biting baby

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judith archer

judith archer

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Hi,
Despite being handled from very early on one of our mini pigs is biting lots. I don't think she's doing it to be nasty I think she's just nibbling but very hard. She doesn't seem stressed when you handle her and she's not trying to escape or anything but it is painful. :(
Can anyone offer any advice on how to stop this? or is it something she will grow out of?
 
Sorry Ive never heard of this before, hopefully someone will see this and be able to be of more help.
 
I wonder what the piggies for 'No' is. Is it the same in an angry voice as it is in a friendly wheek :(|)

Oh no! maybe 'no' in an angry human voice means 'I enjoy being bitten please keep doing it, thankyou' in piggie speak.
 
It must be the way I say it cos now I think about it when I say 'no' to my human babies that seems to mean 'yes, please carry on doing that' too :)
 
lol, all children seem to do that to me, I dont think I inherited the mummy voice gene.
 
Our Gnocchi did this at first and actually drew blood on one occasion when he bit my finger, presumably thinking it was food. You can't discipline them, I yelped when he did it instead and he seemed to learn from that. On future occasions he would still bite but not so hard, and would test by nibbling a bit harder each time until I yelped again. Over the weeks he has learned to just place his teeth other my skin now, or simply lick.

The other thing I did was show him my palm when he went to bite, as he couldn't bite that. Oh, and don't dangle your fingers in front of her at first as they look a bit like carrots to babies :(|)

We were really worried about Gnocchi for a few weeks, but he is so much better now, so don't panic!
 
When I first got captain jack he was a real biter, he got me once real bad so I decided to take measures.:(

Whenever he was trying to take a chunk out of me I would make a noise,like a quick hissy noise and very softly nip him at the back of his neck. The noise alone does the trick. I've read that blowing in there faces worked by jacko has a real bite. Well it worked. He's great now. He wasn't hurt at all. I am sure someone will say its wrong but it worked.
 
I'll have to try makin noises when she does it and see what that does. So far I've tried tellin her off but she's cute so my telling her off voice is exactly the same as when I talk to them normally ;)
I thought of tryin picking her up often but just for 30 seconds or so, so I can say hello but put her back before she has chance to bite, and gradually increasing the time. Do you think this might work or would it just annoy her being picked up several t imes a day?/
 
Defo try the strange noises, anything different to your normal voice...believe me when your hand is still stinging from the last bite you'll remember.

Maybe twice a day in my experience, trying some hand feeding also...I'm still doing this with my youngest and she's doing much better. It's all a learning curve and watching to see what happens. Good luck.
 
Thank you. I've just been reading another thread that says about feeding piggies when holding them, such a clever simple idea but I hadn't thought of it mallethead so I'm gonna try that. Hopefully she'll eat that instead of me.... Knowing my luck she'll start to associate me with food and bite more rolleyes
I know you're sayin about the pain, the cute little nibbles have very quickly turned into painful bites! :(
 
The other thing I'd say is don't put her back as soon as she tries to bite, otherwise she may associate biting with getting her own way. Ride it out for a bit and then put her back, moving your hand if she tries to bite or showing your palm.

I'd deffo recommend hand feeding to calm her down and stroking in the cage as well.

I'm sure she'll grow out of it :)
 
I've only ever had one piggy that liked biting, that was my first one rolleyes

Since then I have learnt to keep my fingers away from underneath their necks when handling them, the trick is to pick them up under their tummies, with their front legs over your hand & support them under their bottoms. Since always handling them like this I haven't been bitten since.

Things to try are:

Wash your hands after feeding them so they don't think you are lunch rolleyes

Wear gardening gloves whilst handling for a while so they can't actually hurt you so they get fed up with the biting.

Use a "click" with your mouth/tongue when they try to bite, never raise your voice at them.

Try sitting them on your lap & gently rub the ears pull them very gently along the edge, imitating what another pig does when they groom each other.

Inspect their fur for mites, any fur thinning or loss or scabs need investigation, mites make them uncomfortable when being handled.

Guinea pigs never bite in anger; they are the pets least likely to ever bite in my opinion, which is why I don't keep hamsters rolleyes
 
One of mine was a biter at lap time but he started doing it as a teenager, months after we got him. He always got hand fed at lap time and he weed and pooped all over the lap blanket long before he started biting. Yet he wouldn't try to bite when we clipped his nails despite all his squirming. So we couldn't come up with an explanation of why he was biting. A search of the Internet revealed that blowing gently in his face or gently pinching him at the back of the neck (mumma piggies bite there to discipline bubba) would stop biting. We did the blowing in the face and it cured him within weeks except for one instance where to this day he still bites. But as the general biting stopped we could isolate why this particular biting occurred and avoid it.

He does not like a finger in front of his face. Put it there and he bites at lightning speed. Almost like the finger had startled him and was a danger. But he had also always loved his chin runs before all this biting started. So, we started saying "chin rub Hazelnut?" slowly bringing the finger closer as we kept repeating the question. If he raises his head exposing his little throat it is safe to give the chin rub. If he doesn't then we don't force it. It is rare for him not to raise his head - he loves chin rubs.
 
Thank you all. lots of things to try :) I'm hoping it's just a baby thing, she's only 3 weeks old. I going to try the feeding and the gloves, I've got some thick ones I used to use with the hamster cos he was a biter. The stroking her in the cage thing is a bit tricky at the moment cos the piggies are currently living in a piggy proofed child's playpen (I Got 2 girls and both were pregnant so had to find a bigger cage quickly to accommdate extra piggies) the sides are very high but I do try to stroke them during floor time instead of always picking them up. I hope she stops biting soon as the children really want to help lookin after the Guinea's and I can't let them because of her :(
 
judith archer said:
Thank you all. lots of things to try :) I'm hoping it's just a baby thing, she's only 3 weeks old. I going to try the feeding and the gloves, I've got some thick ones I used to use with the hamster cos he was a biter. The stroking her in the cage thing is a bit tricky at the moment cos the piggies are currently living in a piggy proofed child's playpen (I Got 2 girls and both were pregnant so had to find a bigger cage quickly to accommdate extra piggies) the sides are very high but I do try to stroke them during floor time instead of always picking them up. I hope she stops biting soon as the children really want to help lookin after the Guinea's and I can't let them because of her :(
Click to expand...

Gosh 3 weeks old is very young, she is still learning :))

Please be careful regarding bars; baby pigs can trap their heads in bars if they are wider than normal piggy cage bars :(
 
Hi the bars are baby pig proofed. They are covered in wire mesh, the same as of their run, to make sure there's no escapes or injuries :) I've recently brought the stuff to make them a c & c cage but I'm having to wait to make it because of the babies. I don't think they would be able to escape but I'm not risking them trying it :)
With regards to the biting I was asking because she never used to bite, her brother was a biter right from the start, so I wasn't sure if its 'just a baby thing' or not ?/
Going to be tryin a few things people have suggested and also having a chat with her this morning :))
 
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