Bad mother?

[Bean]

I have a mother and two babies who are now a week old, and the mum seems to be getting annoyed at them. And while the occasional correction or telling off is fine, she seems to be going for them for no reason at all. Theres no marks on either baby, and while they make a sqeak of pain/protest it doesnt seem to be to hurt them, she's not chasing them or biting, its the headbutt.
She's still feeding and grooming them, and thier putting on weight nicely.
Is this normal and ok, or is she upset by them being there, or possibily by being near the other pigs?
She's able to get away from them on top of the house and does spend some time up there (her favourtive place pre-babies).
Babies are popcorning round and playing like mad, so am I right in worrying or does something need to change?

 

[Glynis]

I'm sure one of our lovely people will reply to you, but at the moment most of them are zzz

I'm of no help i've never had mini's before.............give them some little kisses from me tho xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Suzygpr]

All mums are different and she may not be enjoying the experience, her instinct will make her feed and clean the babies but her treatment of them may indicate that she isn't happy with them.

The occasional bop to move them off the food is normal - even taking veggies out of their mouths so she can eat them. If the babies are making her teats sore then she can get grumpy because of it. Hopefully she will settle better once they start eating solid food and rely on her less. If the aggression increases you may have to consider removing the babies.

Suzy x

 

[Bean]

Their both eating alot, sitting in the food bowl and seem to enjoy the veggies too
What would you say the deciding factor would be to remove them?

 

[Sharon.Mackay]

Hi, i recently read somewhere that female guinea pigs give the babies a hard time to toughen them up. As long as they are eating and appear to get along the rest of the time i wouldnt intervene. Of course if it gets very nasty this is different but i would ignore head buts, grumbling and even little nips. There is so much variety in the behaviour that we cant begin to understand. My Big piggy is always hassling my baby one, sometimes it looks like he is being a bully, but often when i observe i can see he is just trying to teach him. For example Jasper hates baby Jem to sleep in the open and gets cross. He doesnt like him sniffing the other pigs through the gap in the pen. He gets very bossy and sometimes nips him, but he is trying to teach him how to be safe. Baby still adores him so i take this as a good sign that he is happy. Hope this helps