Worried about possible dominance behaviour?

[Lea_nicolex]

Hello all,

I am in need of advice as I am worried about the behaviour my guinea pigs are showing. I have two female guinea pigs (mother and daughter) and have had them for around three months, mother is six months whilst daughter is 3 months, I rescued them.

Over time the dominance behaviour has occurred as the daughter grew however over the past couple of days the behaviour has started to become a bit extreme and I am so worried I'm not sure what to do as past guinea pigs never behaved like this.

They both live in an indoor cage together with plenty of toys and room but at the moment the mother is often trying to mount her daughter and is nearly always rumbling they then chase each other around the cage which used to be playfulness and then they now just lay down randomly instead of when comfortable and go to eat food and the cycle starts again.

Please can anyone offer advice on how to deal with this and explain what is going on? I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get the relaxed again, and this has been going on for about 2-3 days, thankyou so much!

 

[Wiebke]

Hello all,

I am in need of advice as I am worried about the behaviour my guinea pigs are showing. I have two female guinea pigs (mother and daughter) and have had them for around three months, mother is six months whilst daughter is 3 months, I rescued them.

Over time the dominance behaviour has occurred as the daughter grew however over the past couple of days the behaviour has started to become a bit extreme and I am so worried I'm not sure what to do as past guinea pigs never behaved like this.

They both live in an indoor cage together with plenty of toys and room but at the moment the mother is often trying to mount her daughter and is nearly always rumbling they then chase each other around the cage which used to be playfulness and then they now just lay down randomly instead of when comfortable and go to eat food and the cycle starts again.

Please can anyone offer advice on how to deal with this and explain what is going on? I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get the relaxed again, and this has been going on for about 2-3 days, thankyou so much!

Hi! It sounds like one of the sows or both of them is experiencing a strong season. This should hopefully die down. I assume that both sows are now in the teenage months (4-14 months of age), when strong seasons and pushing of the boundaries is not at all uncommon.
Sow Behaviour
When Sows Experience A Strong Season (videos)