Constant rumbling - advice please!

[Mindy86]

Hi, I'm after some advice if you can please! Some background - I have two females, we were told about 4 months old (although we do think one is slightly older than the other) who came from the same place (they were in the same enclosure when we picked them up) They have plenty of room and lots of places to hide. (After reading on here we made sure they have 2/3 exits!)

The problem - one of them (the elder we suspect) keeps rumbling at and chasing the other. She will even chase her out of hiding places. We've noticed that she will even rumble when our other pig isn't anywhere near her.

We tried taking the hiding places away and just putting a towel across, putting in sleeping cups instead, giving them as much floor time as we can so they have more space away from each other, and nothing seems to be working. The vet mentioned just keeping an eye on them.

Do I have to separate them?

Any advice of similar situations and how they were resolved would be helpful please!

Thank you.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Only separate if a full on, blood drawing fight occurs. Rumbling is a dominance behaviour and as long as it isn’t full on bullying/fights, preventing the other from eating etc, then normally it just has to run its course until dominance is established, but with sows coming into season frequently, it may happen often.

I have boars, one of whom rumbles seemingly for fun, a short chase ensues and then they go about eating their hay again.

The guides below may help you.

Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

 

[Mindy86]

Thank you so much.

I'm probably overreacting over something normal, but it is concerning! I just want two happy piggies

 

[PigglePuggle]

Definitely worth checking with the vet in case the rumbler might have ovarian cysts, but if you are right about their age of approx 4 months then probably your girls are just becoming hormonal teenagers!
When teenage girl pigs are in season their behaviour can be fairly obnoxious (like hormonal teenagers of any species!) but it should settle down over time. Our Lady Piggle had very strong seasons from 4 months until about a year old, luckily now she is much calmer.
I dont think there is any need to separate so far unless there is a clear case of bullying where the less dominant piggy is constantly miserable and not being allowed to eat or sleep.
Maybe you could keep a diary of the worst episodes and see if it falls into the approx 16 days season cycle?
We added a neutered boar to our group to try and deflect a bit of Piggle's hormonal energy, which can work well if you wanted to expand your group anyway- boars are great peace makers between their wives- but be aware that if there is a deeper problem and your girls really dont get along, a boar wont fix that, more likely you could end up with an outsider situation.
All things to think about, but I think for the moment its a watch and wait thing while you get to know your girls, and their usual hormone cycles, a bit better!

 

[Mindy86]

Definitely worth checking with the vet in case the rumbler might have ovarian cysts, but if you are right about their age of approx 4 months then probably your girls are just becoming hormonal teenagers!
When teenage girl pigs are in season their behaviour can be fairly obnoxious (like hormonal teenagers of any species!) but it should settle down over time. Our Lady Piggle had very strong seasons from 4 months until about a year old, luckily now she is much calmer.
I dont think there is any need to separate so far unless there is a clear case of bullying where the less dominant piggy is constantly miserable and not being allowed to eat or sleep.
Maybe you could keep a diary of the worst episodes and see if it falls into the approx 16 days season cycle?
We added a neutered boar to our group to try and deflect a bit of Piggle's hormonal energy, which can work well if you wanted to expand your group anyway- boars are great peace makers between their wives- but be aware that if there is a deeper problem and your girls really dont get along, a boar wont fix that, more likely you could end up with an outsider situation.
All things to think about, but I think for the moment its a watch and wait thing while you get to know your girls, and their usual hormone cycles, a bit better!

Thank you - I will definitely keep a record! And I have been keeping an eye on them for sure

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, I'm after some advice if you can please! Some background - I have two females, we were told about 4 months old (although we do think one is slightly older than the other) who came from the same place (they were in the same enclosure when we picked them up) They have plenty of room and lots of places to hide. (After reading on here we made sure they have 2/3 exits!)

The problem - one of them (the elder we suspect) keeps rumbling at and chasing the other. She will even chase her out of hiding places. We've noticed that she will even rumble when our other pig isn't anywhere near her.

We tried taking the hiding places away and just putting a towel across, putting in sleeping cups instead, giving them as much floor time as we can so they have more space away from each other, and nothing seems to be working. The vet mentioned just keeping an eye on them.

Do I have to separate them?

Any advice of similar situations and how they were resolved would be helpful please!

Thank you.

Hi!

Please double-check the gender of your piggies to make sure that you have a dominant but insecure sow and not a boar! Mis-sexing is sadly not at all uncommon. If you find that you have indeed a boar, then please separate asap and open an ongoing support thread in our pregnancy section.
What to check and look out for in new guinea pigs (vet checks, sexing, parasites&illness)
Here is our sexing guide with lots of pictures that also explains how you can determine the gender unmistakeably in two areas which are much clearer than the outside arrangement of the genitalia. You are welcome to post clear and day lit pictures on here but you will still be asked to do a hands-on check of these areas yourself since sexing from pictures has very much got its limits and we refuse to play guessing games. Illustrated Sexing Guide

If you have two girls, please make sure that you only have got hideys with two exits. The dominance behaviour is still on a normal level; it takes longer when the leader is still insecure. Things usually heat up again when one of the sows is coming into season.
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts) (includes a chapter on dominance behaviour between sows)
Social dominance behaviour: Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics