Female Squabbling...?

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Rebex9

Rebex9

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Hello, first I need to say I'm glad to have this forum here, it's been a good reference as a guinea newbie!

So, I've had my two girls for a week now, they lived together in a small cage at their previous owner's and they seem to be settling well into their new home here.

However when they're out of the hutch and both on my lap, the older (8 months) keeps having mini attacks, she'll sniff close to the younger's (3 months) face then bite, causing the little one to squeak quite loud. I put my hand between them if the nibbler starts any trouble, (she's caught my hand a few times so I know she is trying to bite the baby).

I'm hoping that this is a kind of figuring out dominance argument which they will grow out of, rather than a dislike to each other fight.

I don't want to separate them because 90% of the time while in the hutch they do get long well and the attacks don't seem too serious at the minute - fingers crossed they won't get worse as they grow older.

Any of you had similar experiences?

Thanks,
Rebecca
 
Hi Rebecca. Welcome to the forum. Your girls sound very close so I would not worry about separating them. Have you tried having them out for lap time one at a time?
 
Thanks for that, very informative. I hope they work it out quickly as my little one had a spot of blood on her nose today - I'm assuming it was caused by her elder's teeth.
 
Welcome to the forum :) Sorry to hear you are having a few issues

Are they in a bigger cage now and do they have two separate hidey houses? Any sign of bullying in the cage over food, houses etc...?

Oh, one more things, could you add you location to your profile, it just helps us tailor any future advice to your geographical location
 
They are in a much bigger hutch now (the previous owner had them in a tiny cage with not much more than a few carrots and a ball of hay to hide in). They do have separate places to hide and sleep incase they want to be alone. I haven't seen any bullying over food, but when the older guinea pig goes into a hidey place, tube, bed etc, the little one will leave.. either as if she is being chased out, or if she doesn't want to be with the other.

I have added my location too :)
 
I've read on her somewhere that sometime dominance can happen when they are in a new environment/ cage... That's probably why its happening as it won't smell the same being all new.

Glad everything has settled down.
 
My two girls hate sitting together on my lap. It's just something they don't like. It doesn't mean anything to my girls. They never fight in their cage or anything. Just don't like being in each others faces :) still best of friends.... Just not on my lap haha
 
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