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Behavior I think my female guinea pig might be a male

Dawnn

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I'm so sorry to make my very first post about a problem, but I'm very worried. I received my first guinea pig as a birthday gift on March 4. My husband meant well, and I loved Penelope the moment I saw her, but unfortunately, all the research about piggles was done AFTER she came home. She was immediately given a generous living space and a few weeks later she was given a new friend. April was well received and they have been perfect housemates and best friends. Until yesterday. April has begun following Penny around incessantly, and Penny responds with a purring sound that I am certain suggests annoyance. She also seems to chase April from their "house" and they no longer eat together. I fear that April may be a male and I'm devastated, though I still haven't been able to confirm this. Could something else be wrong? I love April and Penny so much. If I do indeed have a male and female, would neutering the male solve their issues? Thank you for any help.
 

bpatters

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Soecara

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You really do need to try and make sure one way or the other if they are in fact the same gender or not. Female guinea pigs can get pregnant from 6 weeks of age and guinea pigs are prone to pregnancy and delivery complications. Guinea pigs are also able to become pregnant immediately after birthing or miscarrying but this also further increases the chance of complications and is called a back-to-back pregnancy, so if the other guinea pig is a boy he needs to be separated from her immediately.

Here is a good page with photos to compare to https://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm
You can also feel just above the urethral opening, male guinea pigs have a bone in their penis that can be felt as a firm line just under the skin in this area, whereas female guinea pigs have no bone there so it just feels smooth and squishy. You can also attempt to expose a penis on a possible male to confirm if they are male, but there is a certain skill to pressing the right way to expose the penis, here is a video to watch that shows this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hveyMHTBr-o

If they are acutally both girls it could simply be that one of them is in heat, guinea pigs will come into heat roughly once every two weeks for about a day. Some sows you never can tell when they are in heat, other sows can become quite hormonal and can really pester their cagemates.

If April is a boy then neutering is one of the only options that will allow them to live together, but they will need to be separated until the surgery and continue to be separated for three to four weeks post-surgery to ensure he is sterile. Here is a good page to read on the topic https://www.cavyspirit.com/neutering.htm
 

Dawnn

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Thank you both for your responses.

I did separate them this morning when I realized the behavior was continuing. Maybe I'll allow them a supervised reunion in a couple of days while I continue to examine them and check out the video. As far as I can tell so far, they both appear to have the same parts.

Do female guinea pigs exhibit mounting behavior to assert dominance like some other animals?

Thank you again.
 

Soecara

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Yes mounting can definitely be a dominance behaviour. This is a great page to read about introducing two guinea pigs and the behaviours to expect when they are asserting dominance https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html

However I will say I would absolutely not allow them even supervised reunions until you are sure they are the same gender and will be putting them back together permanently. If they are not the same gender there is still a chance the female may not be pregnant, and even with supervised visits they can mate extremely fast so it is simply not worth the risk. Also guinea pigs do not benefit from "play dates" as every time they meet after being separated they will need to figure out their dominance from scratch which is very stressful, splitting them up then putting them back together several times decreases the chance of them getting along.
 

Dawnn

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Ok, so I'll keep them separated until I'm positive about their genders.

I just read through the page on introducing new guinea pigs, which was very informative, but Penny and April have been sharing their living space for 3 weeks now, so I assume their pecking order has been established by now? The new behavior started only yesterday, including attempts at mounting.

After reviewing the video and pictures about sexing guinea pigs, I still cannot see anything that resembles male genitalia (or, at least, both pigs' genitals appear the same.) Penelope and April are still young, but shouldn't I still see something that resembles a penis?? I'll try again in a little while. Maybe get some pictures too.

I really appreciate everyone's help and advice. Thank you so much!
 

Soecara

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If they had been together for three weeks without any problems then yes they would have come to some understanding about their hierarchy, but as I mentioned in my first reply if they are both sows one of them may have gone into heat which can cause them to be quite hormonal and pester and mount their cage mate.

I currently have one pair and one trio of sows. With my pair I can never tell when either of them is in heat as neither of them get very hormonal. With my trio the dominant girl and the second in charge can get very hormonal sometimes with their heat cycles and will spend most of the day either rumblestrutting, mounting, or presenting themselves to the girl/s below them in the hierarchy (so the dominant girl will do it to both, the second in charge will only do it to the most submissive girl).

