Nipping Behaviors

[Fishtails]

Hello,

I recently introduced a male skinny pig (Ron, ~2 months old) to a slightly older male guinea pig (Abby, ~4 months old) and so far they seem to be getting along. Ron is quite submissive and Abby is very dominant so its a pretty good pairing, I think. The only thing I'm concerned with is that sometimes Abby will come over and bite Ron in the face for no reason. He'll just be laying there or eating by himself and Abby will walk over and take a nip at him. There's no rumble strutting or other forms of dominance behavior -- basically, there's no real warning signs, he just gets up and does it.

He nips at him when they're in their enclosure, as well as when they're out of it (i.e. when they're out for play time). He's never drawn blood and Ron doesn't seem to be afraid of Abby, although he does scream when Abby does it. I know that its a form of dominance, but I obviously don't want the behavior to escalate into a full blown fight, particularly if I'm not around to stop it.

Is this nipping behavior normal or is it something I should be concerned about? Is there anything I can do to curb the behavior, or should I just allow it to continue as a way to establish the dominance hierarchy? Will he stop doing it after a while?

 

[Wiebke]

Hello,

I recently introduced a male skinny pig (Ron, ~2 months old) to a slightly older male guinea pig (Abby, ~4 months old) and so far they seem to be getting along. Ron is quite submissive and Abby is very dominant so its a pretty good pairing, I think. The only thing I'm concerned with is that sometimes Abby will come over and bite Ron in the face for no reason. He'll just be laying there or eating by himself and Abby will walk over and take a nip at him. There's no rumble strutting or other forms of dominance behavior -- basically, there's no real warning signs, he just gets up and does it.

He nips at him when they're in their enclosure, as well as when they're out of it (i.e. when they're out for play time). He's never drawn blood and Ron doesn't seem to be afraid of Abby, although he does scream when Abby does it. I know that its a form of dominance, but I obviously don't want the behavior to escalate into a full blown fight, particularly if I'm not around to stop it.

Is this nipping behavior normal or is it something I should be concerned about? Is there anything I can do to curb the behavior, or should I just allow it to continue as a way to establish the dominance hierarchy? Will he stop doing it after a while?

Hi! Nipping is a mild dominance behaviour. Have a read of this guide here, as Abby is now coming into his teenage months, so you are going to see a lot more over the next 10 months.

Lots of social and interactive behaviours: Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics

Includes information on the teenage phases and what you can do to stabilise the bond as much as possible: Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?