038943-kyp
New Born Pup
Hello!
I've read a lot of sticky guides from here before posting.
(I work homeoffice so I'm almost alway around the three troublemakes.)
There was a hierarchy shuffle between my three 16 month-old sisters. The girl in question doesn't seem to cope well with being the lowest rank now, down to no.3 from no.2. For some reason, she seems terrified of one of her sisters, or a situation where both are around, or even when the other two posture in between themselves (and she becomes paranoid). The other two sisters always had some sisterly hate/love going on but are now suddenly getting along better (that's now rank no.1+2). This leaves the now no.3 alone when there are squabbles. She doesn't do any sucking up to make things easier either unfortunately. I wouldn't say that her two sisters are overly focused on her or anything, only when she doesn't move out of the way and respect the rank, she gets a nip, that's all. No.3 doesn't do any posturing or head raising or teeth-chattering, only freezing and squealing when particularly no.1 comes close, when foraging the cage or looking for the best spot.
No.3 has had developed an abscess in her hind leg about 1 month ago. During that time though their mother had still been alive, with a stable hierarchy, so there was no sign it could have been from deliberate behavior as they all had gotten along as usual (a nip here and there and posturing).
o their mother had died 1 1/2 months ago
o surgery of no.3: 3 weeks ago
o behavior change/hierarchy reshuffle: about 2 weeks ago, 1 week after surgery (with only a few hours of separation).
So, the two-exit strategy works well, except when one blocks the exit while the other is at the other end. It was just a 'I-want-your-sleeping-spot' situation from no.1, giving no.3 a peck to get going. Unfortunately, a ping-pong game started: no.3 run away, into the waiting no.2, who pecked her and wouldn't let her pass, then back to no.1 who gave her another nip and the poor no.3 ran back and forth in a panic (there are 1st floors to jump up on to escape through exit 3, but she was probably too panicked to think straight). This might have given her an anxiety where she doesn't behave in a way to resolve it submissively nor to just take a few steps to move away.
Since then, no.3 seems to have an excessive reaction of fear--at times. When there is feeding time and there is fresh food around, it's all fine, in close proximity to the others. Yesterday night, no.3 had even slept in the same cage on the floor overnight. Her fearful squealing and sprinting around in a panic can happen 1-3 times a day--sometimes in the cage, but more often in the much larger living room enclosure where she completely over-judges situations and makes them worse with a crippling fear (?) or something. Before these troubles started, no one of them had ever squealed--complained, yes--but never such a helpless gesture.
Instead of making way, when no.1 makes her round, no.3 starts submission squealing even when there's half a meter distance and dominant behavior wasn't even a sure thing, no.1 was just strolling in her general direction while foraging on the floor. This squealing seems to do absolutely nothing--if you ask me--in pacifying or resolving anything. Instead, it makes no.2 curious, who comes along to see whats going on, and no.3 seems to ignore it or doesn't understand it as a submissive gesture; only making way and moving from where she wants to be would work (in my understanding). And when it happens, the now constantly squealing no.3 freezes in place and won't move until she gets a nip in the butt. This makes her scurry away in a panic, sometimes running two circles in the large living room enclosure until she hits the back of no.1, or, sprints into no.2, who thinks she's being attacked and, in a defensive posture, gives her another nip, sending her further along, and she feels like both are ganging up on her again.
No.3 is completely submissive since in her interactions with the others, avoiding them and often hay-feeding from one of the house roofs. Before the operation, as a middle rank, she knew what to do when, even during the first week after surgery where she properly submitted to no.1 and nipped no.3 (the now no.2) when it was time to do so.
Now, she only manages to squeal and freeze until she gets a nip from no.1 mostly, then scurries away in a panic. This is now going on for...uhm... about two weeks? There were better days where it had happened maybe once or not at all. But then the next day it happened multiple times that she panicked, with no submissive behavior improvement on her end to better her situation, like, just making way when one of the others comes around and it would all be fine.
She has no signs of any bites, nothing crusty under the fur on her bottom, and her lips are healthy. Her weight is also back to normal from pre-surgery times and no weight loss as of yet from any potential bullying.
I had also tried to change the situation by putting all three on neutral grounds, to see what happens. After some careful exploration of 5mins, eventually no.3 panicked when no.1 came in the same 2-exit box or tunnel (to get through), so no.3 squealed and froze to the spot, hiding like she had met the devil in person again. *head scratch*
Cage:
The three sisters live in two connected cages which they know well since birth (connected by two openings); 220cm total length by 60cm.
The cages have two 60cm hammocks, and 4x 2-exit houses, 2x water dishes, 2x hay racks.
Living room enclosure:
3x4 meters with plenty of 2-exit shelters and boxes and tunnels where they can roam 7h/day
I've read a lot of sticky guides from here before posting.
