Lethal guinea pigs discussion

[Alanas]

My name is Alana, I took in some unwanted guinea pigs about 10 months ago, I didn't know it then but one of them is a lethal. Her name is Symphony. She is blind and deaf but is one of the best pets I have ever had. I realised she was deaf when vaccumning because the other piggies started running around and squeaking but she just sat there contently nibbling at her food. When I walk in the room she can smell me and squeaks for a cuddle. She likes to sit on my shoulder but a few times she has fallen asleep and just rolled off. Her teeth were crooked to start with so I trimmed them down gradually and they now straight. I have to trim them occasionally so that they don't grow too long and break, her teeth aren't as strong as normal piggies so she cannot gnaw at things to keep them short. Anyway I love her she is my favourite piggy.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

You trim them yourself? Have you had experience with it? What tools do you use?

She is a cutie. How old is she? A baby? Are you weighing her?

[twofinepigs]

Wow...I just read through some of the links on "lethals" and read Einstein's story. I wouldn't have thought there would be another pig named Einstein; I am going to tell Einy Meiny Man what a brave fine pig he's named for, even though I didn't know it at the time. Einstein and Salana have certainly been through a lot together.

Sure would be difficult to support gp breeding after knowing what CAN happen and how much misery a pig (and therefore his or her steward as well) might have to go through...

[Alanas]

I am a student and I work in a hotel part-time, there is a guy from italy who works at the hotel as well, he is a qualified vet in italy but when he moved here they said he has to comeplete extra subjects in vet science to practice here so he works as a vets nurse and works at the hotel to cover rent (he lives at the hotel), so anyway, he showed me how to trim the teeth and also sold me the tools, you can get them in pet stores but they are more expecsive because my friend only charges me cost price. I do weigh her regularly, and when I give the piggies some veggies I take her out and give her some by herself because she likes to take her time eating and if I just leave her with the others she won't get much! Symphony is about 8 months old, and about 7 weeks pregnant.....I didn't think lethals could have offspring did I? So I wasn't worried about seperating her. I understand that a first pregnancy this late could have complicated, I am keeping a close eye on her and she is doing well, I think she is having 3. She is my baby, she makes me so happy. Many people raise an eyebrow about me breeding them occasionally, however I live in an area that has many urban farms and my old highschool has an agriculture farm, and they put many of their animals into shows etc. They look after them well and they are learning at the same time, so they often take the babies. Sorry for the long post!

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Lethals are not sterile. They can reproduce, although I'm not sure why you'd want to breed them.

We generally do not advocate breeding because there are too many homeless animals already.

http://www.cavyspirit.com/breeding.htm
http://cavyspirit.com/responsiblebreeder.htm

[Slap Maxwell]

Wait, you BRED a lethal? That is the most sickning thing I have heard on this website.

[The Magic Taco]

Did you accidentally breed it? I must admit, I may have done that... Not with a lethal.

[Funnygpigs]

Originally Posted by citronsoul

My boyfriend took me to a gardening center yesterday because they had pet supplies too. They also kept pets, so off I went to find the guinea pigs. I wasn't too happy with what I found. I saw a roan wandering around. Just as I was explaining to my boyfriend about the lethal gene, another one popped out from under a wooden house. I can only hope they're same sex, but the fact that they had them wasn't really very reassuring.

They also had a poor black self that looked absolutely miserable (it was also missing hair on its head, probably due to a fungus infection.) But I managed to find a store assistant & she took it out of the cage for care. It also had a huge bite mark on its back from fighting. Poor thing.

So, I wasn't really that impressed with that place. The cages were clean with (crappy) food & hay, but I'm not too happy that a place like that is breeding roans. I doubt anyone there really knows anything about guinea pigs genes.

My boyfriend (who doesn't really know about pet stores) said they probably already knew about the sick pig. I doubt it though, because it shouldn't even have been in with other guinea pigs. And when I told him about my concerns of the roans being different sexes he said, "no way! Pet stores keep them seperate, don't they? Otherwise they'd have too many." I'm sure there are many people who thought the same thing & ended up with a litter (& probably lethals too.)

[Matt & Guins]

Originally Posted by alanas

Symphony is about 8 months old, and about 7 weeks pregnant.....I didn't think lethals could have offspring did I? So I wasn't worried about seperating her. I understand that a first pregnancy this late could have complicated,

It is a common myth that micros are sterile - unfortunately you have found out the hard way here.

