I brought my piggies home yesterday, for hours they were both just in the corner close together and after a few hours they moved over to the house and came out occasionally for food and water. Last night I heard a very low pitched purring sound from one of the piggies, I’ve read online that it could be a sign of showing dominance. Just wondering if this is anything I should be worrying about? X
Your boys are likely currently establishing a hierarchy (and therefore a working group) intheir new territory. Whay you are hearing is the sound your boys make when rumblestrutting. This is how they generally measure their strength and their standing in the hierarchy, as well as woo any ladies. It is something you will have to get used to!
We struggle to disinguish often very similar sounding expressions with very different meanings. Sound guides unfortunately can do only so much because you need to always take body language and situational context into account, too, not to mention pheromones and scent marking/spraying. Guinea pigs have a very complex social interaction.
Piggies are great communicators, so you should catch on fairly quickly on the main stuff.
Many online sound guides are plain wrong; this here is a fairly decent one:
Guinea Pig Sounds
Please make sure that your piggies have a house, a bowl and a water bottle each, ideally at each end of the cage, as well as unblockable access to unlimited hay. It is unfortunately a myth that piggies snuggle up with each other all the time - most don't when given the choice and like to be able to gat away from each other.
Plenty of space is also vital for ground roaming animals like guinea pigs, especially young and teenage boars; shops still promote far too small cages that at the very best only get as far as minimal welfare standard even though space is one of the most important parts to help towards a stable boar bond.
Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics (with pictures to highlight key behaviours)
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Cage Size Guide
You may find our new owners' guide collection very helpful in in learning what is normal and what not and how to best settle in and make friends with your guinea pigs. We have combined the guides for the most often encountered issues with some important basic care and general information that will hopefully help you avoid problems in the longer run.
New Owners' Problem Solver And Information Collection
The lads are just sorting out who are boss. They were probably rumbling at each other. Will find a lnk for you on dominance behaviours to have a read of
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