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piggielittle

piggielittle

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi
i have just taken on 2 sows who are 3 years old they were not being looked after they are suffering with vit c defiency kept in a hamster cage on newspaper. the previous owners stated that they must not be seperated so i presumed they were very close but in fact it is quite the opposite. i have them in a 5ft hutch they have chosen to live in seperate domes but one of them seems to be a bully and will turf the other piggie out of the dome that she fancys going in she shows her teeth to her and butts her i have seen no companionship between them at all. is this normal i have not kept piggies before.
many thanks
 
Hi and welcome! It is great that you are giving these poor girls a loving new home!

This is normal dominance behaviour, which you will see in any new territory. The top sow has first choice of food and sleeping place, and she reinforces her status by chucking the underpiggy out. Hopefully, things will settle down in the next few days or couple of weeks.

I am sure that your girls will actually enjoy the opportunity to get away from each other after having been cooped up on top of each other all the time! It doesn't say anything yet about well bonded they are, but even the most closely bonded piggies like some "me" time and will often spend only part of the night together or near each other.

You may find these information threads here helpful:
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/sow-behaviour.38561/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/dominance-behaviours-in-guinea-pigs.28949/
 
Well done for saving them.I have a dominant sow in each group and they regularly shift the rest of them out of the way.If they want to be somewhere the others get out of the way.If they don't move fast enough they are shoved out of the way.It is normal and doesn't seem to bother them
 
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