Kay701
Junior Guinea Pig
I've had my two girlies for three months now and am still confused over who is dominant! I think it's Honey, but am unsure.
Honey is bigger and more confident in some ways; she was less scared of me to start with, was the first to start napping in the open and in the early weeks would also take possession of their favourite hideout (which they do usually share) and not let Waffle in. However I've seen this happen both ways, it seems a lot more even since they've settled down. Honey sometimes does stick her bum in front of Waffle to prevent her getting to the hay pile (they always seem to want what the other has, despite there being two food bowls, three hay piles, three hideouts, five cardboard boxes...!) Also when I was getting them used to being handled, I figured out that I should pick up Waffle first because Waffle was always more scared if she heard Honey complaining a bit. Now they're both fine with it so it doesn't matter which way round.
They both nip each other occasionally and make each other squeak, and I've seen both of them win in a head-off. I've also seen both of them rumbling and bum-wiggling and stealing each others food (Waffle in particular is adept at stealing). They never chatter teeth at each other or chase each other and are usually chatty with each other, do stuff together and sleep together about 50% of the time they sleep. Waffle is more curious, she explored more in the early weeks and would run to tell Honey what she'd found and take her out to see! and she is also the wheekiest!
They're such sweet and funny babies with quite different personalities and seem to get on really well, it just doesn't seem really clear who is dominant. My guess is still Honey, but clearly she's not that dominant as they are pretty equal.
(On a side note, recently Honey has been rumble strutting a lot (which doesn't seem to bother Waffle at all) she's doing it multiple times a day every day for the past week. Is this a strong season? or is she asserting dominance? or should I be worried about cysts as it's been going on for an uncharacteristically long time? she is about 1 year 1 month old)
Honey is bigger and more confident in some ways; she was less scared of me to start with, was the first to start napping in the open and in the early weeks would also take possession of their favourite hideout (which they do usually share) and not let Waffle in. However I've seen this happen both ways, it seems a lot more even since they've settled down. Honey sometimes does stick her bum in front of Waffle to prevent her getting to the hay pile (they always seem to want what the other has, despite there being two food bowls, three hay piles, three hideouts, five cardboard boxes...!) Also when I was getting them used to being handled, I figured out that I should pick up Waffle first because Waffle was always more scared if she heard Honey complaining a bit. Now they're both fine with it so it doesn't matter which way round.
They both nip each other occasionally and make each other squeak, and I've seen both of them win in a head-off. I've also seen both of them rumbling and bum-wiggling and stealing each others food (Waffle in particular is adept at stealing). They never chatter teeth at each other or chase each other and are usually chatty with each other, do stuff together and sleep together about 50% of the time they sleep. Waffle is more curious, she explored more in the early weeks and would run to tell Honey what she'd found and take her out to see! and she is also the wheekiest!
They're such sweet and funny babies with quite different personalities and seem to get on really well, it just doesn't seem really clear who is dominant. My guess is still Honey, but clearly she's not that dominant as they are pretty equal.
(On a side note, recently Honey has been rumble strutting a lot (which doesn't seem to bother Waffle at all) she's doing it multiple times a day every day for the past week. Is this a strong season? or is she asserting dominance? or should I be worried about cysts as it's been going on for an uncharacteristically long time? she is about 1 year 1 month old)