Reassurance

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jessblacow

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Hi. For those of you who don't already know, I re-homed 4 female guinea pigs last week and they are living together. For about a week now, Cookie continually chases Brandysnap, turfs her out of hideys, pushes her away from food bowls to the point where Brandysnap is squealing. I know the general advice is to leave them to get on with it, but at which point will it settle down or at which point do I desperate them? Do I take Brandysnap out overnight to give her a bit of reprieve?

Cookie was doing this with Oreo the first night but they got over it pretty quick.Cookie is definitely the dominant pig bit I think maybe Brandysnap hasn't conceded yet. When Cookie isn't looking she is pinching bits of food off the other two and even occasionally has a got a Toffypop. Once Toffypop squealed so loudly at Brandysnap's actions, Cookie chased Brandy snap all round the cage.

I should mention when it's feeding time they all happily munch together.

Guinea pig behaviour really is stumping me so if anyone can help or advise, it'd be appreciated.
 
I would advise, like boars, you should put in more of everything. A single guinea pig can't guard every bowl and then your piggie can't be stopped from eating. It's her being overly dominant to the point of bullying. If it gets too bad I've seen advised before on splitting the guinea pigs up but as yours are a larger group I'm not quite sure on whether you'd want to possibly split up the other two to put with your friend or end up getting a new one.

Good luck.
 
I have 2 water bottles, 2 food bowls, 3 hideys. I also scatter food around the cage. Besides, they quite happily share the bowls at feeding time. I wouldn't necessarily say that cookie is blocking her access, brandysnap just gets out of her way.
 
For harmony at times like this I was always taught that the rule should be one of everything per pig and when it comes to hideys, one spare so there is always a choice of hidey. They are probably sorting out the hierarchy. The chasing etc is all normal. The under pig can squeal a lot and there's no real problem unless someone is getting hurt. As long as there's no blood it's fine to let them sort it out, but just make sure they have plenty of space. More of everything means less to fight over. Your dominant sow cannot be everywhere at once!
 
I agree one of everything per piggy especially when it comes to beds plus a spare like VickiA said the dominant sow can't be everywhere at once :)
 
I agree - one for each piggy and if possible one spare in a group... I like to provide one larger hidey for snuggling up, but also a single space for each member of the group. You have to see what fits in! As a stop gap, cardboard boxes or hankies and towels pegged to the grids or bars will do! Food bowls for each, preferably a body length apart to minimise snatching and chasing off, and only so full that the piggies can eat their portion in one go before power politics start again. Rather feed less, but more often, then you can make sure that they all get a decent portion. The same goes for pellets.

Dominance behaviour can well last a few weeks; in my experience, it is about 2 weeks in a group until it has travelled down the ladder. The heaviest dominance behaviour is usually against the sow just below in the hierarchy; this goes for all ranks. If the chasing doesn't stop then I would start to worry.
Please weigh your girls weekly, like all healthy piggies. It is a good way of monitoring their health, but it can also alert you to a bullying problem that is getting serious and systematic.
 
Thank you everybody. I will give it another week or so to see what happens. If things don't improve I have decided to find Brandysnap another home. I don't have the space to house her seprately.

I wonder if I have misread the signs @Wiebke . Where i thought Brandysnap was underpig, she is in fact trying to eatablish her position as next-in-line. I have seen her chase off Oreo and Toffypop a couple of times.

Would it help if I took the two of them out and put them in a run together to give them time with each other and more room to run about?
 
Hi @lisaali I have read that article plus everything else i can find on dominant behaviour.

I was also thinking that if things do not settle down then i might try the bath trick as a last resort and see if that works.

Also, sorry to keep asking questions but is it possible for pigs to popcorn out of anger or annoyance? Cookie was popcorning again this morning but seeing as she'd just chased Brandysnap round i get the feeling it wasn't out of excitement.
 
Please sit it out for the moment. Your girls are still very much in the middle of settling the the hierarchy. Cookie is top, Brandysnap will come second, and the lower places are still to be decided. It takes time for the whole dominance reinforcement to travel down the hierarchy.

Popcorning is out of joy and an excess of energy, occasionally as a sign of "what do it I care" (this mostly from boars that have just been told off by a sow), but it is not anger - and neither is the chasing. That is simply a power demonstration, no hard feelings. She is chasing Brandysnap because she CAN and because she is not yet feeling quite sure in her position as top sow.
 
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