Has Anyone Actually Been Bitten?

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mrswildthing

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As a child although I loved my piggies passionately I know from just a quick read of the posts here I did everything wrong. But in all that none of them ever bit me. My mum, a very gentle person, loved them too (she can't wait to be a piggie great grandma).

On one occasion when I was staying away overnight my mum went to feed the piggies and reaching into Toffee's cage he ran forward and bit her finger, really hard , hitting a blood vessel which meant my bedroom wall and carpet displayed interesting blood soaked patterns and mum had to have a course of antibiotics and keep her arm in a sling for a fortnight. He had never shown that behaviour before and never did again.

We have always laughed about it as a family - "Mum is the only person we know who could be savaged by a guinea pig". But has anyone else experienced such extreme aggression? With no further episodes?
 
Severe bites are generally rare. Most happen when you try to separate fighting boars with bare hands. Occasionally, a finger can be mistaken for a bit of veg by an enthusiastic piggy. The rest of the bites can happen with unfamiliar people, sudden movements or smells when a piggy is either drowsing or edgy.
 
I've had the odd bite but nothing serious apart from one by a rabbit just over 3 weeks ago when I was helping out a my local rescue. I was carrying some piles of newspapers when I felt what was like a bee sting on my leg & looks down to see this rabbit attacking me. I ended up on a week's course of penicillin & also had a tetanus jab. It's still looking red around the wound.
 
As with Stewybus above, I've had the odd nip but never anything really serious, at least not with piggies. I once had a rabbit, a male Netherland dwarf , who bit me on the tip of my nose and drew blood. I had a small scar there for a couple of weeks. My youngest girl, Swan, is a bit of a finger-biter. If she can reach it, she will bite it!
 
I have been bitten but I was treating the piggy for ear mites and hit a sore spot. It bled a lot and involved a tetanus injection.
 
Stewybus said:
I've had the odd bite but nothing serious apart from one by a rabbit just over 3 weeks ago when I was helping out a my local rescue. I was carrying some piles of newspapers when I felt what was like a bee sting on my leg & looks down to see this rabbit attacking me. I ended up on a week's course of penicillin & also had a tetanus jab. It's still looking red around the wound.
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I never have any luck with rabbits and other than splitting two fighting rats, which bit to the bone, the other nasty bite was from a rabbit, (oh, and a horse, at a riding school, when the instructor got on the horse and it went for me, Theses days, I could have sued)
 
I usually find that piggies want to bite when they're having their nails clipped. If I know which ones will bite I just cover their head with a towel x
 
I have had my arm bitten when one has had mites but nothing too bad. We also get our feet bitten occasionally. My worst bite was from my Daisy hamster when she was very poorly. We were waiting to go to our appointment to have her PTS and she bit my chest really hard, I still have scars from it, just showed she was in pain bless her.
 
Stewybus said:
I usually find that piggies want to bite when they're having their nails clipped. If I know which ones will bite I just cover their head with a towel x
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I think it is usually when they are having something done, like ears, nails or treatments. I now keep them in a snuggle sack, and use motorbike glove on my hand holding them.
 
Stewybus said:
I usually find that piggies want to bite when they're having their nails clipped. If I know which ones will bite I just cover their head with a towel x
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I think it is usually when they are having something done, like ears, nails or treatments. I now keep them in a snuggle sack, and use motorbike glove on my hand holding them.
 
I said at the time that he must have mistaken her finger for carrot and from what you have said that still sounds possible. He was absolutely gorgeous, my favourite of the 5 I had and I would spend hours holding him so if he had been aggressive I am sure I would have known.

Our rabbit doesn't like being handled so we tend to use a carrier rather than stress her by carrying her in our arms although I expect she would bite if we didn't respect her. My sister in law had a rescue rabbit when she was a teen that was so vicious you had to wear gardening gloves to put food in his bowl!
 
Celery bit me when she was young and I was hand feeding her. Was a mistake and it bled abit but nothing ever again from any of mine
The test to see if they can bite my fingers but then that turns into licking...
 
I've been nipped by Bubble before when he got a bit too excited for veggies! Same with Acorn, my bunny. None of them hurt or made me bleed, or even left a mark.

I was bit by my hamster on the wrist which hurt alot last year because we had to move out of my house very quickly due to violence. So as you can imagine, quickly trying to move a hamster around during the morning when it wants to be sleeping annoyed him greatly and he bit me through the bars while I was moving his cage! He was not a happy hammy! I did bleed and two little marks were left, which are now gone. But that's the worst I've ever had from a pet!
 
