Niko
New Born Pup
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2018
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 35
Hi everyone, I’m pretty new to the guinea pig world and I’m having a real hard time figuring thier behavior.
This is my first pair of guinea pigs. I got my first girl, Piper, from a local pet store, a woman returned her and she was in a teeny cage alone, I couldn’t help myself, I knew she needed a bigger cage and a buddy.
I had her a few weeks before buying Pickle, her destined buddy. The pet store remarked to me that Piper is unusually small, and they were right- it might just be fluff, but pickle at least looks almost twice pipers size.
So after keeping them in cages near each other, Keeping then in the same cage with a divider, and introducing them in neutral space they seemed to be getting along, so I put them in thier (cleaned and rearranged) cage-at least what I thought was getting along. They’re not exactly cuddle buddies. Pickle chases Piper kind of often, Piper sqeaks loudly every so often but as far as I can tell there’s no blood drawn and maybe no biting at all- Piper has always been so nervous and skittish I can’t tell if she’s being nipped or not.
They seem to coexist, I’ve watched them closely and pickle doesn’t try to keep Piper from food or water.
And tonight they were in the pigloo together, it’s a large, so they were squished in there. If Piper was really scared of pickle, or if pickle was being super aggressive or bullying Piper, they wouldn’t sit in the pigloo together would they?
Another concern is the noises they make. I very very frequently hear kind of a soft warbling squeak, almost like a bird ish noise. I also think I heard purring or maybe rumbling.
Pickle doesn’t relentlessly chase Piper, and usually lets her alone after a second or so If piper runs away.
They’ve only been in the cage together since Sunday, so I’m thinking (hoping) that they’re still just establishing dominance?
Piper (the underpig) seems normal and isn’t afraid to come out of hiding (actually she comes out more now that she’s with pickle).
Sorry for the wordy post, I get so worried I’m doing my animals a disservice. I’m mostly concerned about underestimating aggressive behavior- I own rats, and they tend to have rough and very loud squeaky play fight matches that I now know are normal, but back in the beginning I was a ball of nerves worried they were gonna kill each other. That’s how I am right now.
So basically my question is- does this sound like normal dominance behavior, and how long should that last if so? Do they seem incompatible?
Thier cage is a Midwest plus with two pigloos, two water bottles, two hay piles, and two food bowls.
This is my first pair of guinea pigs. I got my first girl, Piper, from a local pet store, a woman returned her and she was in a teeny cage alone, I couldn’t help myself, I knew she needed a bigger cage and a buddy.
I had her a few weeks before buying Pickle, her destined buddy. The pet store remarked to me that Piper is unusually small, and they were right- it might just be fluff, but pickle at least looks almost twice pipers size.
So after keeping them in cages near each other, Keeping then in the same cage with a divider, and introducing them in neutral space they seemed to be getting along, so I put them in thier (cleaned and rearranged) cage-at least what I thought was getting along. They’re not exactly cuddle buddies. Pickle chases Piper kind of often, Piper sqeaks loudly every so often but as far as I can tell there’s no blood drawn and maybe no biting at all- Piper has always been so nervous and skittish I can’t tell if she’s being nipped or not.
They seem to coexist, I’ve watched them closely and pickle doesn’t try to keep Piper from food or water.
And tonight they were in the pigloo together, it’s a large, so they were squished in there. If Piper was really scared of pickle, or if pickle was being super aggressive or bullying Piper, they wouldn’t sit in the pigloo together would they?
Another concern is the noises they make. I very very frequently hear kind of a soft warbling squeak, almost like a bird ish noise. I also think I heard purring or maybe rumbling.
Pickle doesn’t relentlessly chase Piper, and usually lets her alone after a second or so If piper runs away.
They’ve only been in the cage together since Sunday, so I’m thinking (hoping) that they’re still just establishing dominance?
Piper (the underpig) seems normal and isn’t afraid to come out of hiding (actually she comes out more now that she’s with pickle).
Sorry for the wordy post, I get so worried I’m doing my animals a disservice. I’m mostly concerned about underestimating aggressive behavior- I own rats, and they tend to have rough and very loud squeaky play fight matches that I now know are normal, but back in the beginning I was a ball of nerves worried they were gonna kill each other. That’s how I am right now.
So basically my question is- does this sound like normal dominance behavior, and how long should that last if so? Do they seem incompatible?
Thier cage is a Midwest plus with two pigloos, two water bottles, two hay piles, and two food bowls.
