moosepistachiooreo
New Born Pup
My guinea pig, male, is biting his cage every once in a while. Google results said this could be due to Boredom, nervousness, lack of attention and loneliness. Just wondering if this is normal?
Cage biting?
- Thread starter moosepistachiooreo
- Start date
Viennese Furbabies
Forum Buddy
Guinea pigs bite bars for different reasons.
Is your piggy kept alone?
When does he show this behaviour? Only at feeding times?
Is your piggy kept alone?
When does he show this behaviour? Only at feeding times?
moosepistachiooreo
New Born Pup
He has a neighbor, they are separated due to dominance issues. And it occurs randomly, but last time I noticed it was a few minutes ago (12:45 am).
Bad biting is something some of them do. You will have to just ignore it.
It can be a bit of territorial behaviour also given your piggies have to be separated due to being a failed boar trio.
Make sure you have plenty of enrichment in the cage - large piles of hay on the cage floor, cardboard boxes with holes cut in or hides filled with hay, mix their daily veggies and one tablespoon of pellets into the hay pile so they have to forage (ie don’t use food bowls) etc
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs
It can be a bit of territorial behaviour also given your piggies have to be separated due to being a failed boar trio.
Make sure you have plenty of enrichment in the cage - large piles of hay on the cage floor, cardboard boxes with holes cut in or hides filled with hay, mix their daily veggies and one tablespoon of pellets into the hay pile so they have to forage (ie don’t use food bowls) etc
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs
AidaB
Forum Donator 2024/25
Billy did this when first separated, and re-taught Hamish, it took a little for them to both calm down.
We now get bar biting mostly from Hamish, as long as we ignore it, he stops fairly quickly unless he thinks its food time, then we distract, and give food after he stops. This is so he disassociates bar biting with food coming.
We had a noisy couple of weeks and are currently enjoying a quiet week. Keeping my fingers crossed he has forgotten all about biting the bars!
It can become a bit obsessive.
We now get bar biting mostly from Hamish, as long as we ignore it, he stops fairly quickly unless he thinks its food time, then we distract, and give food after he stops. This is so he disassociates bar biting with food coming.
We had a noisy couple of weeks and are currently enjoying a quiet week. Keeping my fingers crossed he has forgotten all about biting the bars!
It can become a bit obsessive.
piggieminder
Forum Buddy
Red does this for attention from his neighbours and when he thinks it's time for food. He is 5.5 years old and has done it all his life. He lives next door to 2 other boars but also did it when he had a cage mate. He has taught every guinea pig he has come into contact with to do it too, there have been a few over the years! I've got 3 that do it now for each other's attention, it gets loud, they stand at the bars next to each other and go into a frenzied biting session so busy they don't realise the object of their call is there!