Separation

[urockstar]

Has anyone else had an issue with their baby pigs with crying when separated from the mom? My baby is almost 3 weeks old now, but still...if I take it out of the cage it wheeks like crazy! If I take Marley out, it will wheek in the cage, probably wondering where I'm taking her.

Any ideas/experiences on when the separation anxiety ends?

[pigsforlife]

Once the bub reaches 3 weeks of age the boys must be separated. All the girls can stay. For the first couple of days the boys may cry but they will get over it quick enough.

[zephyr350]

I am new here and enjoy reading the forums. I learn something new everyday. I adopted a Mom and Baby from a rescue 1 week ago. The Mom (Rainbow) is about 1 yoa and the Baby (Chelsea) is about 3 months old. Rainbow is fairly calm and likes to sit in my lap. Chelsea doesn't like to be held much but I figured that was because she was a baby.

Anyway, I was also wondering about when they are separated. When I take Rainbow (mom) out of the cage, Chelsea goes nuts. She squeeks and runs around the cage trying to climb up the walls to get out.

Will that get better once they have been here longer?

[urockstar]

Originally Posted by pigsforlife

Once the bub reaches 3 weeks of age the boys must be separated. All the girls can stay. For the first couple of days the boys may cry but they will get over it quick enough.

I know a million times over about when to separate them if they're a boy. I asked when separation anxiety ends... and I meant just taking the baby out of the cage to pet it or handle it. It's such a whiner! I guess it will start to calm down as it gets a little older. I was just wondering if anyone had any experiences they could share with me on this.

I sexed it again and now I'm back to thinking it's a girl. It's really kind of tricky to tell. Not all adolescent pics of a male on here http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm show a penis popping out. Some of the younger boy pics look similar to some of the female pics. I'm going to bring to Petco today to check.... I don't know what else to do. I'm not going to pay another checkup fee at a vet's office when she was checked out 2 weeks ago and is fine. I can't pay $50 just for the vet to check her sex.


PS - I talked to some girl at Petco before who I wanted to slap on the head. I asked her if she knows if someone can sex the 3wk old and she said, "It's really easier to tell at about 6 weeks" And I was basically like... "Are you STUPID?" (Okay, I didn't say that) But I told her they can start getting other pigs pregnant at 4 weeks old so that if she's going to work at a pet store she really needs to start reading up and learn a thing or two. I'm just so annoyed by people's stupidity. I then talked to the manager and told him she should be better informed, and then asked him if there was someone else who could sex the pig and he said there was a girl there who could do it. I said to him, "This is a pretty serious thing, is she really capable of this?" And he said he wouldn't tell me if she wasn't. So I'm going to go there just to check, it can't hurt. I'll see how that goes and then see if I need another opinion. I think she's a girl. For the life of me I can't get any penis to pop out, but a tiny little tip it seems. But Marley, the mom, has the same thing. This is why I'm so confused.

[clotho]

I would NOT listen to anything someone from Petco says!!!

Try to take a close up picture of the baby's genitals and post it to see if someone here can tell from a picture for sure.

Call your vet - they might sex the baby for free - I have heard of vets being willing to do that for you!

Females have a little bulge that can be mistaken for a penis that's for sure. But since your baby is almost 3 weeks old, it should be getting a little easier to tell. Feel above that bulge - run your finger there - do you feel a ridge under the skin?? If so - that's a penis! If not, then it's probably a girl. I never ever say for sure a boy is a boy until I can get a penis to pop out. I have had one case where I wasn't positive right up until the 3 week mark. However, with my foster Bandit, I was able to sex all 6 babies from day 1. It takes practice that's for sure.

There is one other way of telling if it's a boy or a girl - but it takes time and patience. You have to watch until you see the baby pee. If the baby pees towards the front, it's a boy. If the baby pees out the back, it's a girl.

Is there a reputable rescue near you? I don't mean animal shelter - but an actual rescue. They might be able to help you with the sexing.

