Just Delivered: My Ethel finally delivered!! Help...please?

[wonderwoman9205]

My boyfriend and I recently got 2 cavies named Lucy and Ethel. Well we took Lucy to the vet for a spot on her face only to find out that Ethel was pregnant. So I tried to find out as much as possible on what to do before she delivered....and well Happy Halloween we got 2 pups tonight! WHAT DO I DO NOW? I've never owned a cavy and I have NO idea how to care for one post labor much less care for the pups. Any suggestions?

Our Big Moma Ethel

Our Lucy Bug

And our new babies!!

[Seonta]

The babies need to stay with mom until they are 21 days old, then they need to be sexed to find out if they are male or female. All males need to be removed from mom and her cage mate at 21 days of age. Make sure Lucy is a female. The babies are adorable, I would do some reading on the forum to make sure they get the proper nutrients. They will start eating veggies early but let them stay with mom because they could use her milk too.

If Lucy is a male, then sadly Ethel is likely already pregnant and having pregnancies back to back is extremely taxing, dangerous, and could lead to her dying- perhaps the pups dying too. So double check.

[wonderwoman9205]

The vet says Lucy is a girl but I have her in a seperate cage right now because I'm not sure how she'll handle the babies or how Ethel with tolerate her. What do I do about Ethel not wanting to let the pups nurse?

[Ly&Pigs]

Sows make great Aunties and often help out with the pups. You can safely put Lucy back with Ethel.

If Ethel is not nursing the pups, just make sure they have access to plain high quality pellets, unlimited grass hay and start offering small amounts of veggies.

[wonderwoman9205]

I thought I would be courageous last night and put Lucy and Ethel back together for a while well it went horribly. Lucy started sniffing the babies and got aggrevated with one and nipped at it and Ethel bit her. Is there anyway to help them bond?

[Ly&Pigs]

Did you just put Lucy back into the cage with Ethel and the pups or did you do intro's on neutral ground?

[bpatters]

Ly, are you implying that if two bonded GPs have been separated for some reason, they need to be re-introduced on neutral ground? or did Lucy just need the re-introduction because of the pups? Thanks!

[Seonta]

To answer the question in the post above this: Always reintroduce on neutural ground because the smells of the guineapigs that haven't left the cage could overwhelm the one you are putting back in the cage and cause them to be defensive which in animals is often biting and growling.

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by bpatters

Ly, are you implying that if two bonded GPs have been separated for some reason, they need to be re-introduced on neutral ground? or did Lucy just need the re-introduction because of the pups? Thanks!

If it was just a case of re-introducing the two adults to each other again, a newly cleaned cage would be ok but you never want to put pigs who have been separated for a time back into the others cage without at least cleaning it first.

In this case it's more because there are new pigs involved, ie: the pups, you would want to do introductions on neutral ground.

[fieryone]

Originally Posted by bpatters

Ly, are you implying that if two bonded GPs have been separated for some reason, they need to be re-introduced on neutral ground? or did Lucy just need the re-introduction because of the pups? Thanks!

My first two bonded pigs (also named Lucy and Ethel ) were separated for 5 days in the first month of having them because Lucy had some sniffles (that turned out to be nothing but maybe a sensitivity to wood shavings?). Silly me put her back in the cage with Ethel after those 5 days and it was a nightmare. We had to do intros again on neutral ground. So depending on how long these pigs have been separated and with the addition of the pups, it's likely that they would need to be re-introduced even if they were a bonded pair.