I’m worried about the behaviour of my supposedly bonded baby pigs ?

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GlimmerandGreta

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Hi, I’ve recently bought two guinea pigs from a breeder, they are two beautiful sows called glimmer and Greta, the breeder I purchased off informed me that they aren’t from the same litter but have lived together since birth.
I’ve previously owned guinea pigs but I was a young kid and wasn’t in charge of their care like I am now with these two.
The only issue I'm having is decoding their behaviour and whether they are getting along, Greta is smaller but seems to be the most mean, she takes lettuce out of glimmer’s mouth and they seem to nip at each others bums and squabble quite a bit.
There has been no rearing to fighting or showing teeth, but I’m concerned about their bond.
I’ve given them separate bowls, water bottles, tunnels etc and I’ve removed any hides that only have one exit.
They are both healthy and were checked by a vet, who confirmed that there are no injuries or illnesses and they are both females, and glimmer is still eating really well.
Most significantly however is that they are sometimes squealing, Greta puffs air sometimes and almost some rumbling noises.
So, what I’m asking is if I should separate, let them work it out and leave them be until they sort out there hierarchy or anything else.
Bearing in mind I’ve had them 5 days and it’s a new environment and there was a long journey home.
any advice would be really appreciated, I just want to know if I should worry or I’m just overthinking and being nervous?
 
GlimmerandGreta said:
Hi, I’ve recently bought two guinea pigs from a breeder, they are two beautiful sows called glimmer and Greta, the breeder I purchased off informed me that they aren’t from the same litter but have lived together since birth.
I’ve previously owned guinea pigs but I was a young kid and wasn’t in charge of their care like I am now with these two.
The only issue I'm having is decoding their behaviour and whether they are getting along, Greta is smaller but seems to be the most mean, she takes lettuce out of glimmer’s mouth and they seem to nip at each others bums and squabble quite a bit.
There has been no rearing to fighting or showing teeth, but I’m concerned about their bond.
I’ve given them separate bowls, water bottles, tunnels etc and I’ve removed any hides that only have one exit.
They are both healthy and were checked by a vet, who confirmed that there are no injuries or illnesses and they are both females, and glimmer is still eating really well.
Most significantly however is that they are sometimes squealing, Greta puffs air sometimes and almost some rumbling noises.
So, what I’m asking is if I should separate, let them work it out and leave them be until they sort out there hierarchy or anything else.
Bearing in mind I’ve had them 5 days and it’s a new environment and there was a long journey home.
any advice would be really appreciated, I just want to know if I should worry or I’m just overthinking and being nervous?
Click to expand...
There has also been some chasing and randomly running around the enclosure while squealing/squeaking
 
Welcome to the forum

The behaviours you are seeing are normal dominance and will always happen. Taking food from each other is also very normal.
Also remember sows come into season every two weeks for their whole lives, so this behaviour will intensify during those times.
Puffing air can be a sign of annoyance and is a little bit more of a warning sign depending upon its intensity and the range if other behaviours.

When piggies move to a new environment, they go into a period of reestablishing their relationship (even if they have always been together) and this takes two weeks.
While it is normal dominance you must never separate. Doing so will interrupt their normal behaviours and mean if you try to put them back together they’ve got to start all over again.

I’ve added the dominance behaviours guide below. It explains what is normal and when things become more of a warning.

Is their cage big enough? Sows need a 150x60cm cage or a 4x2 c&c cage.

We do not recommend the use of any food bowls.
Hay should be scattered in two separate piles so they don’t need to share.
You can then scatter their one cup of veg each and one tablespoon of pellets each per day around the cage and into their hay piles.
This does a few things: it keeps them mentally stimulated and encourages their natural foraging abilities. It also means the dominant cannot food hog and they both get their share.

boureki

Thread 'Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs'

1 List of dominance behaviours in ascending order of aggression
2 What may cause this type of behaviour in boars?
3 When do you see these behaviours in sows?
4 What can trigger fall-outs?
5 Further helpful guide links


I thought it may be handy to have a sticky on typical dominance behaviours for a reference - hopefully it may help humans understand guinea pigs and their behaviour a bit more and hopefully prevent some avoidable problems!


1 List of dominance behaviours...
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Wiebke

Thread 'Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)'

1 Sexing on arrival
2 Important reproductive Facts
- Start of making babies - seasons - lack of menopause
- Pregnancy
3 Sows in season
- How a season runs
- Strong seasons (snap seasons; the social role of strong seasons; problem seasons)
4 Behaviour and social aspects
- Bonding (Possible combos; acceptance and dating; special bonding aspects)
-...
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GlimmerandGreta said:
The puff has happened 4 times and is quite soft but it has happened when I have disturbed Greta when she was settling in. There hasn’t however been any further squabbling after and it’s back to normal in seconds
Click to expand...
It’s nerve wracking isn’t it …..sometimes they seem so mean in their behaviour ….. girls eh 😂
 
That all sounds pretty normal for newly settling piggies. Give them some time to adjust themselves and I’m sure they will be fine!
 
