Do guinea pigs bite!

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Fredandginger

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Please could you tell me if guinea pigs bite. I have 2 young ones and one seems a little feisty. He doesn't give any warning but will quickly snap at your fingers. Is this normal and can I train it to stop. :...
 
It's normal for youngsters to nip, they should grow out of it. Just bear with them for now, be gentle, speak gently and softly, they'll get there. :))
 
I've never been bitten properly by a guinea pig I was handling - the occasional nibble or nip, but no proper bites.

However I have been bitten several times when doing introductions and it's always been my own silly fault. If I was introducing chinchillas or degus I would never dream of splitting them up using my hands. But somehow with guinea pigs picking up the aggressor always seems like a good idea at the time. mallethead

Paula
 
Not usually, however I have had two boars that were very confident and not at all frightened of humans that used to nip, I still have one of them, and I don't think he will change his ways. rolleyes He is the guinea in my avatar pic.
 
I got nipped this morning because I took to long with Patrick's medicine he wanted down to his salad.

I have a few who nip to give me into trouble, never break the skin though.
 
Rocket nipped a lot when we got him as a baby ( 5 weeks) but he's grown out of it, now ( he's 7 months) he just tries to eat my jumpers! mallethead mallethead
 
Piggies don't have a vomit reflex, so youngsters need to discover the world by nibbling and licking and taking their cues from older more experienced piggies to learn what is safe and what not. Most piggies will grow out of it once they know their world.

Occasionally, a dominant piggy is trying it on with you by tweaking quite hard when he is settled, but you can discourage that gently, but firmly. Some piggies tweak fingers or clothing to signal that they want to go back home. Some traumatised piggies may also bite; avoid picking them up with your bare hands (use a cuddle cosy for that purpose). They will stop as soon as they settle in and no longer feel threatened.

Accidental bites can happen when your fingers are mistaken for a piece of veg that they smell of by an enthusiastic piggy (or very occasionally because of some scent they do NOT like).

Real, bad bites only happen if you either try to break up a serious fight with bare hands (always use a towel) or if for some reason a piggy is suddenly really frightened (by a sudden, sharp noise close by, for instance) and may hack into you by reflex.

But to reassure you: I have had piggies for well over twenty years in my life, but been bitten hard only about three times; twice accidentally and once through my own fault. Once in a decade is not too bad, is it?
 
I'll echo what Wiebke's just said and add more examples.

My feisty youngster (10 weeks) was nipping everything, mainly to find out if it was edible I think. I told him no for nibbling my finger hard, and he settled for nibbling it in a grooming manner the next day which I thought was very clever of him. He nips and my clothes when he is anxious to 'go'.

Nipping or pulling at clothes is a classic sign from all of them that they need to poo or pee, or have just had enough lap time, thank you very much.

I have one pig who would bite any finger if it was in reach. He had been ill treated and was very wild. I don't know whether it was as a result of neglect or physical ill treatment, but a year on he rarely nips any more. I had some good tips about not wearing the same top that the other pigs had just been sitting on, to reduce their smell. And also when my top pig died he took over as top pig, so maybe part of it was wanting to get back to his buddy, as he stopped nipping once he was top pig.

Good luck with your piggy, I'm sure he'll grow out of it with a bit of patience (and quick fingers!)
 
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I have only been bitten very badly once. This was when my two males had been fighting and I guess he wanted to take it out on me :0 It was really deep and bled a lot and was uncomfortable for a while. However, they hadn't nipped or bitten me at all before or since that bad one, so generally they're fine. I'm sure your two will be fine ;) Are they both male?
 
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Archie used to bite when I was cleaning his cage (he was scared of the dustpan brush rolleyes) but now he's grown up he only licks and nibbles in a grooming manner, never hard enough to hurt me.
 
Sorry, I should have added that I put Rocket back when he starts tugging on my jumpers otherwise I end up getting soaked in wee! He's only bitten me hard once and that's when he was going through his jewellery nibbling stage, he decided to try my wedding ring before I could get my hand out of the way with inevitable consequences! Ouch! :{
 
My 6 month old boy has never bitten. The 15 month old has always bitten but only when startled by a human finger directly in front of his mouth. He loves chin rubs, so I carefully hold my finger in front of him but not too close, then keep saying "chin rub" until he looks up and then it is safe to give him the chin rub. If I try it before the nose is fully up in the air, he nips the finger. When I first got him I re-searched how to stop the biting. I found 2 suggestions - one is to gently tug the hair on the back of his neck as apparently mum piggies do that to reprimand their babies and the other is to blow gently in their faces. I tried the 2nd method (it seeming to be gentler) for many weeks with no success, then the 1st again no success. But they might work for you. As I have come to recognise what makes my boy bite, perhaps you could do the same and get around the trigger.
 
Mojo is a biting pig, He does draw blood from me and my mum.
He will be there licking you then Bam he full on bites.
he is the only pig I know who fully bites as smudgy pig give me little nibbles like he is grooming you.
All the other pigs I have had in the past just gentle nibbled.
 
They can! Mine occasionally nip especially when I have just had my hand in their food or hay they have never drawn blood though!
 
I've only ever been bitten when I've been stupid enough to put my hands in the middle of a fight.

Guineas will have a nibble to see if you are food- but not a hard bite. If any of my pets nibbles over enthusiastically i tend to mak a loud squeak and jerk my hand away which is effectively what they would do if a cagemate nibbled too hard. That said I'm pretty sure that it's not the guinea pigs that generally do this - mostly unhandled degus or chinchillas that can nip.

They can take a little while to settle in and can be nervous at first so give them some time.

Paula
 
I was nipped firmly today, only because Tommy has some knots that I need to trim (and he hates getting groomed!). Otherwise it's always been very gentle, the tasting type and the grooming type :)
 
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