Could my babies be having babies?

It's highly likely that they are. We have rescued many young guinea pigs, and have witnessed many girls as young as 14 weeks old giving birth however most often with the mums that young, the babies did not make it.

Are you in Auckland? Our vet has spayed a young 9 week old girl for us as she was living with her brother - our vet has then done over 25 spays for us (ages ranging from the little 9 week old girl *she usually only does 3 months or older* to a few older (7 years) girls. All but one successful and even though some had complications.

I would suggest getting your two males de-sexed, so there is no worries. I would also read up on Lethal Whites, just incase.

It is certainly possible that they could now be pregnant. Female guinea pigs can become sexually mature as early as 4 weeks of age, but then you have to take into account the chances that they were in heat on the day that your daughter put them together. https://www.guinealynx.info/reproduction.html

There is no way to tell right now whether or not they are, and you need to treat them the same regardless. The diet for pregnant sows is the same as the diet for guinea pigs under 6 months of age (provide a source of calcium and unlimited pellets, along with the standard diet for adult guinea pigs).

Also keep an eye on your boys, one of my pairs of boys will get into a fight if they can smell even a trace of girls (if I happen to mess up which fleece items belonged in which cage, or if I change which cage they are in) so a bath may be in order if they start acting up just to get the smell of the girls off of them.

I hope you had a good talk to your daughter about what she did and why it was wrong.

It just happened today, and I did some quick googling, to see if I needed to be worried, and now I am, so I just want to get my information correct so I can be prepared. I've been reading a lot in this forum tonight.

I had explained to both my daughters about how they had to live in separate cages, but I guess I didn't make it clear enough that they couldn't "visit" each other either. I will make sure they realise they are to be separate at all times.

I'm in Morrinsville. I had thought about whether to get my males de-sexed, (thinking I had time while the girls got bigger anyway), so I will look into that further. I wasn't sure how common it was here.

How did the young mums cope? As I was concerned not just about any babies, but whether my girls would survive.

We're going away towards the end of the month for a couple of weeks. So I was concerned about being away from them as well. When we get back it will be right on that 5 week mark, which is when you can start to tell, is that right?

You can usually tell if they are or aren't pregnant around the 6 week mark as the babies, if there are any, start kicking around that time (keep in mind you may need to feel for them more then once as babies aren't active all of the time). https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...inea-pig-is-pregnant-And-how-far-along-is-she

I'd suggest you also move them to an area in the house where there's more foot traffic and where it's easier to supervise. That way, they'll get more attention and the adults will be able to monitor better. It's really easy for little hands to squeeze to tightly or drop a guinea pig. They have fragile spines and a fall can injure or kill them.

If you can, try to build a stacked c&c cage in your living room so you can monitor your pigs more closely which will be doubly more important as two of them might be pregnant. Something along the lines of this, so you can have the females at the top and the males on the bottom (make sure both floors are easily accessible):




Children shouldn't be left alone with the guinea pigs. As pinky said they can harm them by accident. It might be harsh but it might help to explain to them that there's a high chance now that the guinea pigs are pregnant and might die as a result. They need to understand the consequences of their actions in regards to the pigs so that it doesn't happen again.

I'd suggest if you haven't yet to read all of the following two websites. They cover all the basics and then some, including what to expect with any pregnancies and how to prepare and what to do afterwards:

https://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html
https://www.cavyspirit.com/kidsandguineapigs.htm

Off topic: I love how your 7 year old explained this 'he bigger ones were "squishing" the little ones and "going over them"

I'd also suggest a lid that can be clipped down. Kids aren't real reliable about following through on instructions, and she may have a different friend over who won't abide by the rules.

Besides the danger of pregnancy, you should explain to your child that guinea pigs shouldn't be put together to "play." They're wired to establish dominance when meeting another guinea pig, and this is stressful for them. It happens every time they get together, and is definitely not recommended. Let the two sets of cage-mates out for floor time or play with your daughter at different times, but not together.

Guinea Pigs come into heat every 15-17 days so hopefully you'll be lucky this time and your piggies won't be pregnant.

