Confused

Question
My husband and i just purchased a pair of two month old male guinea pigs a week ago.With in the first few days one of them had a red rash at (least thats what it looks like to me)on the left side of his face now the other one has it on the opposite side. The pet store where we purcased them from says they could be biting each other being that I've never had one of these loving adorable animals I'm not sure what to do. Please help any way you can

Answer
Hmmm ... this is certainly a bit of a mystery. I think we're going to have to presume that the fact that the injuries match is purely coincidental.


Have you noticed them fighting at all? It seems unlikely that they'd been biting each other if they've lived together all their lives. Boars usually only fight to the point of injury if they've just met and don't get along!

The most common cause of sores on a guinea pig is mites; have you noticed them scratching at all? Get them out and have a look at them to see if you notice any mites. The most usual kind of mites on a guinea pig are very small and look like dust; they'll be dark on a pale-coloured guinea pig, and pale on a dark-coloured guinea pig.

Have you been feeding them a lot of fruit? Large quantities of fruit are too acidic for guinea pigs and can cause mouth ulcers and sores around the mouth. Try to stick to one or two portions of fruit a week, and veggies the rest of the time.

If you discover mites, let me know and I can advise on how to treat them as you can easily do this at home.

If you've been feeding them a lot of fruit, also let me know and I can advise on favourite non-acidic foods!

I hope you figure it out and I'm happy to help in any way I can.

Best wishes,
Jenny.