Max Is No Casanova

[Veggies Galore]

I'm afraid my girls don't respond well to Max's romantic advances - which is a great shame. When I first had them, he would groom them behind their ears and they would let him do it. Nowadays, they tell him where to go!

Mind you, Max is no better. Sometimes , I hear him make that lovely low rumble. You can tell he is going to have an attempt at grooming one of the girls and then he gets distracted by a bit of food. (Even hay can distract him - and there's always hay around !).

Bess is on heat tonight and Max keeps trying to mount her. She runs away making that "distressed guinea pig " sound. A few times this evening, she has been making this sound even when Max is not in the vicinity. I thought about separating them and then I saw them eating hay together.

I would be grateful for any advice.

 

[piggyfan]

My Mooli does this. He is always humping the girls and causing them to scream and run. It's worse when they are in season. I just leave them too it as it's normal piggy dynamics.

 

[Wiebke]

Bess is very interested in Max - her special whine is telling him "I'm not ready - YET!" She will be ready and willing to mate only for a few hours right at the end of her season. It is the girls who run the show when it comes to guinea pigs. Max has to bide his time.

But to reassure you - it sounds very normal and par for the course, so please just let them get on with it! They are well bonded and live happily together.

 

[Veggies Galore]

My Mooli does this. He is always humping the girls and causing them to scream and run. It's worse when they are in season. I just leave them too it as it's normal piggy dynamics.

Bess is very interested in Max - her special whine is telling him "I'm not ready - YET!" She will be ready and willing to mate only for a few hours right at the end of her season. It is the girls who run the show when it comes to guinea pigs. Max has to bide his time.

But to reassure you - it sounds very normal and par for the course, so please just let them get on with it! They are well bonded and live happily together.

Thank you both for getting back to me. It's just so distressing to observe. I suspected that I'd be doing more harm than good by interfering . She's very vocal .

Sparkle doesn't seem to get any of this aggro. Sparkle will be a year old in November.

 

[piggyfan]

I really do sympathise as it is horrible to hear. The piggy world can seem quite harsh.

 

[Wiebke]

Piggy society is very different from ours and they can be very vocal. It is not quite easy at first to make that jump. Things tend to quieten down a lot more once they settle in together and once all piggies reach adulthood; you may not even notice every single season. A lot of the initial drama is in fact a bonding experience and they will reaffirm their bond on the day after with grooming and piggy "kisses" (licking of the eye area).