Rumble-strutting 12week Old?!

Dill&Pepper

Junior Guinea Pig
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I’ve had my pair of baby sows, Pickle and Pollyanna, for just over a month now and they’ve settled in beautifully. After a tense 48 hours my older sow, Pepper, accepted them and now pretty much ignores them unless she wants to bump them off the bowl of pellets. She’s definitely TopPig, but chilled with it.

From the day they arrive home, it was clear that Pollyanna was by far the more dominant of the babies. She’s tried rumblestrutting at Pepper (who told her to get lost), but now rumblestrutts at Pickle far more than seems necessary. As far as I can tell, there is no contest for dominance between them - Pickle squeaks submission as soon as anyone comes near her (though is a lot slower to move out the way than the noise would suggest). Yet Pollyanna spends a reasonable proportion of her non-eating/sleeping time winding Pickle up for no apparent reason. They’re both gaining weight at approximately the same rate and Pickle does popcorning and zoomies so doesn’t seem too stressed, but it seems odd - is it likely to carry on for much longer?!
 
I think it sounds like hormones, and young boars tend to go through a sort of "puberty" where things like rumblestrutting are common. As long as your other pigs don't appear to feel threatened and everything is calm between them all you don't have anything to worry about. A trio of boars can be quite difficult to live in harmony so I hope it all continues to go smoothly.
 
I’ve had my pair of baby sows, Pickle and Pollyanna, for just over a month now and they’ve settled in beautifully. After a tense 48 hours my older sow, Pepper, accepted them and now pretty much ignores them unless she wants to bump them off the bowl of pellets. She’s definitely TopPig, but chilled with it.

From the day they arrive home, it was clear that Pollyanna was by far the more dominant of the babies. She’s tried rumblestrutting at Pepper (who told her to get lost), but now rumblestrutts at Pickle far more than seems necessary. As far as I can tell, there is no contest for dominance between them - Pickle squeaks submission as soon as anyone comes near her (though is a lot slower to move out the way than the noise would suggest). Yet Pollyanna spends a reasonable proportion of her non-eating/sleeping time winding Pickle up for no apparent reason. They’re both gaining weight at approximately the same rate and Pickle does popcorning and zoomies so doesn’t seem too stressed, but it seems odd - is it likely to carry on for much longer?!

Hi it should settle down in a day or two in most cases once ther season is over.
Sow Behaviour

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Thanks - sorry I should have mentioned, we’ve had a fortnight of pretty determined rumble-strutting so far and it’s showing no signs of abating! I’ve had various groups of sows for years and never had it go on for more than a day or so.
 
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