Randomly biting at the New Guinea

K

Kinzie12

New Born Pup
Joined
Jul 3, 2021
Messages
23
Reaction score
0
Points
55
Location
Mauston
Hello,
I recently got a new 5 week old guinea pig(cricket) and I already had a 6 month old (Poppy), I have introduced them in a neutral setting. Poppy has nipped at her, never hard enough to draw blood. She did it when she would try to take her food or go by her butt area. Poppy has started licking (I don’t believe biting) crickets eyes and ears, she touches noses with cricket when in the hammock. Today I had them outside, they were laying by each other for a few minutes and all of a sudden Poppy quickly nipped at her a few times. Didn’t draw blood and the baby didn’t run away from her. I have since put them in their cages and put the cages by Eachother so they can somewhat interact. What does this all mean?
 
My Piggies said:
Nipping is usually a dominance behaviour and not intended to harm the other piggy. If Poppy intended to harm Cricket, she probably would have. I would keep an eye on them, but this isn't usually a sign of a failed bonding. Hope this helps!

You can have a look at these threads which look at bonding and behaviours in more detail:
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
A Closer Look At Pairs (Boars - Sows - Mixed)
Bonds In Trouble
Click to expand...
My Piggies said:
Nipping is usually a dominance behaviour and not intended to harm the other piggy. If Poppy intended to harm Cricket, she probably would have. I would keep an eye on them, but this isn't usually a sign of a failed bonding. Hope this helps!

You can have a look at these threads which look at bonding and behaviours in more detail:
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
A Closer Look At Pairs (Boars - Sows - Mixed)
Bonds In Trouble
Click to expand...

Thank you so much!
 
Nipping is a show of power by the dominant piggy. It doesn't hurt and it doesn't break the skin. This is a normal behaviour.
After introduction it takes two weeks of them permanently living together for them to sort the details of the hierarchy and fully establish a relationship. During that time you will see a lot of dominance behaviours.

To be clear, have you put them back into separate cages? Once they have had their neutral territory introduction, please dont separate piggies unless the relationship clearly fails. You will need to reintroduce them on neutral territory again and leave them to sort things out. Then move them back to the same cage so they can live together permanently.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
 
I did move
Piggies&buns said:
Nipping is a show of power by the dominant piggy. It doesn't hurt and it doesn't break the skin. This is a normal behaviour.
After introduction it takes two weeks of them permanently living together for them to sort the details of the hierarchy and fully establish a relationship. During that time you will see a lot of dominance behaviours.

To be clear, have you put them back into separate cages? Once they have had their neutral territory introduction, please dont separate piggies unless the relationship clearly fails. You will need to reintroduce them on neutral territory again and leave them to sort things out. Then move them back to the same cage so they can live together permanently.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Click to expand...

I did put them back into separate cages because as of right now the baby is still somewhat injured. When I got her she had a severely infected leg and eye. I didn’t want to leave them alone just because she is so small and still had a bad leg. I will let them see eachother every day and plan on letting them live together after she is all good.
 
Kinzie12 said:
I did move

I did put them back into separate cages because as of right now the baby is still somewhat injured. When I got her she had a severely infected leg and eye. I didn’t want to leave them alone just because she is so small and still had a bad leg. I will let them see eachother every day and plan on letting them live together after she is all good.
Click to expand...

You are better off to properly bond them and leave them together in the same cage. Piggies under four months of age should never be kept alone - they are desperate for companionship and need to be with another piggy at all times.
Letting them play together and then continually splitting them back up and putting them back into separate cages causes them a great amount of stress and harms their ability to properly form a hierarchy and relationship. Once they have been introduced they should never be separated unless the bond fails. It takes two weeks of living together permanently after they’ve been introduced to properly form that relationship.

What is wrong with the leg and eye?
How is the leg and eye being treated?
A previous injury isn’t a reason to keep them apart particularly in such a young piggy.
 