(I work homeoffice so I'm almost alway around the three troublemakes.)
There was a hierarchy shuffle between my three 16 month-old sisters. The girl in question doesn't seem to cope well with being the lowest rank now, down to no.3 from no.2. For some reason, she seems terrified of one of her sisters, or a situation where both are around, or even when the other two posture in between themselves (and she becomes paranoid). The other two sisters always had some sisterly hate/love going on but are now suddenly getting along better (that's now rank no.1+2). This leaves the now no.3 alone when there are squabbles. She doesn't do any sucking up to make things easier either unfortunately. I wouldn't say that her two sisters are overly focused on her or anything, only when she doesn't move out of the way and respect the rank, she gets a nip, that's all. No.3 doesn't do any posturing or head raising or teeth-chattering, only freezing and squealing when particularly no.1 comes close, when foraging the cage or looking for the best spot.
No.3 has had developed an abscess in her hind leg about 1 month ago. During that time though their mother had still been alive, with a stable hierarchy, so there was no sign it could have been from deliberate behavior as they all had gotten along as usual (a nip here and there and posturing).
o their mother had died 1 1/2 months ago
o surgery of no.3: 3 weeks ago
o behavior change/hierarchy reshuffle: about 2 weeks ago, 1 week after surgery (with only a few hours of separation).
So, the two-exit strategy works well, except when one blocks the exit while the other is at the other end. It was just a 'I-want-your-sleeping-spot' situation from no.1, giving no.3 a peck to get going. Unfortunately, a ping-pong game started: no.3 run away, into the waiting no.2, who pecked her and wouldn't let her pass, then back to no.1 who gave her another nip and the poor no.3 ran back and forth in a panic (there are 1st floors to jump up on to escape through exit 3, but she was probably too panicked to think straight). This might have given her an anxiety where she doesn't behave in a way to resolve it submissively nor to just take a few steps to move away.
Since then, no.3 seems to have an excessive reaction of fear--at times. When there is feeding time and there is fresh food around, it's all fine, in close proximity to the others. Yesterday night, no.3 had even slept in the same cage on the floor overnight. Her fearful squealing and sprinting around in a panic can happen 1-3 times a day--sometimes in the cage, but more often in the much larger living room enclosure where she completely over-judges situations and makes them worse with a crippling fear (?) or something. Before these troubles started, no one of them had ever squealed--complained, yes--but never such a helpless gesture.
Instead of making way, when no.1 makes her round, no.3 starts submission squealing even when there's half a meter distance and dominant behavior wasn't even a sure thing, no.1 was just strolling in her general direction while foraging on the floor. This squealing seems to do absolutely nothing--if you ask me--in pacifying or resolving anything. Instead, it makes no.2 curious, who comes along to see whats going on, and no.3 seems to ignore it or doesn't understand it as a submissive gesture; only making way and moving from where she wants to be would work (in my understanding). And when it happens, the now constantly squealing no.3 freezes in place and won't move until she gets a nip in the butt. This makes her scurry away in a panic, sometimes running two circles in the large living room enclosure until she hits the back of no.1, or, sprints into no.2, who thinks she's being attacked and, in a defensive posture, gives her another nip, sending her further along, and she feels like both are ganging up on her again.
No.3 is completely submissive since in her interactions with the others, avoiding them and often hay-feeding from one of the house roofs. Before the operation, as a middle rank, she knew what to do when, even during the first week after surgery where she properly submitted to no.1 and nipped no.3 (the now no.2) when it was time to do so.
Now, she only manages to squeal and freeze until she gets a nip from no.1 mostly, then scurries away in a panic. This is now going on for...uhm... about two weeks? There were better days where it had happened maybe once or not at all. But then the next day it happened multiple times that she panicked, with no submissive behavior improvement on her end to better her situation, like, just making way when one of the others comes around and it would all be fine.
She has no signs of any bites, nothing crusty under the fur on her bottom, and her lips are healthy. Her weight is also back to normal from pre-surgery times and no weight loss as of yet from any potential bullying.
I had also tried to change the situation by putting all three on neutral grounds, to see what happens. After some careful exploration of 5mins, eventually no.3 panicked when no.1 came in the same 2-exit box or tunnel (to get through), so no.3 squealed and froze to the spot, hiding like she had met the devil in person again. *head scratch*
Cage:
The three sisters live in two connected cages which they know well since birth (connected by two openings); 220cm total length by 60cm.
The cages have two 60cm hammocks, and 4x 2-exit houses, 2x water dishes, 2x hay racks.
Living room enclosure:
3x4 meters with plenty of 2-exit shelters and boxes and tunnels where they can roam 7h/day
