3 little piggies

A Guinea Pig

A Guinea Pig

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Well, I’ve got three girls. The youngest is being bullied by the middle child. Usually the two of them will just squeak over food and the middle will lunge and do a pretend bite . I think that since the youngest is still growing maybe the other one feels threatened because they will both occasionally hump each other. I feel that the younger one is stressed because she will just stand in a corner and chew her hair. I have made sure to have multiple hay areas in their cage but the middle child will just scare her away. Is this normal?

Note: I don’t know what this was, but one time when the baby was humping the middle child, the middle child kicked the other one. I feel like it was a popcorn, but she did scare the other one away.

Sorry this is just a jumble of words I was trying to right before I got to work. Thank you!
 
Is the youngest losing weight, never allowed to eat, withdrawn and depressed? They are the signs of potential bullying.

What you are describing sounds very normal dominance though. The middle pig will be making sure the youngest knows her position in the hierarchy. Lunging and nipping are gestures of power, not bullying.
 
The youngest’s body does not feel to the touch, under weight, or over weight. She has not lost nor gained any weight. She is under one year old and to my knowledge she should still be putting on a good amount of grams, she is not though (her birthday is in the beginning of November). She is about 560 grams right now, she has only gained 30 since June and I know that is the average weight fluctuation in one day. I will say that she might just be a guinea pig on the smaller side, since to the eye she has not gotten that much bigger since I have gotten her (besides for her floof). She will be scared away while she is eating so that the middle can take her spot. The two have never been in a fight before.
The middle child has had a stable weight around 800 grams. She also does not feel under or over weight to the touch.
The oldest in this situation is the dominant one. The two littles know that. She has lost weight, I wrote about that in my first thread and she has since seen the vet and no longer feels boney. That’s is not tied to this at all.

Sorry, I should have mentioned this.
 
I really don’t want to separate them, is there something that I can do? That have a large litter box that is half hay, and a wooden hay rack both on opposite sides of the cage. They also have two water bottles and 2-5 bowl in their cage at anytime. There are six hideouts. I will also scatter their veggies around the cage instead of putting it in a bowl.

I was writing this by my piggies and watched the middle scare the baby away from the litter box. The younger one squeaked and ran to the other side and stayed using the hay rack.

I did find that the middle one had one ear very crusty from nibbles a while ago, this was prior to me joining the forum. I have not found anything like that since then and it was when I just got the baby. Was that a phase of reconfiguring their hierarchy?

Thank you 😊
 
She is very small! She may not be gaining but it’s obviously good she is not losing either. She is clearly eating enough to keep stable.
Being chased to another hay area is not necessarily a problem, the piggy more dominant than her will get their say on where she eats meaning the youngest could have to go somewhere else (this is why it’s important to have multiple of everything).
It’s only you who can decide whether this is a functioning relationship though. What you are seeing may be different to how it is coming across in the written word. Boars are up front, there will be clear bullying or a fight but with sows you are much less likely to see a full fight and their bullying can be more subtle and harder to spot.

If their bond is not working or there is bullying then your only choice is to separate. You can’t make piggies like each other and unfortunately a trio does run the risk of an outsider situation occurring. You can do the temporary separation, gauge the youngest’a reaction and then try neutral territory rebonding to allow them to make up their own minds.

Bonds In Trouble
 
I brought the piggies their veggies today and the baby and the middle one stood back to back and peed on each other. Then, the middle and the oldest ate the veggies and the baby sat in the corner. She has only gained 40 grams since June now and her first birthday is only little more than a month away. 😔
Should I separate the two? And then try to rebond them in a few months or a few days? They are all together right now, but I can give them all the recommended cage size when or if I separate them because this is not working right now.

Thank you 😊
 
A Guinea Pig said:
I brought the piggies their veggies today and the baby and the middle one stood back to back and peed on each other. Then, the middle and the oldest ate the veggies and the baby sat in the corner. She has only gained 40 grams since June now and her first birthday is only little more than a month away. 😔
Should I separate the two? And then try to rebond them in a few months or a few days? They are all together right now, but I can give them all the recommended cage size when or if I separate them because this is not working right now.

