I have two boars, one older and one younger. My older boar keeps biting him and he kind of just squeaks loudly but doesn’t do anything else. I checked and made sure he didn’t have marks or anything. It seems fine but he literally bites him for no reason ? My little one will be sitting in his bed and he just goes up to him and bites him. He also really looks up to my older boar, he follows him around everywhere. He accepts he’s not the dominant one so there isnt any fighting, but how do i stop the biting if i can? Or will they always just act like this?
biting
- Thread starter marcel
- Start date
I forgot to mention, they both have they’re own items. I have 2 of everything.
Hi!
What are your boars' ages and how long have they been together?
What you are describing is a mild dominance behaviour called nipping. It is a carefully judged gesture of power that lets the underpiggy feel the teeth without breaking the skin in order to reinforce the group hierarchy which is at the core of piggy society. The appropriate response is submission squeaking, which is a very effective 'don't be mean to me; I am no rival of yours!' message.
You see this behaviour most typically in the first weeks after bonding or arrival in new territory, illness that impacts on the hierarchy standing or during teenage hormone spikes.
Please make sure that you only have huts and tunnels with two exits.
" Biting" And What You Can Do (Biting, Tweaking, Nibbling and Nipping)
More on guinea pig behaviours:
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics (for key interactive social behaviours)
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
More information on boars, age related issues and the various do's and dont's:
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Hi thank you, I got both my piggies from a petstore so i’m not too sure of theyre ages. My one boar is very small and fits in my one hand not a baby but he’s probably going to hit his teenage years soon or might be in them currently I'm unsure. My other piggy I got back around january and he was probably a teenager then because he’s gotten much bigger but he wasn’t the size of my new piggy. I got the little one around a month or two ago so they’re pretty new to eachother still. When I first introduced them everythingg seemed fine, they liked eachother there was no signs of fighting or biting or anything like that. The biting just started and I was unsure of it because they haven’t been together for a while but then again there was no problems in the beginning.
Please read the teenage guide! Teenage lasts between ca. 4-14 months but it comes with spikes and troughs.
You can find all the necessary information in our boar guide (deals with all ages) and in our teenage guide, which also contains tips on how to support the bond during this period, not just about what to do when it has failes. You may find it very helpful to read these guides as as the behaviours and dominance guides because you are bound to see a lot more. So being be able to understand and judge what is going on would be very helpful. You can find the green information links in the first post. I promise you that they are not boring!