Nipping Me

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Amym91

Amym91

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The past week the more dominant piggy has started to want to nip me when I go to pet her. now it's not all the time just some times and its only when she's in her cage. she will lift her head about as if she's trying to smell then if she gets the chance she will try take a nip. it's not an angry one just a slow but quite hard. no blood but it has bruised
I've seen about lifting her head with my finger to show I'm the boss but she would just nip me if she gets the chance.
Should I just take the nips and lift her head?
 
Amym91 said:
The past week the more dominant piggy has started to want to nip me when I go to pet her. now it's not all the time just some times and its only when she's in her cage. she will lift her head about as if she's trying to smell then if she gets the chance she will try take a nip. it's not an angry one just a slow but quite hard. no blood but it has bruised
I've seen about lifting her head with my finger to show I'm the boss but she would just nip me if she gets the chance.
Should I just take the nips and lift her head?
Click to expand...

Please take the time to read this link here. You will find it very helpful!
" Biting" And What You Can Do
 
Also it's only my fingers. if I show her my palm (I do this when I'm feeding her to say there's no more food) she doesnt try or when she's on my lap she's doesn't.
 
Personally I wouldn't lift her head because that is what she does to show her dominance, and you're reinforcing it by doing that. I don't know the answer but if anything, I would gently hold her head down, so that she is in the submissive position. With a puppy, you would get them onto their back and hold them there because that is a dog's submissive position. I used to have piggy who would only bite when she was in her wooden lodge...I could only win in that situation by taking the lodge out to then pick her up (strangely, she would just stand happily when I cut her claws). I think fingers are simply easier to bite than a palm.
 
I have the same problem with Tammy so thank you so much for making the thread I also need help with this problem x
 
I'm currently dealing with a little nibbler at the moment. I've noticed that it's when she's held up e.g. On your chest/shoulder. I've noticed an improvement when we pick her up in our cardboard tunnel and having them on your lap instead. And I'm just giving them a piece of coriander as a reward and keeping petting time short. It's probably a work in progress, and i suspect it takes a bit of time to build up the trust.
 
I have on piggy who is happy to be picked up and stroked (she's also really noisy when she makes her happy sounds) but when I stand up and hold her to my chest to put her back, she bites! I hold her facing away from and she bites her nails instead. It's only on the way back to the cage and not when I first pick her up...maybe she doesn't want to go back!
 
JenniferG said:
Personally I wouldn't lift her head because that is what she does to show her dominance, and you're reinforcing it by doing that. I don't know the answer but if anything, I would gently hold her head down, so that she is in the submissive position. With a puppy, you would get them onto their back and hold them there because that is a dog's submissive position. I used to have piggy who would only bite when she was in her wooden lodge...I could only win in that situation by taking the lodge out to then pick her up (strangely, she would just stand happily when I cut her claws). I think fingers are simply easier to bite than a palm.
Click to expand...

With guinea pigs, dominance works the other way round to dogs - forcing the head up is a gesture of showing dominance, not forcing the head down. Each species has their very own body language and ways. ;)
 
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