Ttemple
Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2016
- Posts
- 46
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2016
- Messages
- 46
Peace everyone,
This may be a lengthy post due to the nature of the issue.
To put things in perspective, we had 2 young females right now they are about 8-9 weeks one of them was the more dominant and would pick on the younger one...when she wanted her to move but they never had any issues. No fur flying or aggression of any sort. Then we introduced an adult female age 2 about a week ago. They seemed to get along fine, the younger more dominant one tried a few time to show the older one...(her name is Darling,that she was boss.) That didn't go over well with Darling and she showed her teeth and that was the end of that. They sleep eat and even play together for the most part. When Darling wants any of them to move she nudges them out of the way...in an "I mean business" kind of way.
Yesterday I noticed the least dominant one who usually gets along famously with Darling, test her boundaries by keep her nose in the air and not budging. Darling, watched her and would look away and ignore her, and then turn around and nip her. I checked for blood or any lumps and bumps and I realized it was nothing of the sort. So I didn't concern myself because they went back to licking and following Darling.
My son came down this morning and said that he noticed that very same young guinea girl(she doesn't have a name yet), chattering quietly with Darling and then lift her nose in the air, showed her teeth and pranced in a circle...then Darling started grinding her teeth and chattering her teeth and she let out a loud squeak and lunged at the younger girl and nipped her on the nose. There was no bleeding or fur flying and no marks whatsoever. The younger girl ran to her corner, and the other young girl also had teeth chattering, my guess is fear not aggression?, but Darling lunged at that guinea girl too and tried to sit on top of her...and she tried to stay on top of her...my guess is she was showing dominance to the other one. The younger one got away and tried kicking wood pellets at her. Darling was chasing her around the cage and then she just stopped chasing her.
When I came down, everyone sort of was acting normal...but I noticed that Darling seemed to be quite nervous and unsettled, even though it would seem as if she was the aggressor. I seperated them for a bit...just to give them a break. Not sure what to think of this, except that the younger girls are now testing boundaries with her..I know they don't need to be separated and later today I will be changing out the fleece, bathing everyone and putting them back. I would love to hear from all of you who are experienced with guineas and small herds. I have not ever experienced this and honestly didn't think that I would because they are usually all quite happy together.
Thanks
This may be a lengthy post due to the nature of the issue.
To put things in perspective, we had 2 young females right now they are about 8-9 weeks one of them was the more dominant and would pick on the younger one...when she wanted her to move but they never had any issues. No fur flying or aggression of any sort. Then we introduced an adult female age 2 about a week ago. They seemed to get along fine, the younger more dominant one tried a few time to show the older one...(her name is Darling,that she was boss.) That didn't go over well with Darling and she showed her teeth and that was the end of that. They sleep eat and even play together for the most part. When Darling wants any of them to move she nudges them out of the way...in an "I mean business" kind of way.
Yesterday I noticed the least dominant one who usually gets along famously with Darling, test her boundaries by keep her nose in the air and not budging. Darling, watched her and would look away and ignore her, and then turn around and nip her. I checked for blood or any lumps and bumps and I realized it was nothing of the sort. So I didn't concern myself because they went back to licking and following Darling.
My son came down this morning and said that he noticed that very same young guinea girl(she doesn't have a name yet), chattering quietly with Darling and then lift her nose in the air, showed her teeth and pranced in a circle...then Darling started grinding her teeth and chattering her teeth and she let out a loud squeak and lunged at the younger girl and nipped her on the nose. There was no bleeding or fur flying and no marks whatsoever. The younger girl ran to her corner, and the other young girl also had teeth chattering, my guess is fear not aggression?, but Darling lunged at that guinea girl too and tried to sit on top of her...and she tried to stay on top of her...my guess is she was showing dominance to the other one. The younger one got away and tried kicking wood pellets at her. Darling was chasing her around the cage and then she just stopped chasing her.
When I came down, everyone sort of was acting normal...but I noticed that Darling seemed to be quite nervous and unsettled, even though it would seem as if she was the aggressor. I seperated them for a bit...just to give them a break. Not sure what to think of this, except that the younger girls are now testing boundaries with her..I know they don't need to be separated and later today I will be changing out the fleece, bathing everyone and putting them back. I would love to hear from all of you who are experienced with guineas and small herds. I have not ever experienced this and honestly didn't think that I would because they are usually all quite happy together.
Thanks