Yup - I was once bitten on the nose and have a scar! It was guinea pig kisses then all of a sudden..nom! Nothing like that since and he was a very gentle pig. One of my current ones will nip quite hard when he needs the loo - normally he tugs on my clothes but if he's on my neck, ouch!
 
Yes, when separating Jack and Pumpkin who were fighting and I should have known better. And I also was bitten by Buffy/Toffee when I took her out of her carrier when I first got her home but that was after a long journey and she did not know me. I don't hold it against her!
 
I've been nipped by both my girls but never aggressively! Both times were when I was feeding them and had my finger in the way and they got a bit excited and mistook my finger for food! Neither were painful though - as soon as they realised that my fingers were actually not their food they let go - and they were more shocked than I was! Sounds like that could've been the case with your mum? Obviously she was bitten much harder than I was, but it still sounds like it could well have just been an accident on the piggy's part :)
 
I think it must have been. He was the sweetest animal and so handsome. I am sure he was a little shortsighted! The day he died I was so upset I couldn't go to school!
 
I have been bitten twice. Toby bit my finger because I went to stroke him just after I had chopped their breakfast veg up for the next day so I smelt all tasty.

Barney bit me quite badly when he was little because I hadn't realised that he hates cuddles and I was stopping him getting away.

Basically both times were my own fault!
 
I've never really been bitten severely, but one of my piggies has drawn blood. It was only because he was scared though. Perhaps your mum was unintentionally doing something your guinea pig didn't like, or he was in the middle of something. Or maybe he just didn't want to be bothered. It is generally rare for a guinea pig bite to be that severe, but happens every so often.
 
My boys all have the habit of nipping at my clothes when they have had enough of cuddles- they never nip me just the cloth
 
Nothing severe, but one bite Sundae gave me while I was cutting her nails might have drawn blood had she not caught the top of nail instead of skin. Any bites I've had have come from fear... I've been bitten (not as hard) while nail clipping (which both my girls hate) and while holding a frightened pig still for the vet. Neither broke the skin, though they did make me say 'ouch.'
 
I have a young girl who will snap at me when ever I hold her and pat her. She hasn't connected yet but it's been close. I'm hoping she will grow out of it.
 
7/8 of my piggies rarely if ever bite me and it's usually if they think my finger is food or a nip if they are annoyed with me tickling their backs or tummies lol One of my boars can get a little aggressive and nip me if I'm trying to chase him around to pick him up so I have to grab him a certain way to avoid this so I presume that he just doesn't like being picked up. Otherwise he is generally fine and rarely bites but he has done on occasion before and left a deep cut bleeding for a while that leaves a permanent mark when it heals like 3wks later but that's because I have annoyed him and I knew it. Their teeth are actually quite sharp and long so I can see how this happens but it sounds like your mum was seriously injured! I imagine they are more likely to bite a stranger in fear so if they aren't used to their smell then they should be careful.

They may look cute but they can be big bullies, the boars very annoying and bordering on sexual assault/rape with the sows especially and quite vicious if 2 boars are angry with each other, thou one of my very dominant sows attacks the other sows viciously too but she has never bit me.
 
The odd nip to tell me off (when giving medicines or one occasion toe clipping) other that no. Seb hates his chin being rubbed and if I forget the will put his teeth on my hand as a warning. We had a lovely hamster who when she first arrived was terribly nervous.....really terrified. I think she drew blood weekly for about 3 weeks but she was so scared you just had to let her get over it. She never bit after that and we had her for a long time. I have been bitten by a horse...a youngster..I was walking in front, a fair way away from it and it just lunged and caught me on the back...that really hurt!
 
I got bit by my piggie when i fist got him. He bit my ear and almost took a chunk off! Hurt like hell!
 
I've only been bitten by Patch and Rambo... Patch when she bit my hand but didn't break the skin just left a bruise and after that both have mistaken my fingers for food as well as the OH.

@sport_billy
 
Sounds like she got mistaken for veg , your poor mum! Bites do come sharp, we used to have a biter when she was scared - but luckily she has calmed down now, so I can sympathise - she drew blood on a couple of occasions.
 
I have had the odd nip over the years, but only full blown bites once. It was when I was trying to bond Mimsi and Montgomery, they started to fight and I tried to separate them with my hands. Mimsi bit my hand and wouldn't let go, then Montgomery bit my leg. Both wounds bled for ages, and I still have small scars in the shape of guinea pig teeth on my hand and leg....Lesson learned, use gardening gloves if separating fighting piggies..
 
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