The older pig is exhibiting some signs of dominance which can quickly turn to aggression. I would recommend allowing them to interact and play with each other under your supervision. If you ever notice that these behaviors stop then you can try housing them together. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

Thanks for reaching out. Not all animals get along. The biggest question is are they fighting or trying to establish hierarchy. Separate then for now and introduce them slowly in a neutral territory. Neutering them to lower testosterone might help. You should contact the store, to see if they can help also.

In addition to the big cage, provide adequate numbers of food/water bowls, toys and hides to prevent resource protection or food related aggression. If this doesn't help, you may need to separate the bully. You can try reintroductions after a week or two of separation.

As long as they aren't drawing blood, don't separate them. If you can give them a bigger cage to share, that's great. Make sure there is nothing in their cage where one could trap the other. You can use fleece to make little tents, pouches and even strips hung from a grid on top of the cage will give them places to hide. Even cardboard boxes with multiple entrances and exits will offer them more variety in places to hide and den.