Oh and I found that the girl babies especially cried a lot when they were little. One of mine, Ducky, used to freak right out if I picked her up. This lessened as she got older, but she did it for quite a while. I can't remember how old she was when it finally stopped. But what I did was I would pick her up frequently and hold her for just a little while. When she started freaking out, I would rock her a little and say shh shh shh (like to a baby) and this seemed to help calm her a little. I would put her back into the cage before she got too panicked, and then I would try again a bit later. Slowly, she settled down and would let me hold her for longer periods of time.

Have you noticed any rumbling or mounting behaviour from your little one?

[salana]

Jackie cried all night for about a week after being separated.

[urockstar]

Haven't been here in a few days and forgot about this thread I made... I'm just copying and pasting from a post I made a few minutes ago about the outcome:


I wasn't sure if my baby was a boy or girl. ... It's a girl, I now know. (A part of me is still wanting to say, "God, it better be.") - A few days after she was born the vet checked and said she thought it was a girl but wasn't positive about it just yet. Then I kept checking myself and some of the pictures on websites of male guinea pigs looked kind of similar to the baby's. Also, once or twice I saw the baby try to mount Marley, and of course that got me worried, even though I've seen Marley mount Bean for dominance and figured the baby could've been doing that as well...

Last Friday, the 21st day I brought to the pet store and made sure to talk to someone who knew how to sex them. I didn't want to go to the store to check but I didn't know what else to do. I had called my local animal shelter and they said they didn't sex guinea pigs. The only other choice I had was to go to the vet again and pay $50 for a checkup fee and all I needed was for her to be sexed.... sorry, couldn't afford that for a five second thing. The vet wouldn't do it for free.

The girl I talked to at the store has pigs of her own, and says she is always checking the pigs they have at the store to make sure, and the ones she sexes at the store aren't much bigger than the baby. I told her I thought it was a girl because for the life of me I couldn't get any boy part to pop out. She told me the same thing - it was a girl, nothing was popping out down there, and it definitely would if there was something there. And now since the baby is a little older (26 days today) I can tell hers looks the same as mom's and aunt's.

So that was a big PHEW. I didn't want to separate the baby so I'm glad she is in fact a girl.



Clotho, I know you said not to trust anything anyone from Petco says, but I feel confident about the girl's verdict that I talked to. I made sure to talk to someone that I thought seemed informed -- if that had been nobody, I would've gone to the vet and paid the money to get her sexed. I mean one girl I talked to at the store on the phone was an idiot, to put it lightly. But this other girl seemed to have good experience. She said she used to work for an animal rescue and hated Petco, but... well she was around my age and I guess she needs to make money somehow. I'm not going to judge, she seemed fine. I've checked the baby so many times, and like I said above, her genitalia looks just like Marley and Bean's. -- Even though a part of me is still not 100% certain, which is annoying. That's just me worrying. -- But that's because of the fact I saw her try to mount Marley once or twice. But then, like I said, I've seen Marley trying to mount Bean a number of times. I guess it's just a dominance thing. I haven't seen the baby attempt this since.


And I tried to get so many pictures, but they were all fuzzy/out of focus.


But I have three happy and healthy pigs, so I'm happy. I think in the next month I might be expanding to a 3x5 cage. I would like to make them an upper level or a loft or something. Even though their cage is big it still seems kind of boring, even with their pigloos and toys.

[Sammy and Peanut]

Originally Posted by zephyr350

Anyway, I was also wondering about when they are separated.
Will that get better once they have been here longer?

The girls can stay together.

[Ly&Pigs]

I can sex pups as young as a couple days old. The easiest way is to hold the pup in your hand with the their back against your palm, holding firmly but not squeezing them. Then take your finger and put it just barely above the genital area. Then gently push down and you may have to push a ways down but the genital area will open up. If it's a boar, you will feel a ridge just slightly above the genitals and a penis will pop out and if it's a sow, well you won't get the ridge or a penis.

You cannot judge a baby sow or boar by the shape of their genitals. I've sexed baby boars that look like sows and vice versa. The best method is to try to get a penis to pop out of the sheath.