Advice needed: Nasty girl pig.

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ghostbusterbunny

ghostbusterbunny

Adult Guinea Pig
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I've had to take Teaser out of the hutch today. I got my two rescue piggies today and they get on REALLY well with all the girls, except Teaser who seems intent on beating up and charging at all the girls. I don't know what to do with her.

When we got her from P@H (I'm not going to take their word for anything when it comes to telling me about the AC pigs... I can't trust that what they tell me is what I'm going to get - lesson learned.) and when I adopted her they told me that she would be fine to put with my other girls, they just hadn't paired her up because it would have been slightly nippy pig and a baby. I went in to get another bag of food and just happened to mention having her to a different member of staff (wasn't there when I adopted her) who said that she isn't suitable to be put with other girls. This one was spot on. She snaps at the big pigs, charges after and terrifies my babies, and I honestly have NO idea what to do with her...

I've separated her off and will try her again when I am in a position to adopt a neutered male, maybe she'll chill with a boy-pig to slap her when she misbehaves.

I could also adopt another male and just have my herd plus a pair. I honestly think she's not suitable for living with girls, she's far too pushy and nasty and I don't want to risk having the others scared or even hurt by her. But at the same time I don't want her on her own, she's only a young ish pig herself!

How would you tackle this problem?
 
I guess she is just one of those guinea pigs who don't like other girls :( She might well be fine with a neutered boar though, I remember someone on here had a similar problem and they got a neutered boar. Maybe for the time being could she live next door to the others so she gets company still?
 
Give her plenty of time to relax, live longside other guinea pigs (preferably just spearated through some mesh so she can still interact, and hopefully she'll come round eventually. She sounds like she's had some bad experiences and is traumatised. A neutered boar is not necessarily the right answer.
 
I'm not sure I can get her in contact distance of the rest, but I can move her hutch and make it sort of face the big hutch so she can have verbal contact and squeak at them.

She's absolutely fine with me, she squeaks, she loves walking round on my legs and seeing what's going on, but she transforms into demon-pig around other girls. Watching her she acts like a boy, it's really weird (I can guarantee you she's definitely a girl though - she just acts like a few of the boys I used to have, constant rumblestrutting and parading herself round the hutch, snapping when she feels like it...).

We'll be adding a boar at some point to the herd of 6 girls we have now. I desperately want to sort Teaser out so she can either a friend or help her come round and calm down so she too can join the herd. I've had lots of pigs and come into contact with many more, but I've never seen one quite like Teaser... I don't want her to end up lonely :(
 
I had one named Nibbles that didn't like any other piggies, except one other sow, Josephine. When Josephine died, I could let her live with any other piggies, she was just too mean to them :( She got along fine with me though
 
Keep Teaser near the other piggies, so she can still see and hear them. She may calm down, its difficult with rescued piggies as you dont know the extent of trauma she has suffered, but some girls (and boys) just dont want to live with other piggies. Sometimes a neutered boar can help, sometimes not, it depends on personality. Give her time to trust and she may calm down. :)
 
milhaven said:
Keep Teaser near the other piggies, so she can still see and hear them. She may calm down, its difficult with rescued piggies as you dont know the extent of trauma she has suffered, but some girls (and boys) just dont want to live with other piggies. Sometimes a neutered boar can help, sometimes not, it depends on personality. Give her time to trust and she may calm down. :)
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I've moved her hutch so she can see and hear them, she was squeaking with them when I went to top their hay up a few minutes ago.

As far as I know she never left P@H, she was a baby that came in pregnant, had her baby in store, and then was put in their AC. Sad, but at least she now has her forever home. :) She's very tame, comes up to you, doesn't run when you want to pick her up... So god knows why she's not a piggie-pig. She just doesn't seem to like any of the girls! She has all the time in the world though now to settle and calm down.
 
I agree, give her some time to settle in. A frightened guinea pig can sometimes act aggressively with others when trying to sort dominance. Or one that hasn't been properly socialised - I had a neutered boar who had always lived with a rabbit and so behaved completely inappropriately with other guineas. Luckily my elderly sow was very good with him and his habit of saying hi by walking up and shoving with his nose.

