The guinea pigs are pets that need lots of love and care because they are sensitive in nature. The guinea pig is an awesome pet that is very cute and is fun to play with. The guinea pigs need to live a happy and healthy life so that is why you need to observe them carefully.
The guinea pigs do fight sometimes and you need to control them when such situations arise. So that is why you need to understand the guinea pigs properly and in this guide, we will discuss the topic of why do guinea pigs fight and how you can stop the fighting.
You should know what to do when such situations arise with your guinea pigs. The guinea pigs need an understanding owner so that they can live a happy and comfortable life inside the captivity.
Contents
Who do guinea pigs fight?
Fighting is a natural characteristic in any living so when you will see a guinea pig is fighting you need to understand the fact that why are they fighting so that they can live a comfortable life with the owners. The guinea pigs live in herds and that is for sure that the guinea pigs will fight and you need to know the reasons behind it in order to stop them and some of those reasons are listed as below:-
1. Guinea pig is ill or has an injury
When you will see that the guinea pig is not feeling well or they are having some sort of injury it is very common that they will break into a fight. The guinea pig is annoyed and frustrated so they try to take out their frustration in the form of a fight and because of that, you will notice fights in guinea pigs.
A guinea pig who is not at all feeling good will definitely fight and will face such problems and the owner need to understand as to why they are fighting in order to stop them. This is a common behavior that you will notice in the guinea pig when they are not well or they are facing some sort of injury. So you need to check for the health and the injury of the guinea pig.
2. Paired incorrectly by sex
The guinea pigs should be paired properly by their sex otherwise you will notice a fight between them. If you will place the guinea pigs of the same sex together then they will not fight and will stay in peace but if you will place one female guinea pig with 2 male guinea pigs then they will definitely fight with each other and in the process, it will also hurt the female guinea pigs.
The guinea pigs that is why be placed in a proper way and by proper sex so that fights can be avoided. If the guinea pigs are incorrectly paired by sex such fights can be scary and they will hurt each other a lot to win the fight and even they can hurt the other guinea pigs around them if 2 of the guinea pigs are fighting and the owners of the guinea pigs should understand such situation and the reason for fighting.
3. Paired incorrectly by personality
The guinea pigs can also break into fights if the guinea pigs are placed together incorrectly on the basis of their personality. The guinea pigs are either dominant or submissive and you should be aware of this personality trait of the guinea pig as to which one is dominant and which one is submissive.
The guinea pigs will definitely fight as the humans do if they do not get along with each other or they do not like each other’s company. Also if 2 guinea pigs of dominant personalities are paired together then you will notice that it is a very dangerous combination and they will definitely fight as both of them want the charge and due to their dominant characteristic, they will definitely have a clash.
They will fight with each other and hurt each other so that they can dominate the other one and can take the whole charge and that is why incorrectly paired by personality can definitely lead to a fight.
4. Size of the cage is too small
When the size of their cage is too small then also you will notice fights between the guinea pigs because in small cages the guinea pigs do not have their personal space and because of that, there are lots of fights in the cage. If there are no proper hideouts or any place where they can stay in peace then definitely there will fight inside the cage and you will notice that it is a common sight in the small cages.
The guinea pigs are friendly in nature and love to stay in herds but they also need personal space and also an alone time where they can sit back and relax or sleep but in small cages that are not possible and out of frustration they will definitely fight each other for space.
5. To kill boredom
The guinea pigs also fight because of boredom and this happens when they have nothing to do or you can say that they do not have anything excited to do. So in order to kill their boredom, the guinea pigs will definitely break into a fight, and if you are not getting the exact reason as to why the guinea pigs are fighting this can be one of the reasons for their fights.
As the guinea pigs need something to do or to keep themselves busy and when they are not busy or they are not getting entertained then this is something they will do to keep themselves busy and even sometimes to keep themselves entertained and in this way they are also able to kill their boredom and some guinea pigs enjoy fights too.