Thank you 😊
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Peeing on each other is a strongly worded ‘stay away’.

You could carry out a temporary separation for a few days and then a neutral territory reintroduction. That will allow them to make the decision as to whether they want to be together.
If they don’t, then a separation would most likely need to be permanent.

Bonds In Trouble
 
Ok then, I am going to separate the middle one from the other two. The oldest is just a really chill girl that I could probably pair with any guinea pig so she will be with the baby. The single will get a 2 by 4 and the pair will get a 2 by 5. I thought it was just males where trios don’t work out, never my own girls. Does this sound good? Is it likely that the baby will gain weight when I do this?

Thank you so much for the advice @Piggies&buns! I really appreciate all of this. Who knows what my guineas pigs life would be like if I never found this forum.
 
Any bond, regardless of the piggies sex, will fail if there is a compatibility issue. The issue with sow trios is that there can be an outsider situation, one piggy can get left out.
 
Just caught up with this threat. I'm sorry your girls don't get along.
Groups of three piggies can be a problem with sows and boars, but sows react differently to boars. You will see more bullying and pestering, less open fighting.
The best constellation for a group of three is a neutered boar and two girls, but bonding still can be difficult if you try to add one piggy to a twosome.

If girls decide not to like each other, your chances of changing their mind are not good in most cases.
 
The little one is still bitting the bars, but this is normal right? Would it be okay if I kept them separate until the baby is fully grown and then try to re-bond them? She has gained about 40 grams, I assume this is a good thing. This probably shows how badly she was being bullied and how often she was not allowed to eat. 😔 Is it okay that she gained it that fast?
 
A Guinea Pig said:
The little one is still bitting the bars, but this is normal right? Would it be okay if I kept them separate until the baby is fully grown and then try to re-bond them? She has gained about 40 grams, I assume this is a good thing. This probably shows how badly she was being bullied and how often she was not allowed to eat. 😔 Is it okay that she gained it that fast?
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You need to be 100% certain that their bond has failed and that bullying is occurring. If you are certain that it is bullying then they are not likely to be able to be reunited, whether she is fully grown or not. A bond fails because of incompatibility and that won’t change - they won’t suddenly decide they like each other.
She may need her own new friend if she doesn’t cope being alone.
 
Piggies&buns said:
You need to be 100% certain that their bond has failed and that bullying is occurring. If you are certain that it is bullying then they are not likely to be able to be reunited, whether she is fully grown or not. A bond fails because of incompatibility and that won’t change - they won’t suddenly decide they like each other.
She may need her own new friend if she doesn’t cope being alone.
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She is right next to them and still has interactions between with them because the oldest still likes her. Do you mean adopt a fourth guinea pig to be bonded with her?
 
A Guinea Pig said:
She is right next to them and still has interactions between with them because the oldest still likes her. Do you mean adopt a fourth guinea pig to be bonded with her?
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Potentially. It’s something you need to play by ear and see how things go not only for her but also with whether you can manage a fourth
 
Piggies&buns said:
Potentially. It’s something you need to play by ear and see how things go not only for her but also with whether you can manage a fourth
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Definitely have to be able to manage it, and I know that I could since my schedule is pretty flexible and I have time during the day to take care of them. Four guinea pigs is definitely a lot (for me at least). I will see how she does, and if I feel she needs a friend I’ll get her one.
 
They are all back in with one another. It’s amazing, I am seeing very little of the behavior used to have. I think I got very lucky because they all seem content and happy with each other. I’m so happy.
 
A Guinea Pig said:
They are all back in with one another. It’s amazing, I am seeing very little of the behavior used to have. I think I got very lucky because they all seem content and happy with each other. I’m so happy.
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Good news. As I said at the beginning it was likely just dominance.
A bullied pig would not usually want to go back in with the others so, as happens so often, the behaviour looks bad to us but is just normal to them
 
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