Biting Skinny Pigs and Bickering

[ZipBonBoo]

I have a two year old skinny female, a four year old American female, and an almost seven year old American neutered male. The skinny girl, Miso, is the newest addition and they were introduced in July. The introduction was pretty rough and Miso was pretty aggressive and insistent on being the boss. They calmed down after a week-ish of being together, and have been fine since then. For the last week, the two Americans and Miso have been bickering a lot (the two Americans have never had issues with one another, and they've been together since my female was a baby). They've been nipping, chasing, and mounting a lot which I know is normal, but Miso bleeds whenever she is nipped, because she doesn't have hair to protect her. I know the general rule is to not separate unless blood is drawn... so does this rule apply to skinny pigs too? They're just nipping, not full blown fighting, but a nip is enough to draw a little blood from Miso.

The three of them are fine most of the time, and have calmed down a lot since earlier this week (I was thinking that one of the girls was in heat, which was the cause for the sudden bickering), but every once in a while they'll get in each other's faces and someone gets nipped.

So... should I leave them? I've just been keeping an eye on Miso's bites and making sure they're clean and everything. I just wanted to make sure that they were okay together.

 

[spy9doc]

That's a tough one! You don't want her constantly getting nipped and bleeding. Maybe some here on the Forum has some experience with this?

 

[bpatters]

How big is the cage? Lack of space is a BIG reason for guinea pig bickering.

 

[ZipBonBoo]

It is 2x6 long, and there's a 1x2 attached alongside it, so it's somewhat L or boot shaped. Hopefully that makes sense. There's no 1-entrance hideys in it, either. I had put one in a week or two ago because they had seemed to had adjusted well and were getting along, and then I removed it immediately once the bickering began. They only have tunnels, fleece forests, and fleece beds. I have two different parts of the cage with food/water in it, so someone can always access it without any conflict.

 

[bpatters]

Well, obviously lack of space isn't the problem!

I'd probably put it down to one or more of them being in heat. As long as they're not drawing a lot of blood, I'd let them be.

One thing you can do is file the nails of the haired pigs so they don't scratch the skinny. Another thing you might try is the vanilla trick. Take a q-tip and put a tiny, tiny bit of vanilla on every body's nose and tail, and see if that helps the situation.

 

[ZipBonBoo]

Okay, thanks so much!