Jealousy (possibly?) and biting

[Alvinsfam]

Hello all!

This is my first official post, although I’ve come here in the past for information and found it to be very useful and supportive.

I’m hoping to get some insight about a behavioral situation that has been going on for the past few weeks now with one of my male GP. I’ll try to keep things somewhat brief.

I have four GP total- 3 males and one female. All males are neutered. We have Norman (8 years), Lucy (5 years), and Georgie and Alvin (newest to the herd, brothers adopted together, about 1 year).

Alvin and Georgie are unable to live together due to dominance issues, but live in a massive cage with a divider where they can interact, as well as Alvin has social visits with Norman and Lucy several times per week. The other three live together in the other part of the cage.

Recently, Georgie came down with a bit of pneumonia, which he is recovering from and doing well (knock on wood). Because of this, he has been getting lots of love and care as you would expect.

Typically, I’ll admit that I do normally give Alvin a bit more attention just due to him living more independently. He is still getting his daily love and attention, it’s just that Georgie has also been getting pretty much round the clock check ins and care (medicine, nebulizer treatments, wellness checks for weigh in, etc).

At this point, Alvin hasn’t been acting like himself. He almost seems sad or depressed. And he has been biting me, not hard, but nipping me almost every time I get him out.

There are no signs of sickness for Alvin. His weight is up, poop is normal, eating is good, no congestion noises, no runny nose. It appears to be a behavioral issue and possibly he’s jealous of the attention his brother is getting?

These boys have always been jealous of each other, which is what unfortunately resulted in us having to ultimately make the decision to separate them.

Can anyone give me any advice for what to do or if this is something I can do anything about?

I have talked in a stern voice and told him “no biting” or booped him on the nose (which I’m not sure if that’s helpful or not to do).

I know logically that I’m not seeing any signs that there’s something medically wrong with him, but I’m still very worried that he’s sad or will stop eating or something like that. Guinea pigs are such fragile animals that anything that upsets them can be devastating, but it’s obviously not an option to stop giving care to Georgie.

 

[Piggies&buns]

So if I understand correctly you’ve got two boars and one sow living together as a trio.
If as a trio, then keeping norman and Georgie with Lucy is asking for trouble - you are very lucky there has not been a serious fight between Georgie and Norman (I wonder if it Norman’s age which is keeping things a bit calmer but also the dominant of them is keeping things in line up until this point). It should only ever one neutered boar living with any number of sows. Lucy should be bonded with one of the boys but not both.

Alvin should never be visiting with Norman and Lucy. Putting him in the cage with them will cause a lot of issues - for one point you cannot put multiple boars with a sow but by doing it you are also disrupting bonds and hierarchies by repeatedly introducing a piggy which is not part of their grouping. It will be causing a lot of stress to all the piggies to be repeatedly going through what is, to them, a full on bonding session which can never be able to be seen to conclusion, you should also never put piggies directly into the territory of others. Piggies do not do those kinds of play dates and instead they live in strict hierarchies where everyone knows their place. This may be where alvin’s stress/biting is stemming from.
(however any change in behaviour should also be checked by a vet to rule out a brewing medical issue).

Things didn’t work out between Georgie and Alvin as a pair not because they are jealous but because they are not character compatible . If you had tried to put all four piggies together at any point then that also could have been a catalyst to break a relationship.

Telling him not to bite or booping his nose will not help, it doesn’t mean anything to him. If it is due to him being stressed about the situations he is being put in, then the only way to settle him is to reassess the way they are living

The situation with your piggies means that you should have three cages.
One cage with Alvin in, one cage with Georgie in and the other cage with Lucy and Norman as a bonded pair.
The only interaction they should have is between the bars only.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
A - Z of Guinea Pig Behaviours

 

[Alvinsfam]

Hello!

I’m actually not lucky that Norman and Georgie have not fought. I’m aware of all of this information regarding pairing, but you also have to consider your GP individual personalities imo. They are all very bonded in the large cage. Norman is looked at as the dominant male (although I think he takes on more of a herd leader role). Lucy is a dominant female (however, takes on a caretaker role. She will groom Norman and watch over him, but also wouldn’t leave Georgie’s side when he was sick). Georgie is absolutely in love with both of them. The cage is set up so they have 3 individual hides they can go in and one box that they can all fit in together, which they often choose. These are handmade so they are big enough to fit them.

Also, by social visits, those are typically done outside of the cage so as not to create any issues.

I understand this may go against typical beliefs about how Guinea pigs should be bonded, but you’d just have to see to understand that taking Georgie out would be very upsetting to him and I wouldn’t feel comfortable with that.

The nipping occurs just very recently since Georgie got sick. I picked Alvin up this morning before work with no nipping and he seemed in good spirits, ate his treat from me, weight was perfect (up a little). Whereas last night before bed, we had a bad bit of nipping and he was ignoring me and only wanted to be on my dad.

When I put him back this morning, he went right to the divider and started chewing on it to get his friend’s attention. Like it’s almost as if he is wanting them to know he got to come out. Like he goes and brags lol.

 

[Alvinsfam]

I wish I could just see them TOGETHER like when they were very little, but I want to obviously avoid fighting.

Maybe seeing them at the same time but sitting far enough apart so they can’t jump over?