Fay said:

If you can, try to build a stacked c&c cage in your living room so you can monitor your pigs more closely which will be doubly more important as two of them might be pregnant. Something along the lines of this, so you can have the females at the top and the males on the bottom (make sure both floors are easily accessible):

View attachment 70843
View attachment 70844

Children shouldn't be left alone with the guinea pigs. As pinky said they can harm them by accident. It might be harsh but it might help to explain to them that there's a high chance now that the guinea pigs are pregnant and might die as a result. They need to understand the consequences of their actions in regards to the pigs so that it doesn't happen again.

I'd suggest if you haven't yet to read all of the following two websites. They cover all the basics and then some, including what to expect with any pregnancies and how to prepare and what to do afterwards:

https://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html
https://www.cavyspirit.com/kidsandguineapigs.htm

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How do you access the bottom cage? I would like to try this setup but can't figure out how to make it accessible. I have cats, so i need to enclose them.

I've never made a cage like that but I 'think' how it's done is by attaching a couple or more grids at the front of the cage using cable ties rather than with connectors which allows them to swivel outward. You could close them with some kind of easy to unlock clip or sturdy rope (one that the pigs can't chew through). Like shown here:



For on top you can make/buy flip-fold type covers so they're sturdier/cat proof yet still easy to open and if your cat is particularly prone to sticking it's arms in you can always cover it with some plywood/coroplast/plexiglass:

https://www.guineapigcagesstore.com/standard-guinea-pig-cage-covers

Cool!!! Thanks a bunch!!

Wow....that is exactly how i made the top of mine...no way!!

Thanks for everyone's helpful information and ideas. I will read up on everything to be prepared just in case. I think I will move them into the dining room, where I can see them from the kitchen and the lounge. My Girls are pretty good generally in handling them. I care for the piggies and their cages myself and my Girls take turns feeding the piggies but only what I have given them to feed them. They are also supposed to ask before getting the piggies out and then have them in the lounge. So I think it's a typical case of showing off to friends or thinking up ideas together.

I've had a very good talk to both my girls, (even though my 9 year old wasn't involved at the time), and explained why it was wrong to do what they did and the possible outcomes.

I'm loving the cage ideas. So is it OK to have the males and females close together, (but seperate)? Currently mine are in 2 different places.

Yes it is absolutely okay to have males and females in the same room, just as long as the cages are secure so the boys can't get to the girls. Male guinea pigs can get quite persistent about getting to the girls when the girls are on heat, and they can climb surprisingly well (so you might need to put a lid on the girls cage).

All of my male pairs have at some point been in the same room as girls (normally in they are above the girls, and the girls cages all have lids), even my pair of boys who fight if they have something in their cage that smells like girls are fine living in a cage above any of my girls.

I've been reading about Lethals like @RodentCuddles recommended. I understand about the lethals themselves, but do my piggies have a chance of having them just because they have patches of white? Or would they have to have more white to be hiding the Roan gene?

White patches arn't necessarily a sign that you have a high chance of getting a lethal pig. I think it's more if there's white hair scattered between other colored hair in a roan or dalmatian coat pattern but I wouldn't exclude the possibility entirely, genes can be a funny business especially if you don't know their family history. It won't hurt to be prepared for the possibility just in case but your pigs don't look like they have the increased chance to produce a lethal based solely on their coats except for maybe the male on the left. It's hard to say. I'm really not that familiar with lethals so someone else might be able to tell you with more certainty.

Actually, I think any pig with white hair anywhere on its body can possibly carry the roan allele, but it's much more likely if they have a true roaning pattern of color. That's when white hairs are intermixed with the other colors of hair.

bpatters said:

Actually, I think any pig with white hair anywhere on its body can possibly carry the roan allele, but it's much more likely if they have a true roaning pattern of color. That's when white hairs are intermixed with the other colors of hair.

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So this fault is specifically attached to white hair in general? or can pigs without white hair also give birth to lethals? I always thought all pigs have the potential to have lethal babies but that it was specifically those coat types that had the significant increase in probability (i.e. I didn't know that it was attached to white hair in general... if that's the case, I learned something new , do you have any references for me to look into I'm curious?)