Changed bedding, changed behaviour??

[blossombrooks]

Hi all,
So first things first, I swapped to finacard from carefresh to try and reduce costs a bit. It really is so much cheaper. I gradually introduced it to the girls, they were quite excited with it. Today after doing a full cage of finacard last night both girls seem really unhappy.
They're squabbling quite a bit, playfighting, but it looks like it could turn nasty. Daisy's paw is a little red and swollen which I assume has come from pepper. She's using it but not quite as she normally would. I'm going to monitor it but I don't think it's too serious.
I also think there's a bit of a dominance struggle going on, there's a lot of humping! Pepper isn't quite the chunky little monkey she was either, their weight is now even and she even looks slim!
Would a bedding change upset them this much? Or is it a dominance battle in full
swing? They're aprox a year old now.
I know I worry too much but I can't help it. Thanks for listening.
:-(

[nickymills30]

i changed form shavings to finard, and didn't do it gradually and my boys where fine, so it is prob a battle of dominance xx

[deguconvert]

Often if you see unease after a cage change, it has to do with a sense of confusion over the sudden loss of information . . . which comes from all the scents of urine and poo in their dirty substrate. A lot of their relationship dynamics are reinforced in the scents of their urine, which constantly reminds them of who is who within their community etc. So, if you are seeing this kind of thing, where they feel like they need to re-establish their positions, then you only need to put in a handful or two of their old, dirty substrate, and you will soon see them relaxing and calming right down again.

[blossombrooks]

Thank you so much guys! :-)
I put few handfuls of dirty stuff back in and now they're snuggled up in a two-goo pile. They seem much happier. Thank goodness I hadn't thrown the rubbish out yet!! Daisy's paw seems ok today too, pep prob just gave her a nip. X