Mummy And Auntie Giving Baby Piggie A Hard Time

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Pispirispis

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Hello,

I really hope you experienced guinea pig owners out there can help me with my problem!

I adopted three lovely long-haired piggies two weeks ago – a mummy, baby who is around 10 weeks old, and another female, who were given in together with instructions to keep them together. I have a 4x2 c&c cage with a 2x1 loft for them, and they have been settling in well, although they are still nervous when handled and run away when I try to pick them up.

But as the days went by I noticed that sometimes the baby would squeal really loud when they were all in their bed (under the loft – litter tray with a fleece ‘curtain’) and I couldn’t really see them. Baby is very vocal and whiny anyway (as teenagers are :D but when this happens it is a sharp loud squeak as if she is in pain and she jumps too. So I started to observe them and noticed that both mummy and auntie nudge her out of the way a lot, and have seen her jump and squeal when they do it. I’m not sure if they are just nudging or nipping though. They have also started kicking her out of their bed quite a bit now- I see her by herself in the fleece bed or huddled under the ramp more often now.

I also sometimes check her over when I hear her squeal, to make sure she’s not bleeding or hurt (I’d read here that you should only separate them if there is blood, basically) and she had always seemed fine, until a couple of days ago when I thought they had maybe pulled some of her hair out, and today I had to take them to my mum’s in the car, and there was a lot of squealing in the box, and one or both of the adults seems to have pulled more of her hair out as she has three little bald patches on her rear end :( They are in a new ‘holiday home’ cage at my mum’s tonight, and have everything they need, but there has just been a big squeal, and baby has jumped out and cried quite a bit. Poor thing, I really feel sorry for her :(

My dilemma is – should I separate them?

I think she would be really sad if I did though as when you pick her up or let her run around away from the others she wheeks and wheeks for her mummy and auntie. I think she annoys them sometimes climbing on top of them and under them, but I really feel for her being in pain and getting kicked out of bed, and I wish they would just stop pulling out her hair. It makes me sad to hear her squeals. Plus I’m not sure if it is mummy or auntie doing it, although I’ve seen both of them getting annoyed with her, so I’m not sure if separating auntie would solve the problem, though I’m not sure she would be happy alone either. They let baby eat and drink no problem, and they play together sometimes too.

Is it a problem that there are three of them, so two gang up? I didn’t think a mummy would gang up on her daughter though. Maybe I’m too soft for this, ha ha! :D

What do you think? I would really appreciate any advice – thanks! (sorry this is so long!)
 
I know you don't really want to, but separating them is a good idea right now. When people say you should only separate them if blood is drawn, they mean separate permanently. If you keep baby away from mummy and auntie for a few hours or maybe days, and try to re introduce them on nuteral ground, this should resolve the problem. Remember though that if you reintroduce them you MUST clean and disinfect cage in order to remove all the piggies scents.
x hope I helped :)
 
The adults are just letting the little one know her place. The squeal is her being submissive. One of mine does this with the dominant one. Trios are tricky as often one is left out. I would not separate them. If you get another piggy it could help with not having the little one left out. You would need a bigger cage. It is positive they are letting the baby drink as it means they are not bullying her. Have a read of the stickies on sow behaviour in the behaviour section to see what is normal.
 
Maybe I was wrong with the separating then :p
I've only ever had boys x
Hope everything goes well for you!
 
When i first put poppy in with pebbles she was very firmly put in her place and spent a lot of time being chased and squealing. They are fine now but not nice to hear it happening. Would you have room to take on a rescue baby to go in with them as well and then she has a youngster to play with
 
I've noticed, over the years i've had them, that little piggies can be drama queens when told off. But, if you look at other species, it also rings true with their youngsters too, I mean, our kids as babies scream the house down when they hurt themselves or get told off for being naughty, so why shouldn't this apply to baby guinea pigs?
Everything is over acted, they get told off, and as a typical baby, they spit the dummy out and throw themselves on the floor, screaming. They're after the affection from an older piggy, and think that dramatising how they feel will get them the comfort they want. I've seen foals throw themselves on the ground in tantrum when the mare tells them off.
As they get older, they tantrum less, and start to mature, but in the case of Humbug, who at 3 has never matured :)) She still rockets around the room, popcorning, some never really grow up, but then, some humans don't either :))
 
it is perfectly normal behaviour for guinea pigs to put youngsters very firmly in their place at the bottom of the hierarchy once they are weaned. The squealing is submission ("don't be mean to me, I'm no danger to you") and not pain! Especially youngsters are very vocal and can be real drama queens.

Please put the youngster back and sit it out. The dominance behaviour in new surroundings will die down eventually.
 
And doesnt end when they become adult, it just depends on what time of month it is as to which of ours is being picked on. Our oldest sow Star for example is a bitch when in season mounting all and sundry but gets head butted and chased a lot by Astro our boar. When not in season they both snuggle up like an old married couple.
 
i have two groups of four and they take it in turns to be obnoxious as well
 
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