Jealous Piggies?

ErinP · Post » Mon Aug 05, 2013 10:20 am

Do guinea pigs get jealous of one another? I swear Bullwinkle is jealous of Peanut since he's been getting more attention than him since Peanut's been sick. It's not intentional and when we give them treats I always try to give Bullwinkle his first and always give him chin scratches. I don't take Bullwinkle out as much as I do Peanut mostly because Bullwinkle doesn't like being taken out of his cage and kind of freezes when you do take him out, unlike Peanut. Maybe I should take him out more often? They kept me up all night long because Bullwinkle was rumbling all night long at Peanut. They're not fighting, Bullwinkle isn't hurting Peanut, and this is the first time this has happened. He's started rumbling more often at Peanut, in the past couple of days. Peanut stands up on the side of the cage, Bullwinkle starts rumbling at him and pokes his nose at his butt and makes Peanut jump down. I don't know what to do. They've never done this before and have always, always gotten along fantastic. But I can't have another night like last night. I'm a wreck this morning.

clairey · Post » Mon Aug 05, 2013 10:46 am

It's less likely to be jealousy than that Bullwinkle realises Peanut is sick. Is Peanut usually the boss? I've found in the past that if the top pig is sick, the other pig really tends to pick on them.

edit: Also if Peanut is on any meds, it might make him smell different to Bullwinkle which will upset him.

ErinP · Post » Mon Aug 05, 2013 11:07 am

But, Peanut has been sick for 3 weeks. Why now? Peanut asserted his dominance over Bullwinkle initially, but Bullwinkle quickly took that title from Peanut and Bullwinkle has been "top pig" ever since. Bullwinkle will mount Peanut, not the other way around, but we haven't had any mounting going on for months.

Peanut has been on meds (for 3 weeks) but our last dose was last night. The area under his chin is kind of sticky and I'm sure he does smell a little different (we've been feeding him critical care too), but it's been that way for a little while. I'm having a hard time cleaning Peanut's chin as he constantly pushes me away and bites whatever I try to clean him with (he just refuses to let me wipe him off). I want to give him a bath to clean him up, but I don't want to do that until he's 100%. I'd hate to make him worse.

pig wrangler · Post » Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:46 pm

I believe that pigs definitely get jelous.

Daquerie and Ashley are both 'people pigs', they love attention. Whenever we pick up, or even pet any other pigs, they will run over and chut at the other pig. They will beg and and sometimes try to push the other pig away so we are petting them instead.

After we put the other pig back, they will assert their dominance, with rumble strutting and humping.

Also, If we go away for a long day (or, God forbid, leave them overnight at the daycare), they will get angry and shun us. It takes about a day for them to forget.

ErinP · Post » Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:27 pm

Pigs! He does this thing with Peanut where sometimes he will rumble strut at him, then turn around and start popcorning all over the place and making squeaky, cute sounds like he's happy, then he'll rumble strut at Peanut and do the whole thing all over again! But last night it felt like it was something like 5 hours straight of those rumbles and let me tell you, I love these guys to no end, but it was a bit much (and I'm paying for a lack of sleep today).

Maybe I'll try to give Bullwinkle some undivided lap time today, which I haven't been doing (he rumbles if you pet him anywhere but his head and chin and chest!), as well as some floor time. Their floor time has been cut short lately too because Peanut gets exhausted and we don't want him getting stressed since he's still getting better.

ErinP · Post » Tue Aug 06, 2013 7:00 am

Okay, this is an issue now, seriously. I had to separate them last night. This was the first time I've ever had to separate them, but Bullwinkle was going after Peanut incessantly and Peanut couldn't get away. Even when I separated them, Bullwinkle was trying to tear through my barricade to get to him so I had to become more inventive to separate them. What is going on? They had been fine all day, then we go to bed and Bullwinkle loses it and goes after Peanut? I had to sleep, so I had to separate them. I took the barricade down and Bullwinkle rumble strutted but didn't go after Peanut and they seem to be fine. Any ideas what's going on? I can't have Bullwinkle doing this to Peanut, he's still trying to get well. They have always gotten along as they were put together very early on (at a month old).

clairey · Post » Tue Aug 06, 2013 8:01 am

How old are they?

ErinP · Post » Tue Aug 06, 2013 9:24 am

Around 5 months old now, though Bullwinkle might be a tad bit older. We're not 100% sure.

pigjes · Post » Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:56 am

I have seen obvious proof of jealousy between piggies in the past.

ErinP · Post » Tue Aug 06, 2013 1:31 pm

I'm going to have to try to give Bullwinkle some individual attention then and hopefully that might help, but it didn't yesterday.

jacqueline · Post » Tue Aug 06, 2013 3:53 pm

My first pair were 2 boys, either from the same litter, or paired together since birth. They were fine, until adolescence hit. They had to be separated and have never been able to live together since.

Pigs are almost impossible to figure out, and I think boys are the worst. And adolescence makes everyone crazy!!

This too shall pass. . .

ErinP · Post » Tue Aug 06, 2013 6:25 pm

ah, well, thank you Jacqueline. I guess it really very well could be adolescence and I must agree that they are impossible to figure out! :) Sometimes they are okay together, other times, not so much. I'll keep an eye on them, if it becomes violent we'll have to separate them and if that happens hopefully by that time we'll have found a house to rent so we can get 2 cages, but I hope it doesn't come to that. How long does adolescence usually last with pigs? I guess Bullwinkle's got it full force right now.