Sow problems

[Mylittlespices]

I have 2 female 8 month old guinea pigs and they are iffy together. Ginger is the dominant one and is always showing cinnamon that, but poor cinnamon doesn't eat hay a lot since ginger likes to hog it and cinnamon tries to stay away most times. I have put hay everywhere but ginger always wants it for herself and cinnamon is always nervous around her. Cinnamon squeals every now and again when she is with ginger, as ginger will snap at her. Cinnamon is very timid and i worry it is because of ginger making her nervous. I know they are teens, but i don't know, will they be ok when they are older and adults?

 

[RicoandRocky]

My boys did the same thing for a while i fed them outside the cage in separate boxes to make sure they both got enough food

 

[Hops_in_Heaven]

Back when I used to just have Bliss and Cuddles, Bliss would lie in front of the water bottle so Cuddles couldn't drink. My solution was to get more water bottles and place them in different spots. She can't block them all that way.

I had a similar problem where Bliss was starting to be a bit of a bully. Cuddles was starting to fight back and mimic this behaviour. There was a lot of bickering.

I don't recommend this as a solution, but I was already thinking of getting another pig at the time. When I added Frolic to the herd, suddenly all of that stopped. She was so mellow and confident that she wouldn't put up with Bliss's petty games. Cuddles thought she was pretty great and started copying her instead!

 

[Wiebke]

I have 2 female 8 month old guinea pigs and they are iffy together. Ginger is the dominant one and is always showing cinnamon that, but poor cinnamon doesn't eat hay a lot since ginger likes to hog it and cinnamon tries to stay away most times. I have put hay everywhere but ginger always wants it for herself and cinnamon is always nervous around her. Cinnamon squeals every now and again when she is with ginger, as ginger will snap at her. Cinnamon is very timid and i worry it is because of ginger making her nervous. I know they are teens, but i don't know, will they be ok when they are older and adults?

Hi! Please follow the tips re. trial separation in this guide to evaluate whether the bond is working or not. Bullying happens in sows, and they can be sneaky about it. As you cannot ask your piggies directly, you need to test their interaction and then take it from there. Sows generally don't fight but they are not always a good match.
Sow Behaviour (including ovarian cysts)
Bonds In Trouble

Do what we recommend for teenage boars:
- have only hideys with two exits (ideally one hidey more than piggies), so no piggy can be 'locked in'.
- feed veg and 1 tablespoon of pellets per piggy per day in portions that can be eaten in one go in bowls well spaced away. If food chasing is extreme, feed the piggies the same but take the underpiggy out.
- have two water bottles at different ends.
- offer hay in two different areas too far apart that they can be blocked by a bully. Always make sure that there is more than one access to hay.

Keep an eye on the weight. As long as your girl is not losing, she is still getting enough.
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight

 

[cavylover2002]

It is probably just a phase as long as it doesn't get out of control.
Buttercup, my pig, has always been the dominant one but in the teen years, he was SUPER dominant and controlling and nipped at Gingerbread and took food. This period was only at ages 6-8 months (it really only lasted for two or three months) and then it just stopped one day and they are extremely bonded now, sleep together, etc....I would probably recommend feeding Cinnamon in a separate area for hay just to make sure she's getting enough or even hand feed it to her OR I highly recommend making two separate areas for hay (even though it will get messy) but it will be better for Cinnamon's welfare. I wish you the best of luck

 

[Mylittlespices]

Thank you this has all been very helpful i will do my best to help cinnamon and hopefully this will subside after the teen years, but will still evaluate their relationship.