Guinea pig being aggressive towards one person

[Guineapigservant]

Hi, so I have two lovely female piggies who are about to turn 6 called Nutmeg and Pixie and another (called Dandelion) who sadly just passed away. I've had Nutmeg and Pixie since they were little and they get on well with each other and they love to sit on my lap and be cuddled (especially if I feed them snacks). I pick up Pixie nearly every day and I've never had any problems with her being aggressive towards me. However, my Dad often looks after the piggies for me whilst I clean their hutch out and he's told me that two times she's lunged at him when he's gone to pick her up and tried to bite him in a very aggressive way. He's held her plenty of other times where she's been fine. And then today I was cuddling her and she was purring and seemed really happy and my Dad came over to stroke her and she lunged at him and tried to bite him. He's really gentle with them, never strokes them where they don't like to be stroked and generally does everything right when handling them as far as I can see. My other piggie Dandy (who just passed) absolutely adored my Dad (he was her favourite person by far) and Nutmeg loves everyone. I'm just curious if anyone has any ideas as to why Pixie is sometimes so aggressive towards him. I will probably be the only one to handle her from now on just to be safe.

 

[Siikibam]

It might just be she doesn’t like being touched or handled by him. They do sometimes change their minds for no apparent reason. When I first got my girls, one of them didn’t like me touching her (or even get my hand near her) but would let my husband stroke her. Now she lets me stroke her and will come to me for a good scratch.

The other thing is she may be feeling more confident to let him know she doesn’t want him handling her. Their keeping quiet doesn’t always equate to enjoyment.

Having said that, I would consider having Pixie given a general health check just to rule out (the start of) anything medical. Is she absolutely fine with Nutmeg all the time?

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

Since your girl is an older lady, a sudden change of behaviour can be a sign that she hurts somewhere (arthritis ...). And even if she is handled carefully it can cause her pain. Since piggies are very good at hiding pain, Pixie could be in pain when being picked up.
So maybe your dad unintentionally hurt her when picking her up one time and she associated this pain with his touch.
Or she hurts every time she is being picked up, but tolerates it from you because you're her favourite human.

I would get her checked for pain to be sure. But of course she could just have changed her mind about being touched by your dad. If the vet doesn't find a medical reason, he could try winning her over by handfeeding special treats.

 

[Guineapigservant]

Thank you so much for the suggestions She and Nutmeg get on really well; I put lots of hiding places and tunnels in their run and I always find them snuggled up together in the same one! I will try to get her checked out by a vet soon and tell my Dad to give her some dandelion leaves