In Heat PREGNAT GUINEA PIG (maby)

I guess I should start off by asking why you got a male friend for your female guinea pig. If you knew she was a girl, then you should have selected a female companion.

If 2 individuals of the same species but opposite sex are housed together then you can almost 100% gaurentee that they will mate. You very likely have a pregnant pig on your hands who is now at great risk of pregnancy and birthing complications.

Guinea pigs do not have menstral cycles, so if you have seen blood in your cage, then you are dealing with something completely different that needs to be assessed by a vet ASAP. It could be from a fight between them that you weren't around to witness or an injury you haven't seen yet or an internal issue that is coming out this way.

I would like to strongly emphasize the fact that you need seperate your male and female immediately. With any luck your girl hasn't been impregnated yet, but if she has been then this measure will prevent her from having back to back pregnancies which would probably be deadly in her case. A female guinea pig has a 20% chance of dying from complications before, during, and after pregnancy and since your girl is older that only increases her risks.

Guinea pigs are pregnant for approximately 8-10 weeks. Possibly around week 6 or 7 you can see a change in her shape and feel the babies inside her. At this point, you need a very cavy savvy vet on hand to help incase there are any complications and a large vet fund to pay for any medical bills. You also need to be feeding her a well balanced diet to ensure she stays as healthy as possible. This includes 24/7 unlimited access to hay, a cup of approved veggies daily, and 1/4 cup of a quality guinea pig pellet.

spy9doc said:

Catahoula........I commend you on your patience.

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I'll admit that it was very hard to keep my composure, but what's done is done. At this point the best thing I or anyone can do is advise how to take the best care she can and prevent it from happening again.

well im sorry but maby i wanted guinea pig babys

Are you aware that one can adopt guinea pigs that are as young as 3 weeks old?

Or was it those first 3 weeks of life that you felt the need to witness that led to your decision to risk the life of your guinea pig and perpetuate the issue that is overbreeding in this country?

Do you have plans for when you have male and female babies to house them separately, or do you just plan on having them breed until you run out of room?

Are you aware that this is a pro-rescue website, as was explained when you registered for the forum?

Have you discussed this with you parents? (assuming from your grammar that you still live at home)

Are they prepared to foot the bill for all of these guinea pigs?

How do you plan on affording care for additional pigs?

Do you have room for the potential of up to 6 babies that the sow could have? A cage for 8 will need to be huge, if recommendations are followed.

These are just a few of the obvious questions I have that you either have overlooked or chosen to turn a blind eye to in this venture.


(Sorry to everyone for not responding as kindly as Catahoula, but it was this or break my neck from shaking my head so much at this issue)

I completely commend you @SurfingPigs because I started to reply a few times, and could not straighten out my thoughts to make myself coherent.

For you, @Princesspigpig, PLEASE look at this link (https://www.guinealynx.info/breeding.html) and PLEASE OH PLEASE educate yourself, before you make any other huge mistakes. Your female is at least 1 year old (seeing as you've had her a year) and any female guinea pig can have terrible difficulty with pregnancies, and once they've passed the 8 month mark that difficulty increases.

"Because guinea pigs rely on us completely for their care and housing, we can control their reproductive lives and make a conscious choice to be a responsible pet owner." (from Guinea Lynx)

I hate to say this, but if your female or your pups encounter any complication, it is YOUR fault for consciously breeding them. I'm sure (if you have a heart) you are horrified by the idea that your Hobit (btw, Tolkien spelled it Hobbit) will in all likelyhood experience difficulty with the pregnancy you forced on her, so please, I absolutely implore you to educate yourself.

Also, I'd like to point out that you have admitted that both were from pet stores, and that you would adopt your next piggy, so you at least paid attention to that much. (SOURCE: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/introduce-yourself/67805-hi-there.html#post593264) I'm sure that within a few hours of wandering the forum, beside learning about adoption, you were educated on the difficulties of pregnant piggies. Therefore I am completely and utterly baffled as to why you would continue to put your piggy in a harmful situation.

Princesspigpig said:

well im sorry but maby i wanted guinea pig babys

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Clearly you are not aware of the facts of life. Please take your time reading these posts carefully while you get educated…

Were you aware that most animals will mate indiscriminately? Did you plan to permanently house your male and female together? If so, this would result in multiple, back to back pregnancies (if your female lives that long)!!

You have now put yourself in the position of needing 2 cages, one for males and one for females. You also need a way of ensuring the males cannot reach the females to mate again. A male guinea pig will climb out of its cage to reach a female that is in heat.

Did you know a guinea pig is fertile (capable of breeding) at 3 weeks old? You will have to properly sex your babies (when/if they arrive safely) at that age and separate accordingly. If not, male babies can re-impregnate their mother!! Like I said before, they breed indiscriminately. Maybe you should google the effect of inbreeding.

You (or your parents) will now have multiple cages to clean, multiple mouths to feed, multiple vet bills to pay, etc…

I sincerely hope you are prepared for all of this, for the sake of your guinea pigs.

(I underlined the questions that I really hope you can answer)

I am a new guinea pig owner and I have a male and female by accident (was told they were two females). By the time I found out, which was actually pretty fast after we got them because we took them to get examined by a vet, I was told that she was most likely alreadypregnant. Nw the waiting game begins. At that point I asked lots of questions AND I booked our male for an appointment to get neutred which is happening next week (with a very experienced cavy vet sho has done dozens. I asked a ton of questions and called around and paid for a consult prior because I didn't want a novice touching our new baby).
So I am curious to know since you did the male and female thing on purpsoe...did you educate yourself first? Did you know that after a certain age, if your female has not been breed, their pelvis cannot seperate and they need a c-section or will die during the birth of the pups? Did you know that right after getting pregnant she can get pregnant again? Like RIGHT AWAY! Did you know that at 3 weeks of age the pups can start mating or can even mate with their mother? This is a lot to take in and the cost and consequences could be great. I do believe our female is pregnant and I am willing to take on what was given to us, but I don't want this to keep happening over and over. As a responsible pet owner, we have already put money aside in case it is needed. We moved them into a (divided) C&C cage. We have already found solid families willing to take pups in pairs and a vet who will sex them before they turn 3 weeks of age. This is all going to be costly but we are being responsible and educating ourselves as much as possible.

