Dominance 2 female guinea pigs rumblestrutting, again

[DeannaRose91]

Hi everyone! So I have 2 female guinea pigs, only about 3 months old. When I first got them they would rumblestrut at each other but it stopped. This past week Furipsa kept rumblestrutting at Ygritte, now Ygritte is doing it back and Furiosa is darting at her. I hear some cries every now and then, no blood was drawn. Why is this happening? And does it mean that I have to separate them? I didn't think I did but wanted a few opinions on what to do. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[CavyMama]

Rumblestrutting is a dominance behavior. It's perfectly normal to continue through the entirety of a guinea pig's life. No need to separate at all unless blood is drawn. They are working it out.

 

[spy9doc]

I'm guessing that one or the other may be in heat? They can get mighty cranky at that time.

I've had only one sow in many years and we could always tell when she was about to go into heat. One evening at lap time I remarked to my husband, "Maya is acting as though she has PMS." Sure enough, the next day she was in the full throes of heat and would often chase Chester around the cage in hopes that he would take care of her needs. Poor Chester hadn't an ounce of libido after he was neutered and couldn't figure out what the fuss was all about. In the beginning, he interpreted it as a play for dominance, but soon realized that this was something different. I swear I saw him trolling her on a couple of occasions. lol

 

[bpatters]

They'll always do it, particularly when they're in heat. It's totally normal.