A calm neutered boar could work (a young over enthusiastic one might pester too much), but you can never guarantee anything.

Paula
 
paulag said:
I agree, give her some time to settle in. A frightened guinea pig can sometimes act aggressively with others when trying to sort dominance. Or one that hasn't been properly socialised - I had a neutered boar who had always lived with a rabbit and so behaved completely inappropriately with other guineas. Luckily my elderly sow was very good with him and his habit of saying hi by walking up and shoving with his nose.

A calm neutered boar could work (a young over enthusiastic one might pester too much), but you can never guarantee anything.

Paula
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Despite the fact that she has been in a pet shop (with other pigs until it was obvious that she was pregnant) almost all her life (she's been with us a month now), I think socialisation might be the problem. She's a lovely girl, with humans, as I imagine when she was taken in the back to the 'hospital room', she had human attention a LOT. Apparently she was fantastic with her baby though, unfortunately it was a little boy so she couldn't stay with him, and after that she wouldn't take a sow as a friend... She doesn't seem to know the polite way of addressing guinea pigs.

Sometimes she gets it right (under the chin, have a sniff and back off if recipient doesn't like it), but more often than not she's very brash, very abrasive and she rubs the others up the wrong way, leading to an escalation of squeaks and then she snaps (either bites them, chases them off, or a mixture of both). Other times she just goes for the other girls even if they've not done anything or she's tried to interact with them! She's always the instigator.

I don't want her to be a loner, but at the same time I can't risk her hurting the others because some times she can get very rough and I worry that she could seriously injure one of the girls.

In terms of getting a boar, I'd love one to go in with my 6 sows (they'll have no problem with a man, all of them are chilled out girls!), and if it turns out that Teaser can't get on with the girls but would get on with the boar, he'd be her hubby instead. If not, it'll be trying to find somewhere that I can do piggy dating with to see if I have any luck finding her a mate (male or female)... Bless her!
 
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I wrote a long post about this and then lost it! My piggie Minnie was like this. I think she had been bred from at an early age and had had to fight for space/food etc in an overcrowded cage. She is still 'direct' with the other pigs and I do worry for my older frail pig and my two 'babies' (now 18 months!) However, I would strongly advise leaving them to sort it out. They are just negotiating territory which is a normal piggy thing to do. Minnie was TERRIBLE when I got her: completely antisocial, but now she hangs out with the others and joins in. I call her my abby-pitbull cross!

I should also say that Sweetie (who is really a sweetie!) is actually top pig despite Minnie being such a meanie. It's difficult to believe that someone could keep Minnie in order but it seems possible, even though Sweetie is the gentlest pig I've ever had.

Do feel free to pm me if things get difficult as I did go through this last year and it was a worry.
 
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My piggie Pebbles (RIP) was like this too. She was bought from a pet shop at 6-8 weeks old and lived with another girl around the same age that I adopted from a friend. She was bullied quite alot by the other pig, when the other pig died I got her a neutered boyfriend who she bullied a bit but they lived ok together cos he was so soft. She absolutely detested my other sow Snowy and her boyf Jack. Really odd. I've kind of put it down to being bullied when younger and learning the behaviour.

I thought that she would never get on with another pig but I was doing a piggie train for someone one time and I decided to give the pig I was transporting a run at my mum's which was half way and where Pebbles was at the time. They got on like a house on fire! I couldn't believe it! Shame was I had to take the other pig to her new home!

So the end of this story is - I dont know why some pigs are like this but there can be paired with the right piggie (tho you may be searching a while!):)) x
 
I tried my Bette with my 2 girls and a neutered boar which was Milo. She hated them all although Milo may not have been the right male but I just wanted to make you aware not all male/female bondings work but when they do they are brilliant I have 3 male/female pairs.

I think Piggy dating is a good way to go!.

This was Milo and Bettes introduction!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWl_tMXRD9M[/ame]
 
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