Baby drew blood

[lauren]

I was giving Baby his medicine, and he turned and sank his lower teeth into my finger and drew blood. I screamed, but fortunately did not throw him across the room. My husband thinks he's a monster.
Question:
Can guineas have a bad disposition, or was it just a defensive bite?
He likes the medicine, and usually drinks it willingly.
On the other hand, he grabs at our clothes with his teeth and yanks, and tries to bit us a lot. We've had him a week. He's on meds for his infected lymph glands. (quarantined)
Our other pig, Timmy, 1 year old, learned not to bite right away, and loves being held.
We're really wondering about this little guy.

 

[dagwellismypigy]

He's probably cranky because he's sick. He could have a bad disposition but most likely not. When he tries to bite you he could just want to go home. Thats what my pigs do.

 

[suzy_99]

I have a piggy who has a bad disposition or she just likes the taste of our fingers. We actually have to be careful when we pick her up that our fingers are not anywheres near her face. I doubt that your guinea is like this tough, because from what I heard it is pretty rare to have a bitting guinea, so he was most likely just cranky.

 

[Chrissy]

Could you have gotten some of the medicine on your finger and Baby tried to eat it? I know if I'm not careful and have handeled food and not washed my hands or used a good smelling soap Taffy will nibble on my fingers.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

It's more than likely that he is just very cranky from being ill. He may be trying to tell you he doesn't feel well by biting on your clothes.

 

[lauren]

I think you're right -- Baby's just not feeling well. Also, he shivers when we hold him... I thought that might be due to fever or something, but it might be that he's scared of us. He hides all day - Maybe a combination of sickness and fear?
I guess I should just leave him alone for awhile.

 

[The Dumpling]

When I first got Dumpling, she was also shivering a lot too (turns out she was sick). Since you've also only had Baby for a week, it definitely sounds like he's really scared of you - everything is new. Same way as it was with Dumpling. Do you know approximately how old is Baby? Maybe this was his only defense in the past. You may want to continue to try to socialize him, especially if he's still young. They need to learn to trust others. It took a while for me to coax Dumpling out of her shell - I talked to her quietly a lot while petting her (never made sudden movements), and I gave her lots of treats. Although she liked the medicine better, and I think she ended up bonding with me over the medicine. =) But especially since you've only had Baby for a week, you should probably keep trying to let him get to know you.

 

[The Dumpling]

Does Baby make that teeth chattering sound at you? (The mad sound, the one they make when they're being aggressive). Or does he just bite you without warning?

 

[lauren]

No, no teeth-chattering. When I'm holding him, he just grabs (viciously, not curiously) at everything within reach.
I think he may be a lot like Dumpling. A little scaredy-pig.
We've had extra kids in the house all week, and the decibel level gets pretty high at times. I'm going to move him upstairs for some peace and quiet.

 

[pennick]

Maybe hes in pain. I would wait till he has a clean bill of health before you make any judgements.

 

[lauren]

Poor little fella.
You might be right.

 

[DaCourt]

I have 3 boys. Two of them don't really like their nails trimmed but they put up with it. Then there is Scooby. He HATES it. He bites every time. This is what we do. My daughter holds him with a towel over his head so he can't see, and so that if he does turn to bite, he only gets the towel. Then, I clip one side, turn him around, put the towle back on, and trim the other.

 

[LiciaMommycott]

Each of my two piggies bit me when they were young. They seemed to be doing what babies of all species seem to do, exploring things with their mouths. I think they really weren't sure what was food and what was finger. I quickly learned to wash my hands in between preparing their food and handling them so that they wouldn't be confused. Now that they're older, even when they're pissed at me (especially during nail clipping) they don't bite.

 

[lauren]

You know what? I moved Baby Cosmo to a quieter room, and when I hold him I wrap him in a little piece of fleece and sit quietly with him. He seems like he's chillin' out a bit already. We're headed for the vet this morning to see about this swollen neck gland thing. Hope the visit doesn't traumatize him all over again.

 

[Piglet]

Ascot tugged on my clothes, HARD. He never bit my fingers, just yanked on my clothes. Last week I treated him for lice and he seems do be doing much better. Possibly, he has mites/lice?

 

[CavyCatastrophe]

My first guinea pig used to bite and nip at my clothing, but he just seemed to stop one day and hasnt done it since. Good luck. Hope he/she gets better soon.

 

[lauren]

Yikes! Poor Ascot!
I don't see any lice or mites, but we've only had him for about a week, so we'll see what the next two weeks will bring us.

Also, now that we know he might bite, we wrap him in a little piece of fleece when we hold him. He yanks at the fleece and not at us.

 

[piggielover92]

He is probably in pain, but it could be because he was not held enough when he was little....

 

[Piglet]

Well, you can't see mites since they burrow underneath the skin. Lice sometimes looks like dandruff, especially around the ears and bum. They say you should treat with ivermectin anyway.

 

[Denise]

My Peaches bites and pulls at our clothes to show her displeasure with us. If we move her from shoulder to shoulder or person to person she will bite and pull. It's actually pretty funny, so we try not to upset her highness!