Just Purchased Guinea Pig had babies

[GCRicker]

What a shock! My wife and I just purchased two female Guinea Pigs for our 8 year old daughter last week. Yesterday, my daughter starts screaming that one just had 2 babies! We didn't even know it was pregnant. We just thought she was slightly fat. Anyway, we seperated the other female from the mother and two babies, and the new family appear to be doing fine.

However, the other female, who I seperated, seems to be very depressed to be by herself. (By the way, I'm really hoping this one isn't pregnant. She doesn't appear to be fat....yet.) Does anyone know when it's safe to put this other female back in with the new family? Also, do you think I should let the pet store know she was pregnant?

[Jennicat]

Check to make sure the female that you separated is, indeed, female. You may have gotten a missexed male. If she is indeed a female, most females do just fine together in a cage after one has babies. The other pig will more than likely be very tolerant of the new, young interlopers.

[aqh88]

That's one of the reasons this site is against petstores. Chances are they had males in with females and all females of age are pregnant. That means the other one is too if it's actually female. 2nd problem with petstores they are absolutely horrible at telling the gender of animals like guinea pigs. You need to double check that your other pig is actually female before putting them back together. There's a sexing page with pics on Index of / and here: Guinea Lynx :: Sexing Pups. If it's a male then the one that just gave birth could already be pregnant again. The female immediately goes into heat after recovering from labor(sometimes just barely recovering) and the male will get her pregnant that same night. If it's female then it's probably pregnant as well. You can leave females together even with newborn pups. They do not have to be seperated unless 1 female shows signs of being overprotective and wants more space. The only risk to leaving 2 pregnant females together is that the one not giving birth may help the other one to clean the pups and eat the placenta which contains hormones that can cause the 2nd female to go into labor prematurely. At this point there's no reason to seperate them so long as they get along with each other(provided they are both female).

Next step after you determine what gender of pigs you have is to read over the care guide. Guinea Lynx :: Guinea Pig Care Guide

[MissCin]

Make sure the other one is a female. Visit this link for more information: Guinea Lynx :: Sexing Guinea Pigs
If it is a female you can put her back in, she will most likely act like an auntie or just ignore the pups.

EDIT: woah I'm slow, jenni & aqh88 beat me to it.

[envisionary333]

I believe the Guinea Lynx page links to this page, but I'll provide it just in case: http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm. I found it extremely helpful when I had to sex a baby guinea pig myself. You will want to recheck in a week or two to confirm, and by three weeks you must be positive because the males need to be separated at that time to avoid more pregnancies. If you are unsure, you can post pictures on this site and we will help you. I also recommend seeing a competent exotics vet to check for you if you still aren't sure.

Make sure to feed mommy and babies lots of extra veggies so they get all the vitamins they need. Alfalfa hay can be fed as well to provide additional calcium. Check the "Diet and Nutrition" forum to do some reading on what it's best to feed.

I know this must be very overwhelming for you, but don't worry. Guinea pig babies are born as little miniature adults and they need very little special care. You have already gotten through the hardest part, and now you can relax and enjoy your new little piggy family. We are here to help if you have any more questions or concerns.

[GCRicker]

Okay. I took your advise and double checked the other pig was a female. I almost sure it is, and placed her back in the cage with the mother and 2 babies. The mother is being very agressive, and we are still watching them closely. I hope they can be friends again. The depresed pig definitly has purked up. Also surprisingly, the adults seem to be eating a lot in between the aggression. Is this normal?

-Greg

[GCRicker]

The book says I should wait at least 3 days before we can pat and pickup the babies. That's the hardest part! They are so cute.

[Josie's Mom]

What kind of cage do you have? If you have one that you made from grids and choloplast, you'll want to zip-tie grids over your existing grids in such a way that the holes are smaller, since little piggies can escape or get stuck. Check out this link for a picture: http://www.guineapigcages.com/photos...to/494/cat/532

[GCRicker]

It's the cage I got from the pet store. The bars look close enough together that I'm fairly sure the babies can't escape.

