Troubles with a herd without a leader.

Cavy Kung-Fu

Cavy Kung-Fu

Adult Guinea Pig
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It’s been almost 5 days since we lost our beautiful, beloved Cissy. She was the leader of the herd, so fair and a great mediator. Any issues and she was there to make sure everyone was okay with quiet grace. Now she’s gone and I fear that the herd is in trouble. They mourned for about 2 days and they’ve now started to come out of mourning (unlike us humans) and now the battle for leadership has taken an unexpected turn.

So we have Bella (she was 2nd), Drom (3rd), Iggy (4th) and Tonks (5th) in the original herd hierarchy. I just assumed Bella would naturally take Cissy’s place as she is now the oldest as she’s her sister. But ooooh no, things can’t be that simple with my lot.

Bella, Tonks and Iggy appear to be vying for that top spot, which is just bizarre. I didn’t think males even cared about their placement but Iggy seems to want the leader role... and there’s Tonks, I’m almost certain she has some form of learning difficulties bless her. But she’s being almost as much of a jerk as Iggy is. Drom is just petrified of going near anyone who isn’t Bella, she was so close to Cissy I think she’s still grieving.

We had a lot of chasing and teeth chattering last night and I got a separator but then I had no idea who to separate or what as it was all kicking off between all of them... Eventually they calmed down a bit but I’m really not sure what’s going on or what to do... I’m still devastated not to see Cissy’s face every day, hear her chirp or wheek and this on top of everything... She’s left a bigger hole in our lives than she could ever imagine :(

Sorry for the essay but I’m sort of venting and a bit desperate to know what to do... I’m worried they’ll hurt each other and with 2 sick pigs and one just passed I’m going out of my mind... Thanks for reading the madness!
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
It’s been almost 5 days since we lost our beautiful, beloved Cissy. She was the leader of the herd, so fair and a great mediator. Any issues and she was there to make sure everyone was okay with quiet grace. Now she’s gone and I fear that the herd is in trouble. They mourned for about 2 days and they’ve now started to come out of mourning (unlike us humans) and now the battle for leadership has taken an unexpected turn.

So we have Bella (she was 2nd), Drom (3rd), Iggy (4th) and Tonks (5th) in the original herd hierarchy. I just assumed Bella would naturally take Cissy’s place as she is now the oldest as she’s her sister. But ooooh no, things can’t be that simple with my lot.

Bella, Tonks and Iggy appear to be vying for that top spot, which is just bizarre. I didn’t think males even cared about their placement but Iggy seems to want the leader role... and there’s Tonks, I’m almost certain she has some form of learning difficulties bless her. But she’s being almost as much of a jerk as Iggy is. Drom is just petrified of going near anyone who isn’t Bella, she was so close to Cissy I think she’s still grieving.

We had a lot of chasing and teeth chattering last night and I got a separator but then I had no idea who to separate or what as it was all kicking off between all of them... Eventually they calmed down a bit but I’m really not sure what’s going on or what to do... I’m still devastated not to see Cissy’s face every day, hear her chirp or wheek and this on top of everything... She’s left a bigger hole in our lives than she could ever imagine :(

Sorry for the essay but I’m sort of venting and a bit desperate to know what to do... I’m worried they’ll hurt each other and with 2 sick pigs and one just passed I’m going out of my mind... Thanks for reading the madness!
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Try to sit it out and see whether they can come to an agreement or not. if necessary, split them up overnight if the body language is still very tense. Call it a shot if tensions between the pigs are still sky high after three days.
The death of the leader can occasionally cause a group to fall apart if they cannot agree on the new leader.

It is tough when you are still in pain over your loss and you are faced with your next big headache straight away. :mal:
 
I don’t have the size herd you do but when Merab died last year I had Jemimah and Priscilla vying for top pig spot.
It was the same chattering, chinning and lunging as when I bonded the 2 pairs and they worked out their place in the hierarchy.
Fortunately they seemed to agree quite quickly to be joint top pigs.
Hope yours decide to settle.
It can be stressful for us.
Holding you in my thoughts
 
Thank you all very much, yes I think I’ll be going back to bonding basics... Sigh! Nothing ever goes smoothly... It would be devastating to have to separate them to groups of two after this. I couldn’t find any information about this so thought it was just me and mine :roll:

Has anyone ever had experience with a male leader? I really can’t tell which way the hierarchy is going to go and it’s always been so clear before. I hope it’s Bella because Tonks and Iggy are crazy. I always call them Bonnie and Clyde, for good reason!
 
Just a little update, it’s not as tense now which is good. However they seem to have paired off and I can’t see a clear hierarchy between them all. Bella and Drom seem to stay together and likewise with Iggy and Tonks. It’s so sad to see them so divided :(

I’m hoping it will get better with time, I’ll give it 2 weeks and see how things are and if anything changes. If they’re mostly paired off is it better to separate them or let them live as they choose together? I would rather they had more space if they’re not fighting tbh rather than going back to two 2x4 areas.

At least they’re not fighting anymore, but Iggy and Tonks do like to gang up on single pigs for no reason and push them away from a hay tray or whatever. Just so gutting.
 
alpacasqueak said:
Not much help as only had pairs but hope it all calms down with them soon and they can sort it out! So you get a well deserved rest! x
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Thanks! Yes I can’t remember a time I wasn’t worried about them. Especially now after losing Cissy so suddenly for reasons I don’t know. I just hope that a day will come where we don’t have bonding or medical problems and we can just enjoy life together!
 
i have 6 groups,and in every group/herd the neutered male is the leader.it can upset the hierachy when one passes away.i would observe until you have a clear outcome.nerve racking while you wait out the dominance phase.xx
 
Thanks for the support, it’s certainly needed! :)

eileen said:
i have 6 groups,and in every group/herd the neutered male is the leader.it can upset the hierachy when one passes away.i would observe until you have a clear outcome.nerve racking while you wait out the dominance phase.xx
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Oh really? That’s interesting, perhaps that will become the outcome here too. It’s so hard to tell. They’ve sort of become groups of two but I hope that changes in the future.

Yes it certainly isn’t clear right now, especially with Bonnie and Clyde running the show 🙄 Yea it horrible watching my babies bicker and be divided! Time will tell I guess x
 
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