Piggies&buns said:
You are better off to properly bond them and leave them together in the same cage. Piggies under four months of age should never be kept alone - they are desperate for companionship and need to be with another piggy at all times.
Letting them play together and then continually splitting them back up and putting them back into separate cages causes them a great amount of stress and harms their ability to properly form a hierarchy and relationship. Once they have been introduced they should never be separated unless the bond fails. It takes two weeks of living together permanently after they’ve been introduced to properly form that relationship.

What is wrong with the leg and eye?
How is the leg and eye being treated?
A previous injury isn’t a reason to keep them apart particularly in such a young piggy.
Click to expand...

When I got her she had yellow sacs on her leg, would not use it at all, she always had cuts and it was so swollen you couldn’t even extend the leg. She has been put on antibiotics and pain medicine. They thought they might have to amputate but decided to go this route. Her eye had a bad infection and I was given drops for that. It has gotten a lot better, but still not fixed all of the way. I am honestly just really scared to leave them alone as I do not want anything to happen. Thank you so much for the advice!
 
I don’t know what you mean by yellow sacs but a sore leg and sore eye aren’t reasons to keep them apart.

You don’t need to be scared to leave them together - if they are a good match, then nothing will happen other than normal dominance. The youngest one really does need to be bonded for the essential companionship.

Do carry out a neutral territory bonding and see it through to conclusion, ensuring you clean out the cage they are to live in and then move them to it together.
The bonding guide I linked in explains the whole process in detail
 
My vet said it was a good idea not to house them together right away just because of her leg and eye: she has huge abscesses and can’t use that leg. Thank you. I will look at the guide and probably put them together!
 
It's generally a dominance behavior not aimed at hurting, just an effort to remind the subordinate pig who the boss is. We actually have an older, 4-year-old pig and a new baby that we bonded a couple of weeks ago. We certainly see some nips aimed in the baby's direction, but she takes it in stride! LOL!
 
Freela said:
It's generally a dominance behavior not aimed at hurting, just an effort to remind the subordinate pig who the boss is. We actually have an older, 4-year-old pig and a new baby that we bonded a couple of weeks ago. We certainly see some nips aimed in the baby's direction, but she takes it in stride! LOL!
Click to expand...
That’s great 🙂 Poppy licks cricket and wants to play but then sometimes she nips. I’m scared to leave them in the same cage though lol
 
Nipping is normal - Poppy is just letting Cricket know that she is the boss. As long as Cricket accepts that then there isnt going to be any problem (and as a tiny baby, Cricket is not going to challenge for dominance at this point - she just wants to belong in a group and live with another piggy).
Not being able to use that leg won't stop them from bonding

What you cant do is put them together and then keep separating them. You need to make a decision as to whether you are going to bond them properly and then see it through and leave them together. If you aren't going to bond them, then dont let them have any time physically together for play time. The issue with not bonding now is baby is losing valuable companionship and she is in her 'school months' where the learning about how to be a piggy takes place.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Nipping is normal - Poppy is just letting Cricket know that she is the boss. As long as Cricket accepts that then there isnt going to be any problem (and as a tiny baby, Cricket is not going to challenge for dominance at this point - she just wants to belong in a group and live with another piggy).
Not being able to use that leg won't stop them from bonding

What you cant do is put them together and then keep separating them. You need to make a decision as to whether you are going to bond them properly and then see it through and leave them together. If you aren't going to bond them, then dont let them have any time physically together for play time. The issue with not bonding now is baby is losing valuable companionship and she is in her 'school months' where the learning about how to be a piggy takes place.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I do want them to bond and I honestly didn’t know until coming on here that it is bad to keep putting them in separate cages. I am waiting for an even bigger cage that will be neutral for them, it will be here tomorrow. I will let them play and then put them in there together 🙂
 
Follow the guide for bonding in the behaviour section. No hides, only hay and a pile of veg in the bonding area. You could still bond then and leave them in the neutral area overnight. All the best.
 
I got the new bigger cage, they are currently in it. They have been doing great today, running around and popping! Haven’t seen poppy nip at cricket today, she did however try to hump her.
 
Kinzie12 said:
I got the new bigger cage, they are currently in it. They have been doing great today, running around and popping! Haven’t seen poppy nip at cricket today, she did however try to hump her.
Click to expand...

that's really good. humping is perfectly normal
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top