Barbering- What Does It Mean?!

[TsukiLouWho123]

I recently introduced a new piggie to my herd and she is a Peruvian with luscious locks. I have a few fiesty girls who put her in her place from time to time but I have one pig, who happens to my oldest, who is extremely lovable and docile- Marm.
I recently had to put Marm's 'cage mate' to sleep and she's pining after him so she has took this little baby under her wing, lots and lots of cuddles. My only problem is, the little one won't stop chewing the hair on her rump! Marm lets her do it and the little one does it so gently it's a cute thing to watch but I have no idea why they might do it?
I read a few posts here about people telling their story but none really explained why a pig would do it? Someone suggested boredom but I change there set up everyday and have them out for floor time etc and make sure they have an enriched life. Thanks for help in advance

 

[Lady Kelly]

I don't think anyone really knows why but it could be a dominance thing. My own Donald went from Trumps hairpiece:

To short haired piggy literally in the space of one day!

That was around a month ago and his hair is growing back again so I'm hoping the naughty girls did it just to gain dominance over him and won't continue to do it

 

[Wiebke]

I recently introduced a new piggie to my herd and she is a Peruvian with luscious locks. I have a few fiesty girls who put her in her place from time to time but I have one pig, who happens to my oldest, who is extremely lovable and docile- Marm.
I recently had to put Marm's 'cage mate' to sleep and she's pining after him so she has took this little baby under her wing, lots and lots of cuddles. My only problem is, the little one won't stop chewing the hair on her rump! Marm lets her do it and the little one does it so gently it's a cute thing to watch but I have no idea why they might do it?
I read a few posts here about people telling their story but none really explained why a pig would do it? Someone suggested boredom but I change there set up everyday and have them out for floor time etc and make sure they have an enriched life. Thanks for help in advance

I would not worry; my baby wifelet Heini did the same with her bid daddy 'husboar' ( a coronet). It is a social behaviour and therefore tolerated by the more dominant piggy. You may have to tolerate living with a rather less long-haired piggy for a while.
Here is more information: Barbering ( Eating Hair)

 

[rome_italy]

I don't think anyone really knows why but it could be a dominance thing. My own Donald went from Trumps hairpiece:

To short haired piggy literally in the space of one day!

That was around a month ago and his hair is growing back again so I'm hoping the naughty girls did it just to gain dominance over him and won't continue to do it

unbelievable!!

 

[LousPiggies]

TsukiLouWho123 elly, post: 1997519, member: 8906"]I don't think anyone really knows why but it could be a dominance thing. My own Donald went from Trumps hairpiece:

To short haired piggy literally in the space of one day!

That was around a month ago and his hair is growing back again so I'm hoping the naughty girls did it just to gain dominance over him and won't continue to do it[/QUOTE]

Oh my gosh! I've been reading around as much as possible about barbering as I bonded my girl with a new sow yesterday. Straight away Willow started pulling out and eating my new piggies fur, she has a long curly coat. I was really worried so thankyou for sharing this pic as it really puts it into perspective that this behaviour is normal and piggies can digest ALOT of hair without any problems!

 

[LousPiggies]

I don't think anyone really knows why but it could be a dominance thing. My own Donald went from Trumps hairpiece:

To short haired piggy literally in the space of one day!

That was around a month ago and his hair is growing back again so I'm hoping the naughty girls did it just to gain dominance over him and won't continue to do it

Oh my gosh! I've been reading around as much as possible about barbering as I bonded my girl with a new sow yesterday. Straight away Willow started pulling out and eating my new piggies fur, she has a long curly coat. I was really worried so thankyou for sharing this pic as it really puts it into perspective that this behaviour is normal and piggies can digest ALOT of hair without any problems!

 

[Lady Kelly]

Oh my gosh! I've been reading around as much as possible about barbering as I bonded my girl with a new sow yesterday. Straight away Willow started pulling out and eating my new piggies fur, she has a long curly coat. I was really worried so thankyou for sharing this pic as it really puts it into perspective that this behaviour is normal and piggies can digest ALOT of hair without any problems!

Might have something to do with the names... one of my girls is called Willow too

 

[Freela]

I don't think anyone really knows why but it could be a dominance thing. My own Donald went from Trumps hairpiece:

To short haired piggy literally in the space of one day!

That was around a month ago and his hair is growing back again so I'm hoping the naughty girls did it just to gain dominance over him and won't continue to do it

LOL! I thought that Sundae gave Hadley some bad haircuts, but that takes the cake! Poor little guy! He must have felt naked by the end!

 

[Freela]

I don't know why they do it... but Sundae used to barber her cagemate, Hadley, on and off. There were periods of time when the behavior seemed to stop and Hadley would grow her fur back, and there were periods of time when Sundae would barber her right down to the undercoat. I have no idea what spurred it (nothing had changed) and why it was only occasional. Now that Sundae has passed on (old age, not due to the amazing amount of hair she must have ingested!) we are back to having to clip Hadley's fur again when it gets long, as Sundae used to take care of that for us!