If you know what to look for and have enough experience it is possible to accurately sex even newborn pups. The penis bone can be felt from the day they are born. At three weeks old it is possible to expose the penis (it can be done younger but there is the risk of injuring them when they are so small and there is no need to be certain until they are three weeks as this is when male pups need to be separated). Also keep in mind male guinea pigs on average become fertile at approximately 4 weeks of age and females on average become fertile at approximately 6 weeks of age so guinea pigs mature in that sense very quickly.
 

sallyvh

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Even in established pairs and groups, some chasing, light nipping and rumble-strutting is completely normal and could continue for their entire lives together. The only reason to separate is if one pig is bullying another to the point where they are losing weight from not being able to eat or if blood is shed. Other than that though, it is best to let them work out their own issues.

I have a group of 4 girls and at least every week there is some form of minor commotion coming from their cage. 3 of them are intact females and the last is a spayed female. They all seem to go into heat at different times and them the unspayed female is the boss so she likes to try and control everyone when they are acting goofy. They are all happy, will eat together and are in good spirits. Even after a day of a lot of chasing they get along well.

If you are confident they are the same gender I would reintroduce, it will just become more difficult the longer you keep them apart. It's probably more stressful for them to be separated from each other anyway. As long as no one is hurting the other their dominance behaviour (mounting, chasing, rumbling) is perfectly normal and you should expect it to happen on and off for potentially their entire lives.
 

bpatters

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Post clear, close-up, well-lit pictures of your pigs' genitalia and we may be able to help you. But you definitely should be able to feel the penis bone if you put your index finger crosswise the pig just above the genitalia, push down, and then back and forth. If there's one there, you'll be able to feel it beneath your finger.
 

Dawnn

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april 003.jpg

This is April's um...privates. I think she's tired of being molested today, so I'm hoping someone might be able to tell from this picture if she is, indeed, a girl? I think Penelope's privates look just like this too, but I didn't want to disturb her for a picture just yet unless you think it's necessary? Thank you so much for helping me!
 

Saylavi

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That piggy looks female to me. My pigs (4 girls) will mount and purr. Just part of their social dominance behavior
 

bpatters

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Looks female to me, too. Can you feel the penis bone?

And if you'll move your thumb about a half inch to the right (toward the right of the picture) and press down and toward her butt, you should be able to extrude a penis if there's one there. I don't think there is, but that's the acid test.
 

madelineelaine

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I agree that looks female. If the other pig looks the same and you can not feel a penis under the skin then I would go ahead and reintroduce them together.
 

Dawnn

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I definitely can't extrude anything that resembles the penis in the photographs I've looked at.

My concern has been with my lack of familiarity with guinea pigs in general, and what I thought was the very young age of my piglets. Now that you've all helped me understand that they would have come into reproductive maturity much earlier than I had realized, I'm pretty confident that the small swelling I see when I examine April is just normal female tissue, and you've all confirmed that it appears that way to you as well. I was so worried that I might have unintentionally allowed a pregnancy to happen.

Thank you, everyone for your help!

I will reintroduce Penelope and April this morning. :) (Is this something I should be concerned about now??)
 

madelineelaine

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How long have Penelope and April been separated? Have they been in the same room together?

Most likely it will be fine, I can't imagine they have been separated long.
 

Dawnn

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How long have Penelope and April been separated? Have they been in the same room together?

They were separated just for the one day and they're in adjacent wire-sided pens. They've had complete access to each other in every way except for conjugal visits in case April turned out to be a boy!

You don't think they would have any real issues, considering Penelope is in heat? (Or maybe she's not any longer?)

Thank you!
 

madelineelaine

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As far as I am aware heat lasts for about 1 day in guinea pigs and occurs every two weeks or so.

There should be no issue reintroducing them :) that's a short amount of time and they basically were together the whole time anyways.
 

Dawnn

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I stopped into the pet shop today and asked to examine a male guinea pig who looked about the same age (size) as April and am now confident that I can determine the sex of guinea pigs :)

The girls are happily frolicking together again and I just wanted to thank everyone for your help!
 

henry0reilly

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We rescued a pair of female short hairs. After a few months one of them died. We got a baby Abyssinian which we were told is female.

Today I noticed the "baby" is chasing the older one around the cage and humping. My search engine found this thread and I'm relieved to see it may just be a domination tactic and not sexual behavior.
 

grace&piggies

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Firstly, welcome! This forum is an excellent reference point.

Being from a pet shop they could be anything so when you can, flip them over and compare to the above pictures. Both [MENTION=24757]Soecara[/MENTION] and [MENTION=13820]bpatters[/MENTION] have listed links above on sexing for reference.
 
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