Okay, so I bought a new guinea pig today as a friend for my other one, they are both girls by the way. I'm not sure of the new one's age, but she's obviously older because she's a fair bit bigger. She has longish hair, like my other one.
My first problem is that, she is losing her hair, every time I pick her up or even when she's not being handled, she seems to be leaving a noticeable amount of fur around. Is there a problem or is this just a stage in her life? I'm only worried because it doesn't happen with the first guinea pig.
My other problem is that she's a total *****. The moment I put them together, the new one attacked the other and bit her quite viciously. I don '
t want the smaller one being hurt. I bought the new one from a pet store where she was with other guinea pigs and she didn't seems to want to hurt any of them. They have a big cave with plenty of space for both of them. She also bites me. Is their something I can do about either of these things?
10 points. Thanks so much:)
Sorry your new sow is being bossy. That's normal dominance behavior. It's likely that in her old cage at the pet shop, the pecking order was established in the cage before you ever saw her. If the new, bigger sow is something you REALLY like, keep her and use 2 food dishes. They'll work out their problems but the little one will need to be able to eat (grow) without being picked on. I'd recommend returning the new sow to the pet shop though (get a refund, not an exchange) and quarantine your original pet for a couple weeks before adding another friend in.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com The hair loss is problematic. It could be from change in environment. It could be from a health condition (ringworm or mange). It could be from a poor diet at the pet shop. Who knows?
While your little piggy is by herself, clean and sanitize the cage (walls & wire included), water bottle and food dish. Keep the bedding dry and clean. Pay close attention to is SHE starts to lose hair.
Treatment for ringworm (a fungus) includes baths with antifungal shampoo. It's not hard to nip in the bud.
Treatment for mange is usually oral ivermectin. It's available at farm supply stores labeled for horses. Find an experienced local cavy breeder to help you figure out the correct dose.
When i got my second guinea pig from petsmart when i brought her home she also did lose some hair because she was a little stressed out and over whelmed but later on she stopped loss in hair and when i put the new guinea pig with my older guinea pig yea my first guinea would make noise and bit her to show dominance couple days later they where all fine every now and then she would get her in place and they will click there teeth together to show that im the dominant one in the group
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com and about her biting you you may want to do some one on one like try to feed her from your hand give her treats try holding her alot because shes prob not use to all this attention yet so it might take some time for her to get used to you hope this helps
