Any advice? Bullying.

ChunkyMunky

ChunkyMunky

Junior Guinea Pig
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I'm at a complete loss as to what to do.
I originally had 3 Sows. I got a boar roughly in august ish.
I've noticed that one of my Sows has been spending a lot of time up high in the shelf part of the c&c. I take her out for a checkup & she has a large abscess on her left leg. Fast forward a bit, I put her back in the cage & squidge (male) attacks her & she runs away terrified. She cannot get down to the bottom of the cage (been watching on webcam this is even happening late at night) so I've put food etc up on the shelf with her. I've now decided to separate. Pumpkin is getting an operation next week and I don't want her being any more stressed. Has anyone heard of anything like this? Thanks in advance.

*edit
They have been getting on fine until a couple of weeks ago & I cannot find the source as to why.
 
Had you separated her from the rest before you put her back in with them? If yes, then that’s where the issue stems from. It needs to be done on neutral ground and the cage completely cleaned and free of any of their scents.

When you say attack, what happened and how did Pumpkin behave and what exactly did Squidge do?

PS sometimes illness can also upset the apple cart - the hierarchy.
 
SarahLouise said:
I'm at a complete loss as to what to do.
I originally had 3 Sows. I got a boar roughly in august ish.
I've noticed that one of my Sows has been spending a lot of time up high in the shelf part of the c&c. I take her out for a checkup & she has a large abscess on her left leg. Fast forward a bit, I put her back in the cage & squidge (male) attacks her & she runs away terrified. She cannot get down to the bottom of the cage (been watching on webcam this is even happening late at night) so I've put food etc up on the shelf with her. I've now decided to separate. Pumpkin is getting an operation next week and I don't want her being any more stressed. Has anyone heard of anything like this? Thanks in advance.

*edit
They have been getting on fine until a couple of weeks ago & I cannot find the source as to why.
Click to expand...


Hi!

Please never put a piggy straight back into the cage after a separation; they can be perceived as an intruder, especially if there have been ongoing issues and the separation has been going on for longer. A medical separation can also lead to fall-outs in guinea pigs, i.e. they are not accepted back.

You always need to conduct any introductions and re-introductions on neutral ground. Unfortunately once piggies have made up their mind whether a piggy is a member of a group or not/no longer, they are not likely to change their mind any time soon. :(

You may find these guides here helpful:
Bonds In Trouble
Moody guinea pigs: Depression, Bullying, Aggression, Stress, Fear and Antisocial Behaviour
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
 
No pigs have been separated permanently, sorry I didn't state that. She was with me for lap time. So as far as I have seen pumpkin is doing nothing just walking about. Squidge comes gunning for her. I will try to get a clip from my webcam. I've put a separation in the cage for now. Since pumpkin can see Squidge but he cant get to her, she has completely changed. Shes down with the other pigs all the time. I'll try to find that clip, wont be long.
 

This is the only way I could manage to get the clip onto here. I will delete it tomorrow from imgur. Apologies for the mess and me freezing. I was shocked. Pumpkin is okay. Took her to check her over after this happened.
 
I see what you mean. Was this a constant thing? And did they get on before? Who was higher up the hierarchy out of the two?

I think separation isn’t a bad idea. Perhaps you could try reintroducing on neutral grounds (see the link above from @Wiebke). Did you separate Squidge from the rest? Perhaps you could pair him with a sow and the other two then live together.
 
SarahLouise said:
No pigs have been separated permanently, sorry I didn't state that. She was with me for lap time. So as far as I have seen pumpkin is doing nothing just walking about. Squidge comes gunning for her. I will try to get a clip from my webcam. I've put a separation in the cage for now. Since pumpkin can see Squidge but he cant get to her, she has completely changed. Shes down with the other pigs all the time. I'll try to find that clip, wont be long.
Click to expand...

If things change dramatically during a trial separation, then you are dealing with a serious problem in a group or pair that you need to address as it won't go away on its own and will rear its head again and again and again, getting worse every time.
Sadly not all piggies always get on, and dynamics can change.

I have had several husboars who have never forgotten which sows didn't receive them with open arms during the initial introduction; and in a couple of cases this has resulted in bullying/no longer wanting a certain piggy as a member of the group.

The only long term solution was usually a split after a lot of heartache and soul-searching. Try to make sure that either feuding party has at least one companion they are happy with.
 
The video looks quite bad he is definitely stopping her from coming down. I would be inclined to separate her with one of the other ladies who she gets along with so you have two pairs
 
Thanks everyone for your advice. I'm sad about splitting the three girls, they have been together since i got them & get on really well. hes now in the middle part of the cage, he has three females on one side and one female on the other hes been chatting away to all day (peaches doesnt get along with anyone or i would put him in with her) I'm going to wait until pumpkin is feeling better and maybe attempt to re bond on neutral ground under my supervision. its so upsetting when this happens. they have all been getting on great since i got squidge. i would say squide "thinks" hes the boss, but the real boss is probably another female called bandit. the only thing i can think of is squidge has went over when pumpkin was near her season, squidge has tried his business & pumpkin has refused and bit him, so now squidge has a grudge. i dont know though :(
 
It may be he’s trying to usurp her position and move up a notch on the hierarchy ladder. How about you put one of the females with him, so there’s one pair and a group?
 
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