Little Cage

[ilovebabe]

Freaking Calm Down!!!!!!!

[ilovebabe]

My Mom Is Goning To Take Them To A Vet To Get Taking Care Of!!! And Then If The Vet Says Its Ok To Breed Them Then We Will!!!

[ilovebabe]

Stop Posting in this thred plz

[mncavylover]

Just because your vet says it's ok to breed does NOT mean that it is. I suggest reading www.cavyspirit.com/breeding.htm, then telling us it's ok. Even if you were to breed, you should not have them together. You know one is sick. Treat that one, and quarantine them both for at least three weeks--see www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm. Thanks.

[Piglet]

Well, no I'm not going to calm down. You're doing a stupid and dangerous thing. If you want more guinea pigs THEN GO TO THE SHELTER and get some. You're putting your sows life at risk. Please read the links mn gave

[RubyPiggie2]

I agree, it's dangerous and shouldn't be done: the breeding, that is. I hope both are seperated, in different romos so they both won't get sick. What is wrong with piggy?
Do you have ANY idea how to take care of a pregnant piggy, anyways? Most people on this forum don't even know, and they are very educated! Pregnant guinea pigs need so many extra things, and must be seperated from the male. Do you know how to avoid pregnancy toxemia? Do you even know what pregnancy toxemia is? Do you know what a responsible breeder is? Are you going to keep the babies, even if she has 8?? What are you going to do/think if she dies? What are you going to do if the babies live, and she dies? Do you know how to take care of them? Do you even have the proper housing, baby proofing?You are putting your sows life in danger for your own convienence. That's why we aren't going to calm down. Breeding is very dangerous, and if you read those links you will figure out why. Those are all questions that you should know, or know how to do(What I asked) if you are ready to breed. Even then it's not so wise.

[Piglet]

Excellent post ruby.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Not to mention you got your guinea pigs from a pet store, not even a responsible breeder, so you are breeding pet quality (and most likely imbred with bad genetics) pigs at best, when there are already thousands and thousands of those needing homes in shelters and rescues.

But it's okay because you just want cute wittle babies.

By the way, didn't you say vets weren't any good because one killed your Aunt's or her friend's or someone's pig? But if they say it's okay, you're going to breed because that is the answer you want?

[Susan9608]

When I originally made my cages, I paid $40 for a sheet of coroplast. I didn't think too much of it at the time, because I was buying it from FastSigns and expected it to be a little pricey. But a few days ago, when I was making a new cage, I went to a different FastSigns, and they cut the coroplast to size for me, scored it, and taped it up into a box for me for $18. I got ripped off the first time! But at least I know better now. I think it's good to shop around for this kind of stuff.

[Susan9608]

Hello - some how my post about coroplast seems oddly out of place. I think I accidently got that in the wrong post. Anyhow -

Ilovebabe - I realize that you want to breed guinea pigs, and while everyone is entitled to their own opinions about the moral issues concerned with purposely breeding animals, there are also other things to consider before you breed your pigs.

My husband and I adopted a pregnant pig that needed a home. I'm a nurse in a children's hospital and *never* thought we'd have trouble finding homes for the babies, but we did. So we still have them. Luckily, Hamm (the mom pig) only had 2 babies, at least in that litter.

We took the babies to the vet to have them sexed. My regular vet was out of town, but a temp. vet was filling in for him. This vet assured us that he did a whole post-graduate study in the field of "pocket pet" dentistry, so he was more than capable of sexing the babies for us. He was wrong. What he told us were two females were actually two males. So a few months later, our Hamm had a second litter of guinea pigs - this time she had 4 babies.

In between the time her first litter and second litter were born, we adopted another guinea pig, named Cheddar. Cheddar's owner told us she was a boy, so we placed her with one of Hamm's sons, thinking the two of them would get along. A few days after Cheddar's adoption, imagine our surprise when we went to feed them and discovered four guinea pigs in her cage, instead of two. Cheddar had 2 babies - this BOY pig had two babies.

Of course we immediately separated her from Hamm's son, but it was apparently too late, because 2 months later, almost to the day, Cheddar had a litter of 6. One was born dead, which was devestating. But there were five living guinea pigs.

So at that point in time, although we started with one pig, we had 15 guinea pigs. Why? Because we were unable to find homes for them. I work in a children's hospital and could not find homes for those pigs.

Okay, eventually, we found homes for 4 of the babies, but I'll tell you, I worry about those 4 babies every day of my life. I call their new owners at least once a week to touch base on how they are doing. The new owners signed a contract saying that they will give the pigs back to me if such a time comes when the pigs can no longer be taken care of. So I have to be prepared to take those 4 pigs back at any time.

And the rest of them seem like they are here to stay. While I don't exactly mind, because I love them, it would have been so much better to adopt pigs already in existence, rather than creating more and more of them ourselves. And the time committment is awsome.

