Putting a stop to babering

[Coconut]

Long story short I introduced a new pig into the group a couple of days ago and although most has gone well she is being barbered to the extreme by the other guys. She now has an almost completely bald bottom half. This really doesn't look great but the bigger worry is the pain it is causing her as her screams are fairly frequent and after what she's been through I just want things to settle down. I ideally don't want to separate them and hopefully this is just a dominance thing and will settle down soon but I do worry as they did the exact same thing to Miss Piggy and Betsy- they seem to choose a weak pig and dehair her. So is there anything I can spray on her that won't be harmful (to either her or them) and will stop them eating her hair? So pretty much something Guinea pigs don't like the taste of but is safe?

 

[iamsnape]

Firstly, I would try and monitor the barbering itself - when it happens, if it is at any particular time of day, etc, so that any cause could be recognised. Theories of why babering happens involves boredom, hunger, dominance (if another pig is doing it), or a combination of the three...or so I have been led to believe for a long while!
If you know what pig is doing the barbering and you are feeding them plenty of hay, veg, pellets, and it continues, my advice would be to separate the new pig. Especially if they are pulling out chunks of hair rather than chewing on the hair and thinning it out. If it's causing pain and is distressing it to the point of crying out, it can't be nice.
If it doesn't seem to be distressing the new pig a lot and you are happy with your pig to have a thin patch of hair, then see if it subsides.

I wouldn't advise putting anything on the pig to stop the barbering as it may only cause harm to your other guinea pigs. I'm not sure I can think of anything on the market that would do this either.

Here is an extract from guinea lynx on barbering:
"Although they may have all the hay they want, no lack of nutrients, and ample space to move about, some guinea pigs are bound and determined to chew on the hair of their cage mates. Apart from isolating the industrious guinea pig, there is little that can be done to effectively curb this behavior. Application of "bitter apple" is claimed by some to work, but others just accept having a "designer pig" or provide private living quarters for the offender. If you are not showing your cavies, this should not be a very serious concern."

Here's the full article http://www.guinealynx.info/hairloss.html#barbering

Hope this was helpful

 

[Stewybus]

My girls sometimes do this so I just rub some Vic Vapour Rub on the area that's been attacked. It worked for me.

 

[Sodapops]

One of my girls does this to 3 of her long haired cage mates - she never did it when it was just her and her mum - but in a group of 6 where 3 of her cage mates are long haired she insists they must visit her salon from time to time. She loves to let them grow their hair back to a nice neat stage and then she goes ahead and gives them another very BAD haircut.

They look awful when she's been at them, but as far as i can tell they all sit there and allow her to do it - they dont seem stressed about it and when they've had enough they walk off.

My lot have a constant supply of hay/pellets and they have plenty of chew toys in their cages (they have wooden houses/steps/benches - they have cardboard boxes i frequently pick up from the supermarket, paper bags, empty loo rolls etc) - they toys are rotated to keep things interesting - so in my case it definitely not boredom or hunger. The barbering pig is also what i would class as the middle pig of the group and she was the least dominant out of all the girls when bonding - the pigs she barbers are two of the girls she's closest to and our neutered boy.

It's very annoying for me and i love my long haired piggies and my texel girl especially takes the brunt of her hairdressing skills, but she's not hurting them and so separation is the last thing i would do.

It's annoying yes - but applying sprays/lotions and so on is not a good idea - when i posted for advice, someone made a good point about the application of lotions/sprays and the fact it may deter the barbered pig from grooming/washing themselves - the last you will want is a long/semi haired pig that cannot/will not groom/wash themselves.

I know when bonding my group the screaming will be a dominance issue - my top sow was quite brutal when it came to letting everyone know she was boss and it was awful to hear and watch - eventually though things did calm down and they are all very closely bonded now.

If you only bonded them a couple of days ago, it may take some time to settle down - i would keep a close eye on them all - is the newer one being able to move around the cage freely? is she being prevented from entering hidey houses? is she being prevented from eating/drinking? is the new pig generally happy in herself?

Only you can make the decision whether to separate - for a little barbering i wouldn't, but I'm not in your situation and dont know your pigs personalities.

Good luck