Tag Archive for: guinea pig dominance

What is Guinea Pig Barbering and How to Stop It

Barbering refers to a guinea pig nibbling its own or another guinea pig’s fur until there’s a scruffy or bald patch where the fur’s been trimmed away. When a guinea pig barbers itself, it can take the form of a V-shape on their back because of the spots they’re able to reach when they turn around to bite at their fur.

Why do guinea pigs barber or chew off their fur?

There are a few reasons why guinea pigs barber themselves or others. Let’s take a look at the most common reasons why a guinea pig would be barbering another guinea pig.

Why guinea pigs barber each other

A guinea pig may barber another guinea pig as a way to assert dominance, and as a response to conflict between competitive piggies, often an older to a younger male.

Guinea pigs may also barber each other due to boredom or stress.

Why guinea pigs barber themselves

Similarly to why they barber others, guinea pigs may barber themselves as a response to stress or boredom.

Bald patches or evidence of barbering can also be responses to itching or uncomfortable skin due to an allergy, parasitic infection, fungus, or other undiagnosed skin condition. If you notice bald patches on your guinea pig and your piggie seems agitated or has inflamed skin from where they’ve been biting at themselves, a trip to a reliable guinea pig veterinarian would be the best next step to take to make sure they’re not suffering from an underlying skin condition.

How to stop your guinea pig from barbering

Take away their barbershop license! *badum-ching*

Ok, in all seriousness, there are some effective ways to help stop your guinea pig from barbering itself and others.

  1. Separate submissive piggies from dominant ones if the behavior is driven by competition and fighting. Isolation is not ideal as guinea pigs are social, but if bonding exercises have proven ineffective and guinea pigs are injuring each other, the barbering piggie may need to be housed separately from the others.
  2. Reduce stress in the environment by providing plenty of places to hide, a lot of space if they share a cage with a cagemate (or more than one cagemate), human contact, stable temperature, etc. Also watch for any recent changes in environment that may have coincided with the barbering beginning, like having the cage in a new spot, different noises, etc. and adjust to a calmer environment if possible.
  3. Give them alternative things to chew like guinea pig appropriate chew toys
  4. Get them checked for skin conditions by your guinea pig vet
  5. Depending on your vet’s recommendations, changes to their diet may be necessary

We hope this has helped you learn more about guinea pig barbering and how to help stop your guinea pig from barbering itself or others. For over 100 pages of illustrated guinea pig care advice just like this, check out The Guinea Pig Guide book here!

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Why Is My Male Guinea Pig Mounting Another Male?

Guinea pigs are social creatures, so it’s a great idea if you have the financial means and the space to have more than one guinea pig in the same enclosure to keep each other company. Putting a male and female piggie together will definitely result in babies if they’re not neutered, but what about when you house two females or two males together and you see one of them… getting busy with the other? Why would a male guinea pig mount another male? Is your guinea pig gay? Let’s explore!

Why Male Guinea Pigs Mount Other Males (or females mount other females!)

While we can’t climb into a guinea pig’s head and heart and know for sure that they aren’t expressing their love to a same-sex partner (and if so, we stan an LGBTQIA+ guinea pig romance), the general consensus is that guinea pigs mount each other as an expression of dominance.

When you put two male guinea pigs together, or even two females sometimes, you may notice mating behavior taking place as the piggies get settled in. This is completely normal! Guinea pigs need to establish their social hierarchy (aka who’s the boss) in order to coexist peacefully. Usually an older or bigger male will naturally assert dominance over a younger or smaller male (though sometimes when a younger male goes through ‘piggie puberty’ dominance issues can arise). One way of asserting this dominance is…well… hopping aboard the Piggie Express, let’s say. 😉

Other dominance behaviors you may see your guinea pigs exhibit include:

Head-raising – whoever can lift their chin the highest is the winner

Rumblestrutting – ruffling up their fur, making a purring/chuddering sound and slowly shifting weight between their hind legs in a little dance prior to mounting

Chasing or nipping – watch carefully for any super aggressive behavior like chattering teeth while hair raising on end, or lunging and drawing blood and be prepared to safely separate your piggies with a dustpan or other barricade (not your bare hands!) if they end up in a ‘flying furball’ tussle

So the next time you look over and see your male guinea pig mounting another male, or your female guinea pig mounting another female, or a female guinea pig mounting a male, put yourself at ease knowing they’re just doin’ what guinea pigs do and working out their social order.

Want answers to more of your burning guinea pig questions along with comprehensive, illustrated info covering just about everything you want to know about taking care of guinea pigs, all in one spot? Check out The Guinea Pig Guide official book here!

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