Teeth chattering?

[Ivan-hawk]

Hi, it's been about a month since my last question. My 2 boars have been together a little over a month. Ivan, 4.5 month old and Odie, 14 month old, have been living relatively well together. They will have the occasional scrap, but no bloodshed. Here are my two questions. I believe Ivan is trying to be the most dominant or top pig. He does the rumblestrutting, he does the chasing, he perches up on the food bowl. He has tried to mount Odie, but to my knowledge never has. Odie is very laidback and puts up with this to a point. Here lately Ivan has been doing a lot of teeth chattering. After a scrap the other night, Odie went into a pigloo and Ivan was in a corner teethchattering with a mouth full of hair. Is this what the more dominant pig does? When getting them out for floor or lap time will also give the teeth chattering at me. My confusion is, is teeth chattering a defense type or dominant type or both? All responses welcomed.

 

[NickM]

Chattering, as far as I am educated, is a sign of aggression and anger. Chattering is usually what happens before a real fight breaks out. It sounds like he is really uptight. You said pulled a tuft of hair out of your other piggie and still chattered? This seems like he is just too violent. Rumbling, chattering, hair ripping and nipping is normal to a point but it sounds like he is out to hurt your other pig. I have never heard of them chattering at people as well. It really sounds like hes got an attitude problem that you should be able to adjust. Is he always this angry?

 

[sarahnmadison]

Actually, I have a Guinea Pig that I have had since near the end of December and he will chatter his teeth at me whenever I go to pick him up. He is also a biter. It made me nervous the first few times picking him up but now I just ignore it and scoop him right up. Once I pick him up, he stops and he can be petted/held just fine.

I don't know why he chatters his teeth at me. He is used to us and will want constant attention at floor time. At times, I think his vision isn't so well.