How to Deal with Biting Guinea Pigs

Copyright 1997 by Karen, used here with permission.

A Guinea Pig that bites is a fairly rare occurrence as most are sweet tempered and pleasant. However, sometimes it does happen that you have a Guinea Pig that bites. At the time that I owned a biting Guinea Pig there did not seem to be very much information available but as animal behaviour is one of my hobbies I did some research. The following is based on that reaserch, the pack behaviour of dogs (which is quite similar to pigs) and lots of observation. It worked well for me.

If you have a Guinea pig that bites you need to first discover why it bites so that you can start to retrain the Guinea Pig. Firstly, it is quite normal for baby Guinea Pigs to nibble at your fingers because, like all babies they like to put things in their mouth. Older pigs however, should not bite but when they do it can usually be narrowed down to two reasons, either "Fear" or "Dominance". They need to be approached in different ways to get the Guinea Pig to stop biting. Of course it could be because they need to go to the bathroom but a little observation should give you the answer and really with behaviour, observation is the key. Also, try to take into account your pets past and think what effects that may have had on him.

Is your pet very timid, does he shake when you hold him and act as if he is trying to make himself invisible? Does he bite if you corner him in the cage to pick him up? If the answer is yes then it is likely that your pet is a "Fear" biter. Essentially, they are so scared, that their "Fight or Flight" response kicks in. As they cannot escape, they bite! A Guinea Pig that is biting from fear takes a lot of patience and you will need to break down what it is that you expect of the animal into tiny parts then get him used to them one by one. The idea is to start small and build on each step until, before the Guinea Pig realizes it he is happy or at least tolerates being petted. If the Guinea Pig does bite then you are moving too fast and you will need to go back one step. Never chastise a Guinea Pig that is biting through fear. The idea is to build a relationship where the Guinea Pig trusts and respects you.

For example, with BJ (my own biting pig) I stopped touching him or picking him up for a little while. I put him in with Chloe who liked people. I would put my hands in and scratch Chloe every chance I got. This way my hand was regularly in the cage but not close enough or threatening enough to cause him to bite. I also had a whole heap of treats and I would put some in the cage with my hands each time I walked by. When he started to get used to that I started to hand feed him the treats and then as time went on, touch him when I walked by. Bit by bit he got used to being touched and then I started to pick him up. I worked on trust with him in other ways by standing near the cage and talking a lot and spending lots of time on the floor with him during exercise time. At the very first I used to pick him up and put him back in a box so that I didn't have to touch him. However, he soon realized that free runs happened when I came to get him out of the cage and along with the work that I was doing and the true gentle nature of a Guinea Pig he was no trouble to pick up.

The most common reason for a Guinea Pig biting seems to be a teenage Guinea Pig that is testing his limits and wants to get down and play with the other Pigs, or generally do his own thing. If this sounds like your pet, then it is a "Dominance" issue that you are dealing with. A Dominant Guinea Pig is biting because it thinks that it is the boss and "who the hell are you try and make it do something that it doesn't want to do" These pigs will often bite when being held because they want to get down near the other pigs or want to do something else. There are a few different methods that I have heard of, some people blow into the Guinea Pigs face in a quick blast of air when they try bite and have had a lot of success with this method. The best one that I know of is to behave like the Mother Guinea Pig who will discipline her babies with a quick nip to the back of the neck. To simulate this you grab some hair in two fingers behind the Guinea Pigs neck and give a sharp short tug, you can accompany this with a quite "No" or whatever other word you would like. A final idea is to put the Guinea Pig down in a very confined space like a small box so that it's situation goes from bad to worse. I have heard that this works but I prefer the other two methods listed.

There are some things that don't work such as yelling at your pet, as this will really frighten it and shaking or tapping it with a finger. They are too small for this and you want your pet to love, trust and respect you, not be scared stiff of you. The other no no is to squeal like a hurt Guinea Pig!! The Guinea Pig will stop biting you but not because it feels sorry for you. Have you ever seen a Guinea Pig stop beating up on a cage mate because it feels sorry for it? It stops because the cage mate submits and allows the aggressor to be the dominant pig. When you squeal you are in essence saying " Ow, that hurts and you are too strong for me I will submit to you" The problem then becomes that the biting will happen each time you try and force the Guinea Pig to do something it doesn't want to do. You do not want to get bitten while holding it at the vet for example. Guinea Pigs are sweet creatures and they are really not hard to train it just takes some time and patience. Even if you have a Guinea Pig that bites you should be able to cure them of it in a few weeks using the methods above. I am particularly interested in the behaviour of Guinea Pigs so if you feel that you have any information to add to this please let me know.

Karen.