First Time Pregnant

MistressAshley · Jan 27, 2005

Hi,

My name is Ashley and I'm new to the fourms. Around Halloween last year, I adopted two pigs from my friend. They are brother and sister, and I kept them together for a while, thinking it would be good to socialize.

Well, they ending up breeding, now my female (Charms) is pregnant. =( I already have homes prepared for the babies, however many there are. I have good steady homes picked out. She has her own seperate cage now, its good size. The male is kept away from her, in his own cage.

I'm not sure how this birth will go, she is pretty big, and you can feel her babies kicking if you put your hands around her belly. I've been reading up, and I think I am prepared for them to come. I'm just not sure if they will come out that great since she got pregnant from her brother. =\ I know the colouring of the babies would be beautiful, but do you think I will end up with any defected babies due to the inbreeding?

Also, any tips? Since Charms and I are both new to this. Thanks.

-Ashley

Ly&Pigs · Jan 27, 2005

I think all the babies will be fine. There are thousands of cases where a sow got pregnant by her father, son, brother, uncle, etc and there were no deformities. Cavies aren't like humans when it comes to inbreeding.

Welcome to the forum! I am really glad to hear that you have them separated. Piggies are very social and do well when they have a cage buddy. You might want to keep a baby boar for dad and a baby sow for mom so they won't be as lonely.

Make sure you are giving her unlimited hay (alfalfa would be especially good for her right now since she is pregnant) and lots of good veggies high in Vitamin C. I hope you give both your pigs hay and veggies. What type of cages do you have them in?

MistressAshley · Jan 28, 2005

Well, I'm working on building a cage right now. Ones like on this website. Thats where I got my idea. =) So my dad is helping me. So that should be done pretty soon.

Right now I have some cages I bought from a local petstore. They are by Super Pet, called My First Home. Its not a small cage. Its actually pretty good size, I also make sure she gets exercise by either taking her outside or letting her run around in a small blocked off area in my house. I do the same with the male, though he isn't really mine, he is my friends who lives in the same house, I gave him to her, but I still take care of him.

I don't know how long she has been pregnant, but I want a basic idea of when she is gonna have the babies so I can pay more speific attention. As I said, you can feel the babies kick everytime you put your hands around her stomach and she is 16 1/2 ounces.

Ly&Pigs · Jan 28, 2005

Yes, I know the Super Pet cages. I have one in my possession at the moment that a friend lent me to transport my sow Charity from her home to mine in. They seem large until you build that first c&c cage then you won't think it is so big anymore. I have 4 sows that live in a 3x4 (just redid their cage yesterday from a 2x5) with a loft for hay.

I don't know alot about piggie pregnancy but I can give you a link to some info that might help you out some. This doesn't tell you exactly when your sow will give birth but it has a lot of very good info. https://guinealynx.info/breeding.html

Before the babies are born you will want to double grid the cage so the babies cannot slip through the holes. It's easy to do. Make sure to separate any baby boars from mom at 3 weeks as they will get her pregnant and you don't want that.

rabbitsncavyluv · Jan 28, 2005

Finding good homes for pigs down here isn't easy. Please don't breed anymore. Pigs in local shelters are being pts left and right or snapped up by collectors.

You should keep a boy baby and a girl piggy so the parents can have company, or you'd have to neuter the male. Make sure you have a good vet lined up in case anything goes wrong.

www.cavyhaven.org
(broken link removed)
www.rabbitadoption.org

The Dumpling · Jan 28, 2005

Also be careful - if the female is an older pig, and she's never given birth anymore, she will actually have to give birth via c-section. See the section under "Breeding". https://guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html

MistressAshley · Jan 28, 2005

I do have homes for them, and I do plan on keeping at least one. It depends on how many she has. If she has alot, then I'll probably keep two. But if she only has about 4, I'll keep one and go look into recusing one from a shelter.

And she isn't older.

RubyPiggie2 · Jan 28, 2005

Why keep only one? I say that if you have all girls(say, 2 girls), neuter the male and make a nice 3x5 2x7 cage. 2x6 as minimum for 4, but I have 4 in a 2x6 once and it seemed pretty cramped. I much prefer wider cages, you might like them too. Mix alfalfa and timothy hay into her diet unlimited, same as male as they both are young? Do you give them the proper veggies? Good luck.

MistressAshley · Jan 28, 2005

Yeah, I buy them there own veggies and I have a chart on the fridge showing how much to give them and make sure they dont over-eat, the chart I actually got from guinea lynx or whatever. When the babies actually come, I'll probably want to keep more than one. x_x So I hope I'll have my cage built by then.

Thanks for all your help. =)

rabbitsncavyluv · Jan 28, 2005

You'll need to baby proof too. Are you getting the male fixed?

tashagurl · Jan 28, 2005

Its pretty hard to give a pig too much veggies. Unless its too much of a certain kind, like carrots.

MistressAshley · Jan 29, 2005

Yeah, I plan on getting the male fixed. And it was easy for me to find homes for the babies when they come. I have about 10 GOOD owners lined up.

And thats what I meant, I don't want to feed her too much of the same kind. Like I said, I have a chart I go by that I found from the Guinea Lynx place. I'm trying to treat my pigs like royality the best I can right now, especially when Charms is pregnant.

kalrik · Feb 5, 2005

It would be cool if you could give them away in pairs, or at least tell the new owners that they like being in pairs. Hope everything goes smoothly for you. If she is older (like older than ten months) birth gets really difficult and you'll want to have a vet to take her to if there's problems. Also, their first litter is generally not large.

Piglet · Feb 5, 2005

Ok, well I think you need to keep them for 2 - 3 weeks, so you can be sure of their sex. Will you have a bigt enough cage for the mum and babies? Then you should definately give them out in same sex pairs.

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