Is this normal?

JunePiggies19

JunePiggies19

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I have two male guinea pigs both nearly a year old now, they have lived together all of their life. In the past week or so Sandy (my more dominant piggie) has found an interest in, how do I say this... Pebbles' bum. He has been chasing Pebbles round the cage (much to Pebbles' disgust) in order to have a nosy round his behinds. Is this normal? I'm just not sure it seems a bit weird to me...
 
I imagine it’s to do with hormones/ puberty and/or dominance behaviour of they’re nearly a year old?
My girls bum-chase and mount etc when they’re in season
 
JunePiggies19 said:
I have two male guinea pigs both nearly a year old now, they have lived together all of their life. In the past week or so Sandy (my more dominant piggie) has found an interest in, how do I say this... Pebbles' bum. He has been chasing Pebbles round the cage (much to Pebbles' disgust) in order to have a nosy round his behinds. Is this normal? I'm just not sure it seems a bit weird to me...
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Hi!

Yes, this is normal boar behaviour, especially for teenagers in the spring; so is rumblestrutting, mounting and chasing.
Sudden hormone spikes can persist even into younger adult age.

While our pet guinea pigs have been domesticated and bred out as farm animals for thousands of years and can make babies at any time of the year due to human intervention, their wild ancestor species has a distinct breeding season starting at this time of year. The old instincts run deep. Couple this with one of the more tricky and active phases of the teenage months.

Bum digging is pheromone sniffing. Boars more typically do this with sows about to come into season.

Here is more information about boars, dominance behaviours and teenage.
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
 
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