Hi!

[Cheryl]

Hi Everyone!
My name is Cheryl and as a Valentine's Day surprise, my mother bought me a guinea pig. I named her Valentine. She is a tri-color, curly haired piggy. She is actually my avatar. Well, this little cutie came from PetCo and boy did I have problems with her. Poor little thing had this calousy lump on her face, which ended up bursting. I brought her back to PetCo, and they wanted to exchange her. I would have never given her back, I knew that she would be cared for better in my home, so they paid for me to take her to the vet. Apparently, this happens to piggies if they get an infection from a rough piece of hay that may have poked their face. For six weeks, twice a day, I had to give her oral medication, clean the wound and put ointment on it, and give her yogurt. After that, I noticed her rapid growth in size and just thought she was getting her appetite back from being sick. Well, I was wrong. To my surprise, she gave birth to three little piggies on April 10th!!!! So now I have 4 little bundles of joy...Valentine, Rocky, Teddy, and T-Bone. I love them all so much and I couldn't give any up. I can just watch them all day, they are so excited about their new cavy condo that they run laps and jump around. They are all so funny and have such personality.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Petco pigs often have mites (on top of pregnancy and URI). Have you treated them for parasites?

Are all the babies female? Or did you take out the males?

[Cheryl]

I did not treat her for parasites, but I did take her to a vet and she got a clean bill of health. I only have one male, despite their names, and he is only three weeks old. I plan to separate him in a few weeks and then get him neutered when he is old enough so he can rejoin the herd.

[fourbwabbys]

He needs to be seperated no later than 21 days. I'm about 40 minutes from freehold, I can let you know some good exotic vets and rescues in the area.

[Percy's Mom]

If he is three weeks old, you need to seperate him now, not in a few weeks. Boars can become sexually active at 21 days old, and if he is still in the cage with his mother, it is very likely that she will have gone into heat again, and you can be expecting another litter of pups.

[seagirl96]

Listen to Percy's Mom and separate him now or in about two more weeks he can impregnate his sisters too.

Wow, Petco sold you a sick AND pregnant piggy! They outdid themselves that time! I am glad that you insisted on keeping and caring for her youself and I know next time you'll choose a rescue piggy. I learned the hard way with three baby surprises.

By the way, I looked at your cage & it is great! I love the flip door.