Drawn blood?

tatals

tatals

Junior Guinea Pig
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I need help figuring this out.

Oreo and Shoyu are apparently very close cagemates. We always see them together, sometimes even when they're sleeping. They do rumble-strut often, but I've always taken it as part of the teenage months, as it's never more than that.

Today, though, I woke up to this:

1548939745235.webp

Sorry about the quality, he has a hard time staying put. But, as you can see, he has what looks like bite marks on his snout. I only saw it long after giving them breakfast, when he started 't-rexing' me for more. They looked super relaxed as always, shared their food and were around each other, no apparent problems.

Yesterday I took a picture while playing with him and I'll post it here so you can compare.

1548940013130.webp

If you enlarge it, you'll see that there are no marks.

Shoyu is super sweet and has never ever tried to bite me. He is not the aggressive type, so I'm a bit shocked. Even though they look ok together, this is technically drawn blood. Should I separate them? I'm now super concerned. If they had obvious aggressive behavior, I'd have no doubt about it, but I'm afraid I'll ruin things if I do. What do you think?
 
*"I'm afraid I'll ruin things if I SEPARATE THEM BEFORE TIME"

Just a small correction. Sorry about that. My editing skills fail me sometimes.
 
In my experience, if this is the only mark and there is no change in the atmosphere or their behaviour I would leave them together. I don't have experience of boar pairs but when two of my sows feel out the tension was palpable and all 4 of the piggies were teeth chattering and isolated
 
Keep an eye on them, this could be something he has done not related. Any sharp objects in the cage? metal hay feeders are the worst. If the atmosphere is good between them I’d leave them together. Make sure there is two of everything and scatter pellet food instead of a using a bowl(s)
Hope they are alright x
 
tatals said:
I need help figuring this out.

Oreo and Shoyu are apparently very close cagemates. We always see them together, sometimes even when they're sleeping. They do rumble-strut often, but I've always taken it as part of the teenage months, as it's never more than that.

Today, though, I woke up to this:

View attachment 105778

Sorry about the quality, he has a hard time staying put. But, as you can see, he has what looks like bite marks on his snout. I only saw it long after giving them breakfast, when he started 't-rexing' me for more. They looked super relaxed as always, shared their food and were around each other, no apparent problems.

Yesterday I took a picture while playing with him and I'll post it here so you can compare.

View attachment 105779

If you enlarge it, you'll see that there are no marks.

Shoyu is super sweet and has never ever tried to bite me. He is not the aggressive type, so I'm a bit shocked. Even though they look ok together, this is technically drawn blood. Should I separate them? I'm now super concerned. If they had obvious aggressive behavior, I'd have no doubt about it, but I'm afraid I'll ruin things if I do. What do you think?
Click to expand...

Hi!
It depends on how serious and full-on the bite is. It looks to me rather like a mis-judged 'stay out of my space' defence lunge to me rather than a full on bite.
You can try a re-intro depending on how the two piggies react to the separation and once tempers have cooled down. But please plan an alternative if your boys won't go back together.

Please take the time to read this guide carefully; it tells you all about trial separations, re-intros and what your options are if the bond fails. You should find the information very helpful to work out where your boys stand, what you can do to remove any potential flashpoints and to make any decisions on an informed basis.
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
 
Thanks, guys. I do hope it was just an accident. They don't have metal feeders, I'm super careful about that. The only thing I can think of that might cause a cut are the binder clips I use to hold the fleece in place. So maybe he was being literally nosy and had a little accident. I've been keeping an eye on them and everything looks fine. They are even popcorning right now, so I'm feeling better.
 
tatals said:
Thanks, guys. I do hope it was just an accident. They don't have metal feeders, I'm super careful about that. The only thing I can think of that might cause a cut are the binder clips I use to hold the fleece in place. So maybe he was being literally nosy and had a little accident. I've been keeping an eye on them and everything looks fine. They are even popcorning right now, so I'm feeling better.
Click to expand...

It's most likely a misjudged action and just a minor incident. Take a deep breath! ;)
 
I have a feeling Dot is going to catch Bernie soon. When she has cystitis flare ups, she lunges at Bernie if he goes near her.
 
When we first introduced Theo to the ladies Jezzy floof got a similar bite on her nose, it looked pretty bad because she was scratching at it, but I never saw it happen and I think it was just an accidental nip because Jezzy was sort of spinning round and head butting Theo every time he tried sniff her bum! It never happened again so maybe watch and wait, it would be a shame to disrupt what sounds like a good bond over a single misjudged bite. Piggy teeth are sharp, greedy Clover once bit me instead of a carrot slice just as I was putting a food bowl down and it was brutal!
 
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