Yes, I am sure guinea pig pups can be a wonderful experience, but you have to understand that this is beyond just "oh how fun and cute". It is a lot of responsiblilty. It's a lot of money. You have to accept the consequence of the female possibly dying because she is having her first pregnancy after her time. (if she is in fact a year old already) Please be think things over and either seperate them, educate yourself, be prepared to fix him and save money for a possible $1000 surgery for your female if complications arrive. And I'd find a doctor on call. What if she tries to gives birth in the middle of the night and has complications? Now it is even more money (because walking in the door for an emergency weekend or midnight vet is $100 right off the bat with no treatment) and a very slim chance in find a cavy savy emergency vet.
Like I said I am new....we have added guinea pigs to our family only a couple weeks ago BUT I took the time to bring them to vets, to ask the vets about things, have already put out $300 in vet bills (including the neuter) and we have had them 2 weeks. This has been a valuable lesson for my kids (who wanted the piggies) because we are teaching them that you took on responsiblity so you have to TAKE responsibilty by prepping for things you didn't expect and saving the money and spending the money to care for them, even though it was not what you had planned. They keep asking how much is all this going to cost (because we have been to the vet twice already) and I tell them it's costly, but WE choose to take on their lives so we have to take on all responsibility, including the financal aspect of it.
I wish you luck. Like I said, we are probably in the same boat, except ours was not planned. We are hoping that if she is pregnant it will be a neat and educational experience for our kids but we are making sure it is ONLY a one time experience and prepping for all possible outcomes.

is everyone saying she will die. but i whatched guinea pigs on youtube give birth they were like as big as mine so i thought it was fine pleacse dont tell me she will die.

no i dident plan on permentily housing them together i just wanted to experiance having a pregnat guinea pig after that i was going to seperate them

We are not saying she will die, but there is a chance that will happen. Please separate them now. You might be lucky enough that she's not pregnant yet. Are your parents prepared to pay for vet bills in case you need to take her to a vet?

I was told by the vet that if ours was pregnant, that at least she was before 6 months of age for this accident to happen because after 6-9 months, their pelvis closes and they need c-sections. Not doing the c-section, yes, she would not survive that. So if you decided to have a litter I would seperate them , have her examined by a cavy vet first and get knowledge of what you are getting into. Make sure you have emergency money ready, have a seperate cage ready for seperation after babies are here and homes for them. Then I would plan for him to be fixed or permantly seperated from then on out. That would be the responsible thing to do.

ChristieB said:

I was told by the vet that if ours was pregnant, that at least she was before 6 months of age for this accident to happen because after 6-9 months, their pelvis closes and they need c-sections. Not doing the c-section, yes, she would not survive that. So if you decided to have a litter I would seperate them , have her examined by a cavy vet first and get knowledge of what you are getting into. Make sure you have emergency money ready, have a seperate cage ready for seperation after babies are here and homes for them. Then I would plan for him to be fixed or permantly seperated from then on out. That would be the responsible thing to do.

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yes, I am quoting myself. The responsible thing to do would to not have a litter....but I understand that people sometimes want to do this so if you do it ONCE, be responsible in your actions...not only now but with the little ones and what would have to take place after or during birth. You have take ownership of everything that could happen.

There is no such thing as responsibly breeding pigs just because you want to have the experience of having a pregnant pig. That is interchangably referred to as ignorance or stupidity. Knowingly placing animals of opposite sexes together is no accident. Sorry, Christie, but I couldn't disagree more with your statement.

SurfingPigs said:

There is no such thing as responsibly breeding pigs just because you want to have the experience of having a pregnant pig. That is interchangably referred to as ignorance or stupidity. Sorry, Christie, but I couldn't disagree more with you statement.

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I 100% agree with SurfingPigs

Princesspigpig said:

no i dident plan on permentily housing them together i just wanted to experiance having a pregnat guinea pig after that i was going to seperate them

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Please understand it is never too late to do the right (responsible) thing.

At this point you need to do what is best for your little girl. I know you said you are going to separate your male, do it now.

What are you feeding you pigs, especially your female? And do you have a vet already?

Firstly, pay close attention to how much she is eating. If she is eating more than usual, she is probably pregnant. Check how fat she is, and flip her on her back, and (supporting her completely so she feels safe) pit you hand on her back. If there is two large lumps, she is probably pregnant. Also take notice of her teats. If they are sticking straight up, this is another probable sign.

ChristieB said:

yes, I am quoting myself. The responsible thing to do would to not have a litter....but I understand that people sometimes want to do this so if you do it ONCE, be responsible in your actions...not only now but with the little ones and what would have to take place after or during birth. You have take ownership of everything that could happen.

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ok i am going to get her cheked right away

Catahoula said:

Please understand it is never too late to do the right (responsible) thing.

At this point you need to do what is best for your little girl. I know you said you are going to separate your male, do it now.

What are you feeding you pigs, especially your female? And do you have a vet already?

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i seperated them and no i do not have a vet

how much is it to get your guinea pig xrayed