Dilly's Piggies
Teenage Guinea Pig
Okay, so I have 8 sows, but one is very special, she's everyone's favourite here, she has always had the extra cuddles, extra food, extra love etc, you know...
Then one of my sows had 2 babies, that are now 10 weeks old, and of course I've been handling them every day since birth to tame them, but my special sow seems almost jealous. The other day I thought it'd be nice for the special sow to meet one of the babies, as she's the lowest in her herd of 5, not dominant at all, never shown any kind of aggression towards another pig, but much to my surprise, my special sow immediately launched at and gave a good bite to the baby without any warnings, for no reason, I was astounded to see this behaviour, especially from a piggy that is so submissive within her own herd!
The only explanation for this that I can come up with, is that she's jealous of the attention this new baby is getting, as special piggy expects 100% of my attention all the time? I know we people tend to humanize our animals, they don't feel everything in the same way that us humans do, but I have no idea if jealousy is a possibility in this situation, as this bite was completely unexpected and completely out of character for the older sow...
I'd also like to know if it's a bad idea to ever introduce them again, as this bite from the older sow was very aggressive and she meant it, I'd hate for the baby to get hurt worse next time.
Opinions?
Then one of my sows had 2 babies, that are now 10 weeks old, and of course I've been handling them every day since birth to tame them, but my special sow seems almost jealous. The other day I thought it'd be nice for the special sow to meet one of the babies, as she's the lowest in her herd of 5, not dominant at all, never shown any kind of aggression towards another pig, but much to my surprise, my special sow immediately launched at and gave a good bite to the baby without any warnings, for no reason, I was astounded to see this behaviour, especially from a piggy that is so submissive within her own herd!
The only explanation for this that I can come up with, is that she's jealous of the attention this new baby is getting, as special piggy expects 100% of my attention all the time? I know we people tend to humanize our animals, they don't feel everything in the same way that us humans do, but I have no idea if jealousy is a possibility in this situation, as this bite was completely unexpected and completely out of character for the older sow...
I'd also like to know if it's a bad idea to ever introduce them again, as this bite from the older sow was very aggressive and she meant it, I'd hate for the baby to get hurt worse next time.
Opinions?
