Hello

[Missdana]

Hello, I am new here, but not new to owning a guinea pig. Well before I get trashed in here for buying a guinea pig at a pet store, I had gotten my other one from a rescue place.. I wa sunder the impression they were both females.. never bothered checking, stupid me there, well i woke up to a litter of babies and I am beside myself. I called up Petco where I got the one and told them they better get someone who can tell females from males. I have no idea what to do... I dont have a big enough cage for all these animals, nor do i know how to take care of these guys either. I dont know if I can clean out the cage, I dont know if she makes a nesting for them or what, do I need to remove the male from the cage? I have been crying all morning, this is a mess..any advice is appreciated.

[Percy's Mom]

I hate to tell you this Dana, but if you haven't removed the male yet, there is a good chance she is already pregnant again. Guinea pigs go into heat almost immediately after giving birth. You definitely need to remove the boar and then remove any male pups at about 3 weeks old. They will start to be sexually active then and won't care if it's mom, sister, each other, or a stuffed animal. Please check the home page for this forum www.cavycages.com for information on building a larger, inexpensive cage. You'll either need two cages or will need to fashion one very large cage with a divider and a lid, so the males can't get into the female section of the cage. Also read all of the links in www.guinealynx.com/reproduction.html. You will find lots of helpful information to answer your questions about the babies and possible second backbreeding. Leave the cage for now. If they were born this morning, the mom will clean everything up from the birth. I know this is an extremely stressful situation, but you came to the right place to find information and get help with it. Please ask any other questions that aren't answered in the links I gave you.

[Ly&Pigs]

Yes, remove the male immediately, she may already be backbred and may be pregnant again. Sows can get pregnant within hours after giving birth. If you haven't built a C&C cage, now is the time to do so. See www.cavycages.com for more info on building a C&C cage. Once you have built it, make sure it's babyproofed (meaning high coroplast sides so the pups cannot get through the grid spaces).

You can clean the cage. Piggies don't make nests like other animals such as gerbils or hamsters. You can hold the pups. You will need to separate any male pups from mom at 3 weeks and they can be housed with dad.

I won't bash you for buying your pig at a petstore but I will say that this is the very reason that we advocate rescues/shelters over buying in petstores.

[Missdana]

Thank you so much for the heads up, I have housed dad in another cage and I am alittle more calmed down now . And I got the materials to make a larger cage, so Ill be working on that tonight. I do have to say they are the cutest things I will also be taking pictures in alittle bit. She had alot of four and they all have hair!!! This is going to be exciting watching them grow.

Yes people please do NOT buy your piggies in a pet store!!!!! I will never ever do that again.

Thank you for the advice.

[C&K]

Are you planning on keeping them all?

If you would like to try and find good homes for them, there is an adoptables section to this forum, also www.guinealynx.info has a cavy placement forum too. A few other sites do to, but you can usually trust the long term Cavy Cagers and GL'ers to take care of your little babies right!

Can't wait to see pigtures! I'll keep my fingers crossed that your boar did not have the chance to do any more damage! How long do you think he was in with the mom after the birth?

[Missdana]

No Im not planning on keeping them all. I am only going to keep one of them I should work on finding the three homes until they can be taken from the mother.
The mother is not eating and has been throwing up, she has an appt with my vet tomorrow, I hope she is not getting sick. But she is taking care of her litter.
The boar was at her this morning maybe twice. I'm just hoping it didn't do anything, I will be posting pics shortly.

Thank you for the link for the adoptable section, I will post there in a day or two.
Thank you .

[Ly&Pigs]

The mother is not eating and has been throwing up

You might want to try to handfeed the mom some pellet mash. Guinea pigs cannot throw up. She may be coughing or choking but she's definately not throwing up.

[Missdana]

I gave her some new guinea pig food, and some of the particles looked alittle big, so Im going to mash them up.

[Ly&Pigs]

Is it a pellet mix with bits and pieces in it besides pellets? If so, please get rid of it and get a good quality plain pellet only. The mixes only cause for obese pigs and cause a choking hazard. Now I understand why you think your pig is throwing up. She's not, she choking on the pellet mix.

[Missdana]

Not so good news, this morning I woke up and heard a racket in the cage on the floor and it seems the mother is acting very eratic. She has never acted this way before. She has been so good taking care of her babies.The babies were huddled in the corner, while mom was pacing eraticly back and forth, erven stepping on the babies if they got in the way. I think maybe something scared her? I tried to reach my hand down and pet her and calm her down, but she jumped at me.

I think maybe she is tired of nursing, and wants to be left alone?? possibly? I dont know if I should remove the babies for awhile till she calms down? The babies are eating lettuce and carrots and pellets..but they have not been drinking water, yet.

If I remove them, it may do more harm, she still has to nurse them. Her behavior is not like herself.

Has anyone here had guinea pigs that given birth and a few days later acted like that?

[katiecavyNC]

In your previous post, you said you had an appt with the vet? What did he/she say? That does not sound like normal behavior for a new mom to me, and given the problems before, I'd contact the vet again if she doesn't calm down quickly.

[Missdana]

The mom had the appt, on Friday. The vet said she seemed fine, and healthy as well as the babies. But this behavior happened today. I called the vet and he told me to keep an eye on her closely today and to NOT handle the babies for the day. Or anyone else. If it continues today to call him back and we will decide what to do.

[katiecavyNC]

Keep us posted! Hope all is OK.