Hair eating

Question
Hi Laura I have 3 young male guinea pig's who all live together very happily, the problem is however one of them has quite long hair and the other 2 must be nibbeling it because it is getting shorter and shorter, can I prevent this? I really don't want to split them up because there so happy but obvioisly may have too.  I would be grateful for any suggestions. Thanx Dawn.

Answer
Hi Dawn,

This is known as "barbering", where other cavies nibble and sometimes even eat another piggies hair.

The most common cause of barbering is boredom. There are many toys which guinea pigs love. If you have a look at the Toys page on my website you will find the full list I compiled with a collection of pictures - http://caviesunited.bravehost.com/toys.htm

Rearranging all the toys in the cage can help prevent boredom. You don't have to change it all around dramatically, just swap a few toys around and put them in a different place.

Boredom can also be a result of not getting enough time outside their cage. Make sure they have at least two hours every day outside their cage - either in smaller periods (maybe one hour in the morning and an hour in the evening) or in one long playtime. The longer they have outside their cage in an enclosure or pig-proofed room, the better for them.

Do your guinea pigs have an unlimited supply of grass hay? Grass hays include timothy, meadow, bermuda, orchard-grass, bluegrass and oat hay. Any one or any mixture of these hays in unlimited amounts (more than they will eat) is essential and can help to prevent barbering of cage mates.

Sometimes it isn't easy to stop guinea pigs eating each other's hair - you may find that you provide a variety of toys and unlimited hay and they still munch on another hair.
Keep trying lots of variety - lots of different veggies (change at least two veggies in each 'meal' i.e. lettuces, tomato, chard, and cabbage in one meal, then lettuces, tomato, sweetcorn, and coriander(cilantro) in the next), different toys during exercise time, and plenty of cuddles all around.

Hope this helps.

- Laura