Dominance Behaviour
Many things can cause guinea pigs to start becoming a little bit more aggressive with each other, here is a small guide to direct you and tell you more about the different types of behaviour.
Never put in your bare hands to separate, always have a towel handy to throw over them as those pigs will not realise or care that your hands are getting in front of their teeth and can result in really nasty bites.
Never put in your bare hands to separate, always have a towel handy to throw over them as those pigs will not realise or care that your hands are getting in front of their teeth and can result in really nasty bites.
Normal Dominance/Getting-To-Know-You Behaviour:
These types of behaviour can include: Bottom wiggling, raised fur or hackles, hip swaying Purring or quiet/low rumbling whilst doing the above or sometimes without the movement "Nose offs" - not necessarily aggressive, it's just like teens squaring off to each other and swaggering a bit Bottom sniffing and cheek to cheek rubbing - scent glands are situated in these areas, so these will be popular! Dragging the bottom along the ground (a bit like territory marking) Mounting (from all angles - head, side and rear!) and chasing or chasing and mounting combined Mild teeth chattering (fairly quiet chattering, almost like they are munching loudly on dry food or hay just with a bit more volume, but NOT the loud clatter for aggression. |
Warnings / Getting irritated and more serious:
If one or more pigs are snorting, (a bit like a quiet sneeze or a puff can mean extreme irritation), stressed squeaking with increased volume, head bobbing nose offs accompanied with very loud teeth chattering and slight raising up on back legs, yawning to show the teeth and/or giving narky little nips, kicking out and/or wee squirting, then I would be watching very carefully and get ready to distract them as they could be about to have a fight. |
Serious aggression/fighting:
If the above events do not calm down fairly quickly, this can escalate into the pigs lunging or pouncing at each other, loud rumbling, obviously vicious bites rather than nips, a concentrated mixture of most of the above warnings (snorting, obvious rearing up on their haunches as if rearing up to fight, raised hackles, loud rumbling, yawning and loud teeth clacking - this noise is unmistakeable), and will likely result in pigs causing serious damage to each other - the pigs will have to be separated immediately. |
So what may cause this type of behaviour?
Boars.
Spring can invoke all kinds of ancient instinctive behaviour when the weather starts to warm up, the hormones start to get going and the boys are looking to strut their stuff. This can often result in increased normal dominance behaviour and lots of rumblestrutting and mounting to prove to all around that they are men and they are feeling good! Also, the heat of the summer can sometimes get to them, resulting in bad tempers and frustration as they are hot and uncomfortable, and may start squabbling with their cagemate. Another reason to keep your guineas as cool as possible during the hot months!
Other things that may set them off are being near females, change of environment, illness, bullying or simply the teenage hormones kicking in. If you suspect an illness may be causing behavioural problems, please make a vet visit.
Are they at the stroppy hormonal teen stage (anything between on average 3 months to 15 months)? If so, they may just be testing for dominance. This can go on for a while and will need monitoring, but usually settles down eventually.
Sows.
Girls come into season about every 15-17 days. Often you won't notice, but sometimes, they can be very hormonal. This happens more often with adolescent girls, freshly bonded or introduced girls or after an operation that interfered with the estrus cycle.
The girl coming into season can be grumpy or temperamental for a few days (especially if she is the alpha sow). Over the perhaps one and a half day of her season, she will sniff bottoms, rumble, chase and mount her companion as if she were a male. Her companion will either kick her off straight away or allow her to hump until she's fed up, all accompanied by lots of squeaking! Well bonded girls will often reaffirm their bond with tender cuddling on the following day.
Coming into season can spark a reopening of the dominance dispute, especially when the undersow is not happy with the way things are. What we think of as sexual behaviour is very often used as a dominance tool to sort out and redefine the relationship.
Boars.
Spring can invoke all kinds of ancient instinctive behaviour when the weather starts to warm up, the hormones start to get going and the boys are looking to strut their stuff. This can often result in increased normal dominance behaviour and lots of rumblestrutting and mounting to prove to all around that they are men and they are feeling good! Also, the heat of the summer can sometimes get to them, resulting in bad tempers and frustration as they are hot and uncomfortable, and may start squabbling with their cagemate. Another reason to keep your guineas as cool as possible during the hot months!
Other things that may set them off are being near females, change of environment, illness, bullying or simply the teenage hormones kicking in. If you suspect an illness may be causing behavioural problems, please make a vet visit.
Are they at the stroppy hormonal teen stage (anything between on average 3 months to 15 months)? If so, they may just be testing for dominance. This can go on for a while and will need monitoring, but usually settles down eventually.
Sows.
Girls come into season about every 15-17 days. Often you won't notice, but sometimes, they can be very hormonal. This happens more often with adolescent girls, freshly bonded or introduced girls or after an operation that interfered with the estrus cycle.
The girl coming into season can be grumpy or temperamental for a few days (especially if she is the alpha sow). Over the perhaps one and a half day of her season, she will sniff bottoms, rumble, chase and mount her companion as if she were a male. Her companion will either kick her off straight away or allow her to hump until she's fed up, all accompanied by lots of squeaking! Well bonded girls will often reaffirm their bond with tender cuddling on the following day.
Coming into season can spark a reopening of the dominance dispute, especially when the undersow is not happy with the way things are. What we think of as sexual behaviour is very often used as a dominance tool to sort out and redefine the relationship.