Female Guinea Pig Biting Other Female Guinea Pig's Ear

[imaanzg]

I have two bonded female guinea pigs that seemed to get along perfectly fine until today. I noticed that one of my guinea pigs kept chasing the other one and biting her ear. I thought maybe it was because they were too crowded, but I let them in their playpen, and the biting seemed to increase. They're the exact same age and size. I also noticed that the one biting the other one was making a low purring sound. Someone please help!

 

[Frankie1990]

As far as i'm aware, ear biting is a dominance behaviour rather than aggressive. One of my piggies Ted will nibble on Gizmo's ear and tries to mount him until Gizmo has had enough and runs off.

Its a little early here in the UK so you will get more responses later, but I have tagged @Wiebke who is very knowledgeable about guinea pig behaviours.

 

[Wiebke]

There is no blood, is there?

Bloodless ear nibbling is also called power grooming. it is a mild form of dominance that translates into "I welcome you into the herd I am leading". It can sometimes go a little overboard, but it is essentially nothing to worry about.

 

[KittyandNancy]

@Wiebke you should seriously write a real paper type book that they can sell in pet shops and book stores! You are the best pig expert! And so helpful.

 

[Gizi]

Like Wiebke said it is welcoming into the herd. It also might be a space issuse How big is the cage? Do they have 2 hideys? Can they get away from eachtoher? 2 guinea pigs should have at least a 2 by 3 c&c cage.

 

[TheWheakingCavy]

has any blood has been drawn?
does the other pig wheak when her ears bitten?
could the other pig possibly be in harm?

If those questions above were answered with a no then I am pretty sure it's just dominance rather then being aggressive. Your one piggie who is biting the others ears could be trying to say " hey I'm the alpha" and is trying to show who is boss, then again they could be just grooming. My pigs do this a lot and they all seem fine with it so unless your pigs could be getting hurt I wouldn't worry to much, of course if it gets really bad then you will have to separate them.

I know when had my foster pigs our one girl (Ingrid) would chase our other girl (Jasmine) around the cage pulling her fur out, it was horrible. I told the shelter what was going on and the shelter told us to separate them,then the two girls were paired with different
pigs(neutered males) anyway now

I do hope that there's nothing serious going on between your girls so keep me updated please! Just remember that if it's possible for one of your girls to get hurt you must separate them for there safety. Even though your girls are bonded there's still that slight chance that they could turn on each other and become aggressive like my fosters.

hopefully this helps a little bit good luck!