Hello, I am new to posting.

[vermontn03]

Hello Everyone,
I am new to posting here on the Guinea Pig Forum. I have noticed that there is nothing concerning litter box training, unless im looking wrong.

In November of 07, a week before thanksgiving a friend of mine asked me if I knew anyone that wanted some Guinea Pigs and I said no not really and then I said well sure I'll take them and see what happens.

Little did I know that when I got them the Female was pregnant. She was the size of a basket ball. The owner that gave them to me did not know how long it was when she first became pregnant.

I had gotton them on a saturday and on monday she had, had her babies, I was so tickeled pink. Ever since then, I fell in love with these little guys. I first started out with two a male and a female. Her first litter she had 5 babies. Recently on April 19, 2008 she had another litter that contained 3 babies.

I do have pics of them when I first got them and all of their babies but I do not know how to post them in my album.

When I first got them, they were in a regular guinea pig cage, I now have them in a 3 story cage that I got for free plus the accessories. It took a while for the mother to get to the top, I don't know if she was scared, but it took her about a good two weeks. Now that's where she mostly stays.

I do have a small litter box in there I was going to start training them my self, but they rather sleep in the box insead of using it for what its supposed to be used as. Any idea one what can help. Can someone also please tell me how to upload pictures of there cage into my albums?

[Ziggy&Herald]

This forum is against all intentional breeding. The first thing I would do is separate the males from the Mom and the new babies. Once the new babies reach 21 days make sure they are sexed correctly and remove any males from there as well.

If you have all these pigs in the same cage you are inbreeding pigs!

All males and females should be separated. The Mom as well as the older female babies are probably all pregnant. Mom goes into heat again within hours of giving birth and came become pregnant which sounds like what happened last time. That is called back breeding and is very hard on the sow.
Female babies can become pregnant as early as 3 weeks.

You are not doing anything helpful for these pigs at all except adding to the over population and creating inbred pigs with genetic defects.

Litter training is the least of your worries.

I just went back and re read your post, if the babies were born in April, they are way past time to seperate and it needs to be done now!

[vermontn03]

I'm sorry but I do know enough to split them up. I do know to check there sexes. My pigs are seperated. How can you reply to my post like that when I was asking for help? And for it being my first post. When I first got my piggies I did alot of research becuase of her being pregnant. Sorry but I think that was wrong.

[Ziggy&Herald]

I'm sorry if I misunderstood your post, but you said nothing of them being separated. You said they were in a cage. You did not say it was divided.

You also said she has now had more then one litter. The post made it sound as if you were allowing them all to live together and keep reproducing. Somehow she was allowed to get pregnant again. If that was from you not knowing the other adult was male, or if you left the babies in too long, now you know when to to separate. If you have done this then good job.

I am against all intentional breeding and that is what you made it sound as if you were doing. If you are not, I am sorry for my reply.

[vermontn03]

I was trying to post quickly to get my post up on the board. I'm sorry if I did not mention that.

[VoodooJoint]

Vermont--welcome to the forums.

I need to address some serious and dangerous problems with your cage set-ups. Please realize that I'm telling you all of this because I care about the safety and wellbeing of your animals. I'm certain you want the very best for them and you simply don't realize that things you are doing can harm them. For the members that are wondering how I know all I'm going to say, Vermont posted pictures of his cages in the gallery, they will soon be removed.

-The cages are much too small for the animals to be healthy and happy. Please see the homepage of this forum

-Remove the wheels immediately. Wheels can break a GPs back and legs. Their spines are not capable of bending backwards like a wheel forces them to do.

-Wire bottoms cages can break legs, amputate toes and cause bumblefoot (a painful, infected foot condition). In the pictures the GPs are all huddled in the litterbox. That is because the wire bottom, even with that covering you have on it, is hurting their feet.

-Cedar bedding is toxic to small animals. Replace it with aspen, carefresh or kiln dried pine

-The food you are feeding looks like it may contain seeds and/or colored bits. That type of food is unhealthy and can cause tooth issues, abscess and choking.

-There is no hay in either cage. GPs need a good quality grass hay available at all times to keep their guts and teeth healthy.

-I see no evidence of fresh veggies. GPs need fresh veggies every day.

-The babies all look older then 3 weeks. If so then the males need to be separated from the female or they will breed with her and their sisters.

I know it's a lot to take in. This isn't an attack, it's concern. We will be more then happy to help you learn more about taking care of your pets so that they can get the most out of life and you can get more out of them.