Do guinea pigs get jealous?

Black piggies

Black piggies

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Just curious... I was patting teenage boar Bertie who I got in July, he laid down and seemed to be enjoying it. He was rumbling away. I then patted Shadow, who was almost nose to nose with him as they often are, they've been getting along very well.. and then he lunged and bopped her nose, as if to say hey, that's my hooman! Could he have been jealous, or it's just him generally being over excitable? Shadow didn't even flinch, as though she understood him...
 
Black piggies said:
Just curious... I was patting teenage boar Bertie who I got in July, he laid down and seemed to be enjoying it. He was rumbling away. I then patted Shadow, who was almost nose to nose with him as they often are, they've been getting along very well.. and then he lunged and bopped her nose, as if to say hey, that's my hooman! Could he have been jealous, or it's just him generally being over excitable? Shadow didn't even flinch, as though she understood him...
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Piggies can be occasionally rather jealous or possessive. I was for instance not welcome to interact with new husboar Llewelyn; my usually very sweet-natured and very loved up middle aged twice bereaved Dizzy considered him hers!

If that is the case, please always handle, groom, feed etc. the jealous piggy first in order to respect the hierarchy.
 
Wiebke said:
Piggies can be occasionally rather jealous or possessive. I was for instance not welcome to interact with new husboar Llewelyn; my usually very sweet-natured and very loved up middle aged twice bereaved Dizzy considered him hers!

If that is the case, please always handle, groom, feed etc. the jealous piggy first in order to respect the hierarchy.
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Aw Dizzy didn't want to share her new love 😍

Should I still attend to jealous Bertie first, when Shadow is the dominant one?

I won't pat them when they're nose to nose again, that's for sure!
 
Black piggies said:
Aw Dizzy didn't want to share her new love 😍

Should I still attend to jealous Bertie first, when Shadow is the dominant one?

I won't pat them when they're nose to nose again, that's for sure!
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Better attend to him first - for the peace of the realm! Boars can be quite possessive of their wives... Especially if they start flirting with others!
 
They certainly can! Our original pair were named Linney (very bossy, domineering girl!) and Frenzy (meek and mild girl), and we couldn't hold them both at the same time. They got along really well otherwise because Frenzy was so laid back and submissive, but Linney would not tolerate sharing the humans with Frenzy. She would get very domineering and try to drive her off. After that we always held the pigs separately, one at a time. Even a few pigs later, we still typically do this, even though no one else has made as big a fuss about it as Linney. I kind of imagine that each pig thinks that they own they humans and have no idea that we know their cagemate too!
 
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