Boar bothering Sow lots

Olivitree

Olivitree

Junior Guinea Pig
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Heya,

We've had Cinnamon (about 1.5 years old) for a while now (2 months ish?), bonding with our old lady piggy (Oxford, she's 5) went perfectly, couldn't have gone better really, usual amount of mounting and good natured chasing around.
Recently though he's been mounting her a lot more than normal and generally bothering her more than before.

I had to extract her so she could actually have a nap and she fell asleep in my arms as soon as I sat down!

Any ideas on why the behaviour change? I wouldn't worry with a younger pig but she's an older gal with a couple of weight problems (struggling to get her weight back up post surgery, everything is all healed up though.)
 
I should probably add their recent medical history, Cinnamon was neutered in March, we're treating him for an abscess he developed post surgery presently, its been drained and he's on antibiotics for it.
Oxford has cystic ovaries, not huge, but she had a surgery to remove a substantial amount of tissue following a suspicious mammary lump so we've not really jumped on the surgery idea. She's on Loxicom for the ovaries in case they are causing her any discomfort if that's the cause for her weight issues and we're not certain she'd get through another surgery in her current state, she's pretty skinny and boney at the moment. Not going to bother with weights as I don't feel standard guinea pig weights fit her over all size, she's a big guinea pig but her condition skinny comparing it to the charts.

Is it possible she's just in season and thats sending him off on one?
 
Siikibam said:
I think she may possibly be in season. What does she do when he’s mounting her and how often is it? Does he chase then mount or just mount? Is she complaining? I’ll tag @Wiebke @Piggies&buns @PigglePuggle
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Heya sorry for the wait in response there.
There was chasing and mounting as well as just mounting, she was complaining quite a bit and I think she nipped him once or twice as one of them squeaked, things seem to have calmed down some over the weekend though he still does give chase and mount her when she goes aback in after meds
I was getting them both in and out a fair bit as they’re both on medication, could this be part of the problem to? Reaffirming boundaries and things when they get put back together perhaps?

it seems to come and go, some times he just won’t leave her alone for ages then they’ll have a long quiet patch.
 
Siikibam said:
Are you sure her squeaking isn’t submission rather than complaining? Hopefully he gets the message once she tells him off. Keep and eye and perhaps have a read of the guide linked below.
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Bonds In Trouble
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I'm pretty sure its him squeaking, I think heard her squeak once when he was trying to mount her under a log hide with not enough height clearance and they kinda got squished but otherwise it was him making one squeak post nip or something.
The noise she usually makes is very similar to the one they tend to make if you tickle their tummy or touch their feet when they don't want you to, its a definitely mildly irritated "could you NOT, please, thanks." kind of sound she makes, its not out right aggression but I wouldn't call it submission by any means, I usually associate the sound she makes with "if you don't stop what you're doing I will nip you".
Pops, one of our other pair who wont accept anyone else into their little sisters gang, is very submissive and very scared when I tried introducing oxford to them so she gave me a good understanding of submission sounds.

Nothings making me worried for their bond yet, no teeth chattering between them at all, nobody is seeming scared or upset, just a bit frustrated and tired on Oxfords part.
Oxford is a very tolerant, patient piggy, particularly with the boys, less so with girls. Cinnamon seems happy as long has he can climb aboard :blink:

I can attempt to get a video of it to try and catch the sounds they make if that would help but Cinnamon is a skittish lad and usually stops what ever he's doing to work out if I'm going to pick him up for meds time or offer him a snack.
 
Olivitree said:
I'm pretty sure its him squeaking, I think heard her squeak once when he was trying to mount her under a log hide with not enough height clearance and they kinda got squished but otherwise it was him making one squeak post nip or something.
The noise she usually makes is very similar to the one they tend to make if you tickle their tummy or touch their feet when they don't want you to, its a definitely mildly irritated "could you NOT, please, thanks." kind of sound she makes, its not out right aggression but I wouldn't call it submission by any means, I usually associate the sound she makes with "if you don't stop what you're doing I will nip you".
Pops, one of our other pair who wont accept anyone else into their little sisters gang, is very submissive and very scared when I tried introducing oxford to them so she gave me a good understanding of submission sounds.

Nothings making me worried for their bond yet, no teeth chattering between them at all, nobody is seeming scared or upset, just a bit frustrated and tired on Oxfords part.
Oxford is a very tolerant, patient piggy, particularly with the boys, less so with girls. Cinnamon seems happy as long has he can climb aboard :blink:

I can attempt to get a video of it to try and catch the sounds they make if that would help but Cinnamon is a skittish lad and usually stops what ever he's doing to work out if I'm going to pick him up for meds time or offer him a snack.
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Maybe find a way to place the camera to record them and walk out of the room?
 
Hey folks managed to record the sound, seems we are having another busy day, Oxford is getting pretty fed up again! Barely seems to get a minute to herself.
Pretty certain it's just irritated "get off" noises but here is the requested video.

Anything I can do to ease how often he's bothering her? Poor old gal!
 
Olivitree said:
Hey folks managed to record the sound, seems we are having another busy day, Oxford is getting pretty fed up again! Barely seems to get a minute to herself.
Pretty certain it's just irritated "get off" noises but here is the requested video.

Anything I can do to ease how often he's bothering her? Poor old gal!
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Hi! You old lady is just protesting and still on the milder side.

How old is your boy? Some teenagers can be a real pest. Most sows can stand up for themselves when they have had enough and really tell a boy off (not always succeeding for more than a few minutes).

Can your give your boy some extra exercise and enrichment time ouside the cage to give your lady a break once a day for several hours? He will eventually settle down once he reaches adulthood.
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs
 
Wiebke said:
Hi! You old lady is just protesting and still on the milder side.

How old is your boy? Some teenagers can be a real pest. Most sows can stand up for themselves when they have had enough and really tell a boy off (not always succeeding for more than a few minutes).

Can your give your boy some extra exercise and enrichment time ouside the cage to give your lady a break once a day for several hours? He will eventually settle down once he reaches adulthood.
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% certain on his age, he's a small boy, when he came to us he seemed pretty small for a lad (He weighed 900g, he's put on about 100g since) but was aged at 1.5 years by the previous owner (he was a rescue) so he's probably coming up on 2 years in a few months if that's all correct and he's just a little on the small side compared to our previous boy we got around the same age, who was already about 1200g.
Not sure if that is considered being a teenager?

We can probably give him some time out of the cage, but he's NOT a people pig and hates being alone, he's quite scared and all he wants to do is go home, usually cries out for Oxford if we take her out of the cage, similar to the way baby guinea pigs do when separated from mum. I do need to change his feelings on people anyway so it's something I could certainly have a go at for her sake! If I take him out for a short cuddle she goes straight to bed to have a nap so I expect she'd appreciate it. I'll have a look see at the ideas, thank you!

Just now I did have to do a major cleaning for him, he seemed to have a smidgen of impaction which seems odd for a piggy of his age, it seemed to be mostly Oxfords fur and maybe one or two poops worth of other material, I know that's a bit more of a health thing, but could that have been causing some trouble as well would irritation down there cause him to be a bit more active, or is it a symptom of him being so active and dragging his bum around everywhere to scent mark more? (I did give him a full boar clean, Oxfords fur seems to be tangled up round everything, its not even that long!)
 
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