Understanding guinea pig behavior is the first step in learning how to properly take care of your guinea pigs. Cavies are very delicate pet animals. When they are stricken by certain illnesses, their health deteriorates easily, and they die.
Here are the things that you must know about how your guinea pigs act.
Cavies are social animals. In the wild, they thrive and live in large communities. The communities are usually headed by dominant males. A wild guinea pig community is like a harem complete with a dominant male, females, and offspring; there is a bachelor colony of low-ranking males who will not compete with the dominant male. What's interesting is that inbreeding is avoided by cavies. The young females make an effort to find themselves a mate outside the colony, and that mate is not related to them. The female returns to the colony when she gets pregnant, and she will be attended to by the experienced females. In cases whereby the young female stays with the male who impregnated her, then they end up forming a new colony.
Aggression between cavies is seen in the bachelor males who live in the outskirts of the colony. Their source of conflict is always over the young females who avoid inbreeding within the colony and who find mates that are not related to them.
When cavies are born, they are fully formed, completely furred, and their eyes are wide open; they can even run soon after they were born. If a female who has just given birth is with a male, the male will mate with her right after she has given birth. And when pregnancies in females are so close, their bodies take a toll. This is why an impregnated female tends to stay with the other females in the colony. The other experienced females will help her and will protect her until she has fully recovered from giving birth.
Cavies have no ability to vomit. That is why they are careful about what they eat. They learn from other cavies what foods are safe to eat. Cavies are herbivores, and they subsist on grass and plant matter.
Cavies also love the security of tunnel-like areas. They are prey animals, and their nature is to seek out small places to hide in. Thus, you must always place hiding places and crawlspaces inside their cages even if you already know that there is no predator around to harm them.
To obtain reliable and well-researched guinea pig information, do not forget to visit http://www.guinea-pig-hutch.com/€">Guinea-Pig-Hutch.com.
Here are the things that you must know about how your guinea pigs act.
Cavies are social animals. In the wild, they thrive and live in large communities. The communities are usually headed by dominant males. A wild guinea pig community is like a harem complete with a dominant male, females, and offspring; there is a bachelor colony of low-ranking males who will not compete with the dominant male. What's interesting is that inbreeding is avoided by cavies. The young females make an effort to find themselves a mate outside the colony, and that mate is not related to them. The female returns to the colony when she gets pregnant, and she will be attended to by the experienced females. In cases whereby the young female stays with the male who impregnated her, then they end up forming a new colony.
Aggression between cavies is seen in the bachelor males who live in the outskirts of the colony. Their source of conflict is always over the young females who avoid inbreeding within the colony and who find mates that are not related to them.
When cavies are born, they are fully formed, completely furred, and their eyes are wide open; they can even run soon after they were born. If a female who has just given birth is with a male, the male will mate with her right after she has given birth. And when pregnancies in females are so close, their bodies take a toll. This is why an impregnated female tends to stay with the other females in the colony. The other experienced females will help her and will protect her until she has fully recovered from giving birth.
Cavies have no ability to vomit. That is why they are careful about what they eat. They learn from other cavies what foods are safe to eat. Cavies are herbivores, and they subsist on grass and plant matter.
Cavies also love the security of tunnel-like areas. They are prey animals, and their nature is to seek out small places to hide in. Thus, you must always place hiding places and crawlspaces inside their cages even if you already know that there is no predator around to harm them.
To obtain reliable and well-researched guinea pig information, do not forget to visit http://www.guinea-pig-hutch.com/€">Guinea-Pig-Hutch.com.
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