6 Reasons Why Your Guinea Pig Might Be Biting

A young girl contacted us to ask why her guinea pig is always nibbling or biting the hands of whoever holds her. It's very unusual for guinea pigs to bite, especially so persistently, but it does happen. It's even more unusual for them to bite so hard that it draws blood.

Beyond the #1 reason ("Put me down...I gotta pee!"), the most common reasons for nibbling or biting (in no particular order) are listed below.

Mistaken Identity
Your hands smell like their food pellets, hay, veggies, fruit, fresh grass, or something else that just smells yummy. A guinea pig will quickly stop nibbling when s/he realizes it's your finger s/he is chewing on.

Noise Pollution
Noise or other commotion in the immediate area is frightening them. This commotion could be anything -- a thunderstorm, a vacuum cleaner, a loud TV or stereo, folks getting rambunctious with the family Wii. If something is frightening a guinea pig and it doesn't feel secure in your arms, it will...ahem...persuade you to put it back in its cage so it can burrow into a hideout house (where it does feel safe).

Reckless Handling
The guinea pig feels like it's being mishandled. Guinea pigs want to feel secure and well-supported. If a guinea pig feels like its feet are hanging in mid-air, or like your shoulder is too high of a perch, or that it's being jostled too much, it will let you know. Some guinea pigs don't like to be carried while you walk around the house or go up and down stairs, and will demonstrate their objections by biting you. No guinea pig likes to get caught in a "tug of war" between two people who want to hold him/her. And they have no tolerance for getting passed from person to person to person in a short stretch of time.

Fear
They're afraid of the person holding them. Guinea pigs will become permanently fearful of a person who has been angry or abusive toward them, or a person who has consistently mishandled them. If a pig's history is unknown to you (e.g., you got them from a shelter or found them abandoned outdoors), you may have to deal with the consequences wrought by whatever human(s) preceded you. A guinea pig that was abused by, say, little boys may always have a generalized fear of little boys. Love and patience from you may help lessen the fear, but may never fully overcome it.

Pain & Discomfort
A guinea pig that's feeling sore in one spot, or in pain all over, won't want to be held. Sources of pain or discomfort can include: bruising, strains, or sprains caused by rambunctious play; getting nipped by a cage mate; skin irritation that's painful to the touch; and arthritis. It should also be noted that sick pigs don't want to be handled much either.

Moodiness
As social and cuddly as they are, sometimes guinea pigs just want to be left alone. Maybe it's feeding time and they want to focus on the lettuce leaf you just gave them. Maybe it's their usual nap time. Maybe their cage mate has been crowding them with too much attention and they just want some space from everyone. Maybe they were in the middle of a good game with a cage mate. And maybe they just don't feel like being social, for no particular reason. Humans have days like that...so do guinea pigs (though a lot less often).

Bottom line: listen to and respect what your guinea pig is telling you. He's hoping you'll hear him sooner rather than later.

Comments

[maria]

Mine bites for no reason just because like I'm putting food in her tray and she will run out to bite or I'm switching her water she runs out of her house to bite and yes draws blood.

[Brea Weston]

My guinea pig is about two months old and sometimes when I go to pick her up she will chatter and then she will nibble on my fingers or bite my fingers or my neck. I realy don't know what to do with her? I really love her. I got her off of craigslist. The girl I got her from told me she was only four weeks old. I just wish she would quit nibbling and biting me. When she bites and nibbles me I will tell her no and if she doesn't stop I will then tap her on the nose and again tell her no. What do I do? Please help me!

[megan shaneyfelt]

I've had my first male for almost a year now and recently bought a second male (?) About a month ago. The newest is a long hair and needed some extra attention for grooming and such... well I bought a bigger cage and put the two together. Either didn't seem to mind the other but now, about a couple weeks in new home together, the oldest has started to chatter and jump at me to bite. Even when I touch the younger (who is still nice) the older will chatter at me. Wrongly I've hit the older now to get him to stop bitting my finger and now I fear he'll be strange around me even more. I don't know what to do. He's already bit my son, I don't want him biting anyone else again.

[chris kell]

I have had my piggy for 6 months, he has never bit anyone but here in the last week or so. He has started nipping my hand when I'm holding him in my lap. He doesn't draw blood, but when I try to put my hand under his belly to move him. He puts his teeth on my hand like a warning. He never has done it before so I'm afraid either he is starting to get aggressive or his stomach hurts. I'm just worried bout my piggy.