Of course, I have other pets as well, but I spend at least 4 hours weekly just cleaning cages. I devote at least 2 hours a day to my pigs, to make sure they get enough attention and exercise. And some days, when I'm really tired or had a bad day at work (I also have a full time job) I sometimes wish I didn't have quite so many pigs. But what can I do? They are my responsibility.

I just think you should be aware that any guinea pig babies you breed will be your responsibility. I can tell you love your pig, so I know you won't be able to heartlessly discard any offspring at a shelter or pet store. I can tell you'll want to find good, loving homes for them. But please learn from my experience - there just aren't enough good homes out there to accomodate more guinea pig babies.

They are cute and adorable and fun - but they grow up. And they are a lot of work. And expense. My husband and I just figured out last week - we spend close to $1000 a month on animal supplies alone. Is this really how you want to spend all your time and money?

I just urge you to think about it before you decide.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Wow. Fifteen piggies. I'm sorry you had a hard time finding someone to correctly sex your guinea pigs.

Yes, it is hard to find GOOD forever homes for any animals. That is why shelters and rescues are full.

There are not enough homes to go around yet people are still breeding.

Animals are being put to sleep every day and abandoned on streets, alleys, near freeways, etc, yet there are still not enough homes.

Does anyone see a pattern here? Stop the needless breeding.

[Susan9608]

Yes, stop the breeding or suffer the same fate I have. I had a dream a few months ago that I walked down the stairs to my house and a guinea pig carpet was coming at me. That dream was on it's way to becoming a reality before we finally got the males and females separated.

My regular vet finally came back and he's excellent with exotic animals, so he has helped immensely with the correct sexing of our pigs. He taught both my husband and I how to do it, but I think we'll always go to him for a back-up, second opinion -otherwise my dream may very well come true.

[RubyPiggie2]

Great story Susan, I'm sorry that the vet missexed that pig and made her have about 8 pups(?) if I am correct. Thanks for sharing that with us.
Wow, 1 grand a month? That's nuts! I guess you get those guys a lot of extra or expensive stuff, because I only spent about say, 100+ a month- but where I go, my stuff is so incredibly cheap. It's the pellets and the veggies that add up. What do you get that adds up that much?!
Also, thanks Piglet. I hope what we all wrote will convince her/him to not breed- especially from Susans story, or if they can't answer the questions we all asked.

[RubyPiggie2]

Oh yeah, forgot to add. I did have 15 pigs, now I have 12 and 10 by the end of the week. when I had 15 it was about 150 a month, and they were all healthy and given the proper nutrients, pellets, hay, and bedding. My supplies in my photos was what would last about a month to two months for 15 pigs, except for the hay.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Yes, have you tried buying things in bulk? Or is it vet bills too? You can get a whole bale of hay for like 11 to 13 bucks here and pellets in 25 or 50 IB bags.

[tashagurl]

I bred my pigs when I thought it would be great to have babies.I had four litters total. Thats 10 babies total. I was really stupid and my pigs suffered.

One of them died from pregnancy toxemia. Her old had owner completly neglected her. It was her third litter. She was from a petstore. In Tess's second litter she had an all white baby who was born without eyes or teeth. He lived for three days.

After Tess died I decieded never to breed again. The only problem was my pig was pregnant also. I went on the internet and did the research I should have done the moment I got a pig. I was so lucky and found this site. It has completly changed my life and my pigs lives.

I hope you research everything very very thouroly(sp?) before you decide to do anything you might regret two months down the line when your pig dies and leaves orphned pigs that need to be fed every two hours round the clock for three weeks.

Many of these people have lost pigs from pregnancies. Many are also involved in rescue orginizations. It is ultimatly your choice. The are just trying to convince you to make the right one.

[AngelsCavies]

ilovebabe. dont breed. there is waaaaaaaaaaay to many bunnies and piggies that need homes. I didnt know that until I started looking to see if it was true and it is. Alos breeding brings risk for many females now meaning leathals, can not deliver cause of hips or age, and many more. I know some of mine had babies but it was not breeding they were accidental. Luckyly they all are fine and well. One of my friends piggie had a litter of 3 and they all were leathals and it broke her heart. She now rescues them or adopts them. please you do not want any dead ones or females not making it either. I wouldnt.It would just tear my heart up bad. I love animals just as much all of you guys do. I always wanted to be a veternarian but couldnt afford schooling so I decided that I could just own them and care for them so they do not have to live in small cages and shelters. I told my husband that if we ever own a big house with a big fenced in yard I want a whole bunch of dogs in my yard and I want a house ful of animals from shelters. I want a petstore that only sells supplies and do rescues for rabbits, guinea pigs, and dogs.