We advise that they are left for a week to settle in with no handling.
In week 2 start by sitting by their cage and talking to them and offering food from your hand.
Taking food from you is a sign they trust you but it may take many more weeks (sometimes months) before they actually do it. It took one of mine a year and a half before he took food from me for the first time!
The issue comes that you need to start doing weekly weight and health checks so they are going to need some handling from week 2 onwards. You have to be able to handle them to be weigh, to be able to administer medicines, clip nails, do body checks etc so they have to be able to tolerate some handling.
It’s important that you accept that most piggies do not like being handled and it is often more tolerance than enjoyment. Some certainly do learn to love a cuddle though!
None of mine enjoy it and to that end I do not just sit and cuddle them. All my handling with them is for practical health purposes each week.

The guides below will help further

sport_billy

Thread 'How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely (videos)'

1 Picking up your guinea pigs without chasing or touching (video and pictures)
2 Weighing (video and pictures)


1 Picking up your guinea pigs without chasing or touching

This video shows you what you can train your guinea pig to do for a stress-free pick up.


Alternatively, you can use a small walk-in cardboard box for pick-up and transport. Please make sure that you cover the opening with your hand! If necessary, please cut finger holes into the cardboard box and face the opening...
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Wiebke

Thread 'New Guinea Pigs: How to Best Manage Arrival and Settling In'

Intro
1 What to do on arrival at home
- A welcome in piggy language
- Health check, sexing and weighing
- Quarantine or not if you have other guinea pigs?
2 Helping your guinea pigs to settle in
- Some practical tips for settling in new guinea pigs
- Avoiding predatory behaviours
- Skittish or ill?
- Group establishment and dominance
3 Handling and human...
Wiebke

Thread 'Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering and Cuddling Tips'

1 Understanding Prey Animal Behaviour
- Unresponsive prey reflex
- Flight reflex
- Fight reflex (defence bites)
2 How to Avoid Predatory Behaviours
- Scent
- Flow of chatter
- Sudden movement and noises
- Looming and staring
- 'I am not seeing you'
3 Piggy Whispering
- 'I want to be friends with you'
- 'I invite you into my herd'
- 'I love/care...
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Everything has been going well until today the littler girl started running around her cage, squeaking and let out two puffs of air even though the other pig wasn’t next to her ?
 
To be honest I wouldn’t worry about it - she might just have got the zoomies
 
Everything has been going fine so far but the last two days I’ve noticed a build up in tension to where it looks like they are butting head literally, they are raising there head but not rearing up, little squabbles and there has been some puffing but only when I’ve been disrupting them by spot cleaning, I know they have to settle in but my anxiety is through the roof and I’m just scared they aren’t okay ?
 
GlimmerandGreta said:
Everything has been going fine so far but the last two days I’ve noticed a build up in tension to where it looks like they are butting head literally, they are raising there head but not rearing up, little squabbles and there has been some puffing but only when I’ve been disrupting them by spot cleaning, I know they have to settle in but my anxiety is through the roof and I’m just scared they aren’t okay ?
Click to expand...

It takes two weeks for them to reestablish their bond in a new environment, and then on top of that they come into season every 15-17 days so you are going to see very frequent rises in dominance behaviours without it necessarily being any cause for concern.
 
GlimmerandGreta said:
They just had a little fight there was showing teeth and tearing what do I do ?
Click to expand...

That doesn’t sound good.
That kind of behaviour can signify that it may intensify.

I’ve added two guides below.
Use the first to gauge which colour section the behaviour was in. Green is not of concern; orange can mean things may escalate; red is immediate separation.
The second guide explains what to do ie a temporary separation for a few days with neutral territory reintroduction to allow them to make a decision about whether they want to stay together

boureki

Thread 'Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs'

1 List of dominance behaviours in ascending order of aggression
2 What may cause this type of behaviour in boars?
3 When do you see these behaviours in sows?
4 What can trigger fall-outs?
5 Further helpful guide links


I thought it may be handy to have a sticky on typical dominance behaviours for a reference - hopefully it may help humans understand guinea pigs and their behaviour a bit more and hopefully prevent some avoidable problems!


1 List of dominance behaviours...
  • Like

Wiebke

Thread 'Bonds In Trouble'

1 Causes for bonds to fall apart
2 Bonds in Crisis
- What are the signs of a dysfunctional bond?
- Bullying
- How can I test whether a bond is no longer working?
3 Failed bonds and what next?
- What to do if my piggies have had a major fight?
- When rebonding doesn't work out


1 Causes for bonds to fall apart

Every fall-out has of course its own...
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