[kahurangi]

my mum has a guinea pig and it always shivers when i hold her we all just cant figure it out.why do they bite is it because of its trying to communicate with us i need sum help

[nancy]

I have had 2 guinea pigs or almost 3 years....they have never tried to bite under any circumstances. Today as I was about to pick each one up to put them in their play pen while I cleaned their cage, they both started to chatter their teeth (not unusual, sometimes they do this in play, but sometimes they do not want to be picked up, I got the one out of the cage fine, when I put my hand in to take out the other, he jumped across the cage and bit me hard, not wanting to let go. After cleaning the blood and bandaging, I put on leather gloves to take him out....when I went to put him back in his now clean cage, the one that did not bite started to chatter his teeth terribly while looking at the other...I got them both in their cage and he kept looking at me and lowering his head as if sorry, the one that did not bite hid in his hut. They have had several shots for mites, which it seems they still have so I am not sure if the skin was sore from itching (it seems after these shots from the vet. the itching has gotten worse), but I now wonder if something else is wrong with him...or if mite related, did I catch something? Also is there a way to get rid of mites? The $50 every 2 weeks for shots is pretty expensive and as I mentioned does not seem to work. Thanks!

[Rakshya]

the guinea pig that i have in my house is very different from the one you all are talking about. its been around 5 days that he is in my house. and he bites for no reason..... he always bites very badly..... this morning he bite me again that a chunk of meat came off my finger, and i kept bleeding for an hour(approx).
any suggestions of what should i do? i really need help. should i return it to the pet store or keep it?

[April]

My guinea pig bit me yesterday drew so much blood I'm terrified of him now I think it's because he's a baby but I've had him for 1 month already I hope it stops.

[Jennifer]

I have a 4-month-old female who seems to love being out and cuddling with me, or resting in my lap or on the arm of the sofa next to me. She cuddles up under my chin and licks my hands and my chin and cheek, and snuffles in my ear, and chatters and bubbles, and licks my earlobe. It's adorable! NOT adorable, however, is that the more she licks, the more excited she gets, and eventually starts nipping the ends of my fingers...hard. I love to pet her, but she nips lightly at my fingertips when I do pet her, and hard when she's worked up from licking and playing. I don't think it's that she's needing to pee yet, because she's usually only out of her cage for 5-10 minutes at a time. I would love to have her out more but she gets too aggressive with the nipping. It really does seem like she's enjoying the cuddling and petting, but perhaps she doesn't? I know she doesn't like being physically picked up, but once I have her out of her cage door and snuggled in my arms, she's happy and chattering and bubbling away. She seems to love licking me but I sure wish I could get her to stop the biting! Hopefully she'll grow out of it as she matures. I at first said "NO" firmly to her, but that didn't help; I then started tapping her lightly on her forehead while saying "no," but that didn't help either, so now I'm just pulling my hand away without saying anything or doing any sort of physical action. Hope that helps. Any advice?

[YK]

Mine actually BITES. He never comes out of his covered home. We've had him and his housemate 4 days now. I hope he adjusts and learns to like us.

yk

[kaitlyn]

Thanks 4 the comments..mo has stopped bitin

[katja]

hey thnx for the tips. i think my guinea pig had bit me sometimes because of the last reason. thnx again, it's really great help :)

[Whitney]

Hey Ann--

Thanks for stopping by and sharing. Like PASmith, you've helped to show it's possible to learn what your guinea pigs are "saying" if you take the time and make the effort to "listen."

Whitney

[Whitney]

Hey PASmith--

I know what you're talking about. It's somewhere between grazing and scraping their teeth across your skin. Mine only ever do that.

Some foster pigs who are currently keeping me on my toes haven't yet learned that behavior; they're still nipping a bit, which suggests to me they weren't handled much by their previous owner. Hopefully they'll learn soon.

Yes, the piggies do a great job with "talking" to their humans, don't they? Now, we just need to help (some) humans do a better job with listening!

[Ann]

We have one piggy who bites our fingers when she wants to go back to her cage, for whatever reason, but usually because she's been sitting for a time and needs to use the potty. Her bites will get more emphatic if we ignore her. Our other two Abby girls bite our shirts very emphatically when they are trying to tell us they have had enough and want to go back. Sometimes it's because they are ready to pee, but one little girl just doesn't care to be held for long. None of them bites to draw blood, but to communicate their needs or desires to us. Our boy (Minerva's brother, Gizmo) will sit forever, never let us know that he's had enough, pee whenever, whereever! I've wondered if girls are more polite, and maybe Abby girls in particular?

I agree with the previous poster. Their bites are really nips, unless you ignore them--then they become more urgent and less possible to ignore--but never to break skin, just to let their needs be known.

It may very well be that a nipper needs to pee. Also, be patient--Dart has gotten better about nipping as she's learned to love sitting in our laps--she did NOT like to be held when we first adopted her. Tessie has never learned to like sitting in our laps for longer than about five minutes or so.

[pasmith]

I'm always amazed at how controlled our girls are when they "nip." Because they really don't exert any pressure at all, they just kind of touch skin with their teeth. That's their way of telling us they're unhappy, and we respect that. Everyone is happy that way. :)

We also have one licker... sometimes she gets carried away with her licking and nips a tiny bit but then she kind of yanks her head back, realizing what she's done, and gives a sheepish look.

I hate to even use the word 'nip' because these actions are so light that they don't even come close to hurting in the least.

It's amazing how good a job these sweet creatures do of communicating with their humans. :)