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Headbutting - jealousy?

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Countrylass

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Daisy our year old sow has been living with Autumn our new nearly 5 week old sow for just under 2 weeks. Generally they get along ok but Daisy seems to like to headbutt Autumn if we've picked Autumn up for a cuddle then put her back in the cage. Is Daisy jealous of Autumn getting attention? They share food and Daisy stood completely still last night while Autumn had her nose poking in Daisy's ear. I think sometimes Daisy forgets how big she is in comparison to Autumn and absentmindedly trys to walk through her. Autumn's capable of holding her own against Daisy even though she is a quarter of her size
 
Pushing a face into a shoulder or ear or side of the head is a 'mummy love me' type of action, used by younger piggies when bonding with older ones.

The 'absent minded walking through the smaller one' is just being top piggie.

Daisy could easily be jealous of Autumn getting attention, but the head butting can just be making sure that the baby knows her place.

If Daisy has ever cleaned Autumn's bottom then she has adopted her as her own baby and the headbutting will simply be 'listen to your mother now!' The mother-daughter responses can be very 'bullying' for us to see, they honestly look like rough tellings off sometimes, but this is actually very heartening for the baby piggie who will feel comforted by mummy being rough.

I can't explain it any better than this, not having seen the headbutting you mention. My best advice is to cuddle them together. This will also reaffirm the bond between them.
 
Daisy headbutted Autumn in the side of the face pushing her into the cage wall which made Autumn squeal. She sniffs Autumn's bum when we put her back in the cage but I haven't noticed any cleaning actions as of yet. They have started sharing a snuggle sac now though with Autumn at the back and Daisy sitting in front of her with her head closest the opening which is an improvement on Daisy turfing Autumn out or lying on top of her and the snuggle sac. It does seem slightly rough at times but having seen Daisy in action when we tried to bond her with a neutered boar where she tried to take a chunk out of him, I think she's quite gentle in comparison with Autumn!
 
Headbutting is part of dominance behaviour. It will subside.
 
We've just seen Daisy tell Autumn to lift her head and then she's licked her ear to tell her to have a wash which Autumn has done. I'm so proud of her :(|)
 
Aww bless.
I didn't realise that the older sows kinda adopt the younger ones but having said that thinking back when I put peppa in with daisy and willow my older girls, daisy took an instant dislike to her and kept nipping her but willow defended her and followed her all around the hutch and kept daisy in check and I saw willow nibble peppas bum area quite a few times (I never gave it much thought).
When lottie the new baby went in, the older ones didn't really bother with her but peppa kept going up to her and snuggling (there's only 10 days between them) I just presumed that peppa prefered a smaller snuggle mate.
 
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