Naughty boy

T

ThePiggyPalace

Junior Guinea Pig
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I have a boy called Teilo. He's coming up to his second birthday.

He's so lively. He doesn't stop moving. He's also naughty and despite me saying his name sternly or trying to distract him, he usually doesn't stop what he is doing. Things include biting his brothers bum and taking fur out of it, stealing his brothers piece of food when he's eaten his, constantly trying to get out of the hutch, despite me saying no, and putting him further away from the door. This is usually while I'm cleaning or waiting for his brother to get back in. Sometimes it can be when I'm putting hay in.

He has loads of toys, is very confident and very, very talkative. Do guinea pigs learn 'rules'? Do they even understand when they're being naughty? I'm sure he understands that biting his brother is unkind behaviour.

If this was any of my other boys, they'd stop doing what they were doing within a few times of me telling them not to.
 
Guineas can't really be trained.

Mine were incessantly begging for treats so every time they bit the bars I left the room for 30 minutes. In 5 days they were no longer begging.
 
He will not view or understand any of it as naughty because ‘naughty’ is a human perception. They don’t have it in them to be naughty - they are just being piggies. Some behaviours may be undesirable to humans that you may or may not be able to get them to stop (for example - attention seeking bar biting) but some are normal piggy behaviours that you cannot and should not try to.

He won’t see biting his brother as unkind because, as above, viewing it as unkind is a totally human perception.
There is a difference between biting and nipping and it’s important you determine which one is actually occurring.
Nipping. This allows the other piggy to feel the teeth but it does not break the skin. It’s dominance and societal norm of communication. It is not him being naughty and you cannot and should not be trying to stop him from doing it. Stopping it by moving him when he does it would disrupt their communication with each other.
Actual Biting. if he was to be causing an injury by actually biting then that can mean deeper lying bond problems and issues between them. Potential for dysfunction and likely separation. (This does not sound to be what you are reporting though).
Barbering ie eating hair has a variety of potential underlying causes.

Taking food from their mouths is normal. It is dominance - the dominant piggy will have the pick of food even if it means taking it off of another piggy.

Him trying to get out: sounds like he is just curious and interested in what is going on. He absolutely will not view this as naughty.
When mine do it, I just block their way. They’re usually just desperate to get the food or hay
they know I’ve got in my hand.

A - Z of Guinea Pig Behaviours
Barbering (Eating Hair)
 
@Ramia and @Piggies&buns thank you both for your replies.

He's a very sweet and loving boy. I'll no longer look at his behaviour as being unkind to his brother. It is nipping and not biting.

He is very, very curious. He doesn't miss a thing. He's so articulate and explores everything.

He's talking away right now. He barely ever doesn't talk! He's a character, that's for sure! Despite the nipping, his very chilled brother and he balance each other out so perfectly.
 
I have two young adult boar brothers, one of whom is the dominant pig as you’d expect. However both of them whip food away from the other all the time! They’ll each have, for example, a piece of cucumber and they’ll be munching happily away and then one or the other (it’s not always the dominant one!) will plod on over, snatch their brothers piece and run off with it! The other one just sort of shrugs it off and wanders off to find the other piece.

I don’t tell them off (there’s no point, love them, they’re not the brightest of beings which I think is part of their charm!) but I often comment ‘ooh you naughty boy!’ like I would if either of my children behaved like that. Haha! So don’t worry about labelling piggy as naughty, they don’t understand.

The only words mine seem to understand are their names and the phrase ‘boys, dinner!’ but that’s only if I say it in a certain higher pitched tone of voice. I suspect it’s more the cadence and tone they recognise, associate with food and so get excited and start wheeking at me!

In my two it just seems like normal and playful behaviour. Neither seems bothered by it.
 
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