Hopefully she will not have any complications in the birth (being such an older age, and also being a micro).

Be prepared that ALL of her babies will either be all dalmations, or all roans - regardless of who her partner is (depending on what she is genetically).

Who is she pregnant to? I certainly hope this boar is not a roan or a dalmation, or you can have serious problems with the babies.

Good luck with the pregnancy - hopefully all will go smoothly.

Matt

[Alanas]

Slap, firstly, I did not intentionally breed a lethal. I have 4 females and a male, the male that was the roan father of symphony belonged to the people who gave me symphony. I adopted a new male after doing some research and no, he is not a roan. Therefore my lethal, or micro, as matt said, is pregnant to a male who is not roan and who is not her father.

[Alanas]

When I said I breed piggies I meant normal non lethal guinea pigs. Some people are opposed to breeding guinea pigs. I am responsible though, like I said, my old high school has a farm and they ask for guinea pigs for the agriculture farm where they have huge cages, are looked after by the students and teachers. They get put in shows and have happy lives there. I only breed them when they have homes to go to.

[Matt & Guins]

Originally Posted by alanas

When I said I breed piggies I meant normal non lethal guinea pigs. Some people are opposed to breeding guinea pigs. I am responsible though, like I said, my old high school has a farm and they ask for guinea pigs for the agriculture farm where they have huge cages, are looked after by the students and teachers. They get put in shows and have happy lives there. I only breed them when they have homes to go to.

Just to give you the heads up.... this forum is completely, 100% against breeding and showing - and many of the members feel very, very strongly about this. I would not discuss any such things, as you will have a good number of members hound you away from here in no time at all! Discussions in regards to breeding or exhibiting are not permitted on this forum.

I hope members will not start this thread into a big discussion on why people should not breed/show - too many other threads like this already.

[DaCourt]

Originally Posted by Matt & Guins

Just to give you the heads up.... this forum is completely, 100% against breeding and showing - and many of the members feel very, very strongly about this. I would not discuss any such things, as you will have a good number of members hound you away from here in no time at all! Discussions in regards to breeding or exhibiting are not permitted on this forum.

I hope members will not start this thread into a big discussion on why people should not breed/show - too many other threads like this already.

alanas...I agree. My suggestion to you is to do search on this site, and read through some of the other threads. You should understand then. Stay, play, ask quesations. Just not about breeding and showing.

[Ly&Pigs]

When I said I breed piggies I meant normal non lethal guinea pigs. Some people are opposed to breeding guinea pigs. I am responsible though,

Just to reiterate what Matt said, we are very anti-breeding and anti-showing on this forum. It sounds like you ended up with an accidental pregnancy from your lethal because you were under the impression that it was sterile. This forum is opposed to breeding any guinea pigs so please be advised. You are welcome to stay on this forum to seek help as long as you do not discuss how to breed or how to show.

[CavySpirit]

I am responsible though, like I said, my old high school has a farm and they ask for guinea pigs for the agriculture farm where they have huge cages, are looked after by the students and teachers. They get put in shows and have happy lives there.

You are deluding yourself. You are not 'selling' or placing your pigs with responsible owners. If you sell pigs to anyone who is into showing, you have not sold your pig to permanent, well-qualified homes. That is not the definition of a responsible breeder.

I didn't think lethals could have offspring did I?

You are most decidedly not a responsible breeder. A responsible breeder KNOWS EXACTLY what they are doing in every way-----ESPECIALLY GENETICALLY!! That's the whole point, is it not? Supposedly breeding to improve the line? You have a lot to learn. You are a classic backyard breeder. You need to be doing a lot more research. And as was pointed out earlier, you could start with these links: http://www.cavyspirit.com/breeding.htm,
http://cavyspirit.com/responsiblebreeder.htm. Making such an assumption with a genetic cesspoll of an animal without thorough research was beyond foolish, IMHO.

[salana]

I have heard of 5 lethals who have reproduced--4 female and 1 male. The male of course had no problems. Three females had small litters with dalmatian fathers (2, 2, and 3, all dal--maybe they absorbed lethal fetuses?) and the other one had a completely stillborn litter.

I cringe at the thought of a pig whose health is already so compromised by a congenital deformity being pregnant, a further strain on the system.