danuutka
Junior Guinea Pig
Hello all.
I have formed a new herd following the death of my male pig Ozzie. Previously we had Miki (male) and Bea (female), and in a separate cage had Ozzie (male), Tilly (female) and Winnie (female). Following Ozzie’s death, we decided to merge the two as the girls were struggling without a dominant boar leading the way.
We did about 8 hours worth of bonding in a neutral territory on Saturday, and that went mostly well. Miki although a boar isn’t the most dominant, and Winnie can be fear aggressive so she was doing a lot of snapping and pee squirting at Miki. They all had multiple naps together and seemed to be fine, other than a lot of rumbling from Miki and some sassiness from the girls. They have now been together 4 days.
This evening I came into the room to find Bea hissing, and Miki stood next to her (they were originally a bonded pair who have been together for 3 years). I had a feeling Bea got hurt, and when I had a look at her I found a scratch on her nose and bite mark on her ear. This was quite shallow, but did break the skin on the top (didn’t go all the way through). She has no other injuries in any of the typical places that would indicate a fight, and I didn’t hear any scuffling either. I presume the nose scratch was a misjudged swipe of the paw (I’ve experienced this before when we had a herd which included a very boisterous boar and a elderly female), but I’ve never seen a bite to the ear!
I know the typical rule is if they draw blood, they should be separated. In this case, I’m wondering if Miki snapped at Bea but instead of getting her fur which would’ve protected her, he accidentally got her ear? I’ve had guinea pigs fight before and they show a lot of hostility, which I’m not seeing between this new herd at all. I’m just wondering if other people have experienced an accidental ear bite before?
I have formed a new herd following the death of my male pig Ozzie. Previously we had Miki (male) and Bea (female), and in a separate cage had Ozzie (male), Tilly (female) and Winnie (female). Following Ozzie’s death, we decided to merge the two as the girls were struggling without a dominant boar leading the way.
We did about 8 hours worth of bonding in a neutral territory on Saturday, and that went mostly well. Miki although a boar isn’t the most dominant, and Winnie can be fear aggressive so she was doing a lot of snapping and pee squirting at Miki. They all had multiple naps together and seemed to be fine, other than a lot of rumbling from Miki and some sassiness from the girls. They have now been together 4 days.
This evening I came into the room to find Bea hissing, and Miki stood next to her (they were originally a bonded pair who have been together for 3 years). I had a feeling Bea got hurt, and when I had a look at her I found a scratch on her nose and bite mark on her ear. This was quite shallow, but did break the skin on the top (didn’t go all the way through). She has no other injuries in any of the typical places that would indicate a fight, and I didn’t hear any scuffling either. I presume the nose scratch was a misjudged swipe of the paw (I’ve experienced this before when we had a herd which included a very boisterous boar and a elderly female), but I’ve never seen a bite to the ear!
I know the typical rule is if they draw blood, they should be separated. In this case, I’m wondering if Miki snapped at Bea but instead of getting her fur which would’ve protected her, he accidentally got her ear? I’ve had guinea pigs fight before and they show a lot of hostility, which I’m not seeing between this new herd at all. I’m just wondering if other people have experienced an accidental ear bite before?
