Guinea pig dominance?

Question

Me and my wife have a guinea pig named Bella.  We have had her for about a year and a half.  We had read online that Guinea Pigs are usually happier in pairs or groups.  So we went out and bought another Guinea Pig.  Bella is a huge Guinea pig about 10 to 12 inches and probably a couple pounds.  Our new Guinea Pig, Buttercup, is a small female only 3 to 4 months old about 4 to 5 inches long and maybe a 1/4 of a pound.  The lady at Petco warned us about dominance issues.  We had bad issues the first night.  Bella stood on the food dish and Buttercup hid in the corner.  When Buttercup came came out Bella freaked out and jumped on the food Buttercup ran back into the corner.  After a day the food dominance stopped.  Now comes my question there is some behavior I know a little about and some I know nothing about.  First Bella will rumble at Buttercup.  I know this is dominance behavior but will it harm Buttercup in any way?  Bella will sniff Buttercups behind excessively and nudge her behind.  Is this dominance behavior or is this normal?  Bella and Buttercup will lay together but it always seems like they lay in the corner and Bella is in front of Buttercup, Buttercup being in the corner.  Is this Bella showing dominance or her being a big sister?  We had Bella and Buttercup both out on the couch and we hand fed Bella and Buttercup both some timothy hay.  Bella ate hers but Buttercup didn't seem to want to eat hers while Bella was with her and Bella kept getting close and rumbling.  Will this keep Buttercup from eating?  I know these are alot of questions but I just want to do the best I can for my pets.  Can any one answer these questions for me?  Also can anyone tell me if this behavior will harm our new Guinea Pig?  Will this behavior stop or diminish?  If so how long will it take? (we have only had our Guinea pigs for 2 days lol) Is this behavior normal?  Is it severe or light?  Should we return the new Guinea pig? (also we bought a new cage and used new bedding)  Please someone help.

Carol · Accepted Answer

This is all perfectly normal behavior, it is a combination of domination and welcome, and protection. When Bella has her in the corner she is actually protecting her as the Aunt roll. All the things you spoke of is perfectly normal. The only thing I have any worry's about and I want you to watch very closely is the food issue, if fact I highly suggest you have 2 food dishes and that is not a home free sign you do have to watch Bella closely to make sure she will allow Buttercup to have her fair amount of food. With females this is the biggest issues I have has and I have had to separate more guinea pig for food issues them fighting. You are welcome to contact me directly of you wish simply by clicking on my avatar and that will take you to my e-mail address.

My Miya was so good about not allowing her cage mate not getting to the pellets she would allow her to eat if she though I was watching. Suzzi started to loose weight so I would watch her out of the corner of my eye and was alarmed to see she was body blocking the pellets any time she thought I was not watching! I tried her with a more aggressive female and the same thing happened, it was clear she just did not want to share her cage with any one, but did not fight she was very sneaky about it.

Haylie · Answer

Hi,
Just give your guinea pigs a few more days, if you see Bella biting or chasing buttercup around, then you should separate them. Since Bella hasn't been with another guinea pig for a while, she is probably curious. If this situation doesn't resolve after a week, then I would recommend returning her or putting her in the new cage. What you have said is normal dominance behavior, but just keep an eye on them and check buttercup over to see if there is any blood or scratch marks. So just keep watching them for around a week, so they get used to eachother. Bella will show buttercup that she is the boss around the cage, once buttercup has realized that, they will both move on and hopefully be normal again :)
Hope I helped

Adeline · Answer

Just spent more time monitor them. if they have any issue , you should really separate them. other than that its fine.

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Guinea pig dominance?

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