[aqh88]

There are no good guinea pig books out there. 99% of the info is junk and should be ignored. You can start handling the pups now but carefully. They can be nervous and jumpy though so don't lift them out of the cage the first few times you scoop them up and if you transport them to another room put them in a box or something. I usually have them out for floortime in a playpen with veggies and hay before 3 days old.

Here's mom(brown), her cagemate who was around 3-4months old, and her three 2 day old pups out running around with fresh alfalfa and lettuce to eat. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../P10100482.jpg Granted they can't "run" very well at that age but they toddle along. Handling them young is great because they deal with people much better in the long term. They only get jumpier the older they get with no handling.

In a petstore cage the mother may decide she doesn't have enough space and pick on the other pig. Plus they are gonna really fill that cage up when they start bouncing around. You better start getting the materials for a c&c now while they aren't quite as active. It only lasts a couple days before they are bouncing off the walls.

[Ly&Pigs]

The pups can be picked up just hours after being born. Books aren't very trustworthy as they contain a lot of false information. Most are written by breeders.

How big is your cage? I'd suggest building a C&C or C&C alternative for your newly acquired herd.

[Tulia&Susie]

When my babies were here we waited a few hours or so and picked them right up. They were soooo cute and adorable. They are a little skittish so you just have to be super careful. I agree she defiantely needs a bigger cage. Those babies are going to start popcorning around and getting to want to run around. I'm sure they all would love a nice comfortable home so they all can popcorn around.

[MissCin]

Are you planning on keeping the pups?

[pignewton]

Also, make sure that you find out what sex the babies are because the males need to be separated from the girls at 3 weeks or you will have more pregnant pigs.

Congrats on the new family and good luck.

[GCRicker]

I want to thank everyone for their replies. What a great forum.

The new family and Aunt (I don't know if she is really the Aunt) are doing great! As I mentioned, the aunt and mother were a little agressive for a few hours when I put the aunt back into the cage. Now though, they all appear to be one happy family. "Popcorning" is a great word for how the babies move. As you suggested, we tried to pat the babies while in their cage with mom, and they just dart all over the place! The mom didn't seem to mind us trying to pat her babies. In fact, I know Guinea Pigs can't laugh, but I think the mom was laughing at us trying to pat her babies as they were "popcorning" all over the place.

We haven't been brave enough to pick up either of the babies yet. I don't even know if it's possible since they move so fast, but we're going to have to soon so the cage can be cleaned. Maybe today.

We're still not sure if we're going to keep the babies or try to give them away. I think it's going to depend on what sex the babies are. We don't have enough room for a giant cage in a single room. However, we do have two cages. If they are both males, or both females, we're thinking about keeping them in the second cage in another room. If one is a male and the other is a female, I don' t know what we'll do.

My wife just asked me to ask you a question. It's off topic, so I apoligize, I probably she be posting this in a seperate thread. The book says to cook kale before feeding it to Guinea Pigs. Why? Doesn't this take away the nutrients?

Thanks again for all your replies.

[VoodooJoint]

Don't cook the kale. Only feed raw veggies and fruits. You and your pigs would be better served if you got rid of the book. It can give very poor and confusing advice.

I'm glad everyone seems healthy and the babies are doing well.

[TX_2_Pigs]

Throw that book away. You should never feed cooked, canned or frozen vegetables to the piggies.

[envisionary333]

I agree about the book, it sounds awful and potentially dangerous if you take the advice it provides! Besides, you can find all the info you need on this site and on Guinea Lynx. We are very happy to help out!

[VoodooJoint]

I'm curious. What store did you buy this pregnant pig at?

[suzilovespiggie]

Congradulations on all of your new piggies. This site is the very best for the care of your GP's. Take the time to read and learn. Welcome.