6. Have a fighting streak
There are some guinea pigs that have a fighting streak in them and because of that fighting streak, they will be seen creating troubles and fights inside the cage of the guinea pigs. These guinea pigs will be seen fighting in most of the cases and the reason could be anything as they have got a fighting streak in them and it is very natural for them to fight with other guinea pigs.
Such guinea pigs are rare in nature but there are few guinea pigs who will be having this fighting streak and will be seen fighting with other guinea pigs inside the cage.
These are the various reasons because of which the guinea pig will fight with each other and as a responsible and understanding owner one should know about all these reasons so that they can stop the fights between the two and create peace inside the cage of the guinea pigs.
The guinea pigs need proper balance inside the cage and that is why you need to maintain harmony in the living space and because of fights lots of injuries take place and the guinea pigs will keep on fighting if they will not be satisfied inside their cage.
How to stop the fighting?
As there are various reasons for fights for the guinea pigs in the same way there are also various ways in which you can stop the fights between them.
The guinea pigs fight with each other that is something natural, but to stop the fights between the guinea pigs you need an owner that knows the reasons and accordingly find the solution to stop their fights as it is very important to stop a fight between the guinea pigs because they can get hurt each a lot when they are fighting with each other, so make sure you stop their fights as soon as possible before it turns in to a fierce battle. Some of the ways in which you can stop the guinea pigs fighting are listed as below:
- One of the important ways in which you can stop the fight of the guinea pigs is to know the reason for their fights only then you will know how to stop their fights.
- If the owners know the reason for the fight then it becomes quite easy for them to stop the fight of the guinea pigs as they will exactly know what they have to do to stop them.
- Calm the guinea pigs, try to create a harmonious environment inside the living space of the guinea pigs. You need to calm the guinea pigs by holding them if needed or providing them with something because of which they are fighting.
- A calm guinea pig will never ever fight so it is very important to calm down the guinea pigs when they are fighting as this will not lead to any further fights and they will eventually stop fighting with each other and you will be able to stop the fights between them.
- You need to provide the guinea pigs with spacious cages so that they do not have to face the problem where they have to search for their personal space because of which fights to take place between the guinea pigs.
- If there is enough space inside the cage of the guinea pig then you will definitely find that the guinea pigs are not fighting with each other and also they will live in a harmonious environment and they will not fight because they will have their own personal space where they can take rest and relax and even enjoy their personal time.
- The guinea pigs should be paired properly by sex and even by personality so that they do not fight and they have an understanding between the two and by pairing them correctly you will not face any problems of fights between the guinea pigs.
- So never ever place 2 dominant personality guinea pigs together and also never place the 2 male and 1 female guinea pig together and if you will be careful about the pairing of the guinea pigs there will not be many fights and you will notice peace inside their cage. So you will notice that it is very important to properly pair the guinea pigs so that they do not fight with each other.
- Whenever you notice fights between the guinea pigs check if the guinea pigs are ill or they are not feeling well because the guinea pigs often fight when they are not well in order to show their frustration.
- In such cases, you need to take care of the guinea pigs and if needed take them to the vet so that they can get immediate medical attention from the vets and can get well soon and by this, you can avoid the fights between the guinea pigs.
- Sometimes you need to create the dividers inside the cage of the guinea pigs in order to stop the fights between them because they fight without any such reason and you need to then separate them with the help of the divider inside the cage and this will eventually stop the fights between the guinea pigs.
- The divider should be in such a manner where the guinea pigs can smell and see each other but are still out of the reach of one another, in this way the fights can be prevented between the guinea pigs.
These are the ways in which you can handle or stop the fights between the guinea pigs and it is very important to stop fights so make sure that you need to properly handle the fights between the guinea pigs and that can be done with proper understandings.
Final thoughts:
The guinea pigs need a proper environment in order to stay a happy and healthy lifestyle and if the guinea pigs get a comfortable lifestyle then they will not fight much and will live peacefully with each other.
You also need to make sure that you understand your guinea pig as much as possible because this will help in improving the bonding between the two and there will not be any problems created.
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