Is it worth it?

Neutering for me is safer then spaying one of my girls. It works out well, but he has to be separated from any other pig for about 2 weeks. Yes it is worth it.. all my boys are neutered. I had the shelter fix my boys for free.

soccerchickgrp5 said:

Neutering for me is safer then spaying one of my girls. It works out well, but he has to be separated from any other pig for about 2 weeks. Yes it is worth it.. all my boys are neutered. I had the shelter fix my boys for free.

Click to expand...

shelters fix gp's for free??

Ah right, I didn't realise he would have to be separated... The shelter fixed your pigs for free? :O

Will boars eat the babies? Is it safe to pick the babies up?

I'm new to pigs and I've heard horrors about Guinea pigs eating their babies..

Has this happened to you?

Will it be safe to pick up the babies? I've heard mixed opinions on this...

Hypothetically, could I leave a neutered boar in with my preggy pig throughout pregnancy to birth and so on? Or will he try and hurt them? :|


Thanks for the help in advance!

Re: Will boars eat the babies? Is it safe to pick the babies up?

I thought that too until I came across accounts of how people had come home and found their pigs had killed their babies.. I should have said kill really rather than eat.

It must just be rare, or made up I guess..

Re: Will boars eat the babies? Is it safe to pick the babies up?

Guinea pigs don't kill the Babies- but of they are dead they might eat them. You can leave the boar with her.

Re: Will boars eat the babies? Is it safe to pick the babies up?

Boars, especially neutered ones, generally make good nannies. As always, keep an eagle out for anything unusual when you're about to have or have just had babies, but it should be fine.

If you haven't separate your pigs, please do it now. If she gives birth when he's still in the cage, she can have back-to-back pregnancy. That's very bad for the sow.

Yes I know that, but she's only been pregnant for just over two weeks at the moment so she has a few weeks to go yet.. by which time the boar will probably have been neutered or removed if he's not neutered within the next week!

This will be her last litter as she has already had two before I got her (and was already pregnant when I got her) and I think it's really cruel when she's only 11 months old :/! I won't let the boar get her, don't worry!!

Re: Will boars eat the babies? Is it safe to pick the babies up?

Aw the idea of the boar being a nannie is quite sweet :')! I am with them a lot anyway so I will be able to keep a close eye on them.

Thanks for your help guys! I'm glad all I have to worry about now is making sure all male babies are removed from the mother and other females when they are mature enough!

If you've had her for two weeks, how did you know when she got pregnant? If it's noticeable, she's close to delivery.

Because the woman I bought her from had literally just put them together and it's not noticeable, she's still normal sized but you can slightly feel the babies.

At a push she is 3 weeks gone. The vet told me it was very early stages.

In that case, please separate them now. She might not be pregnant yet. She can only get pregnant when she's in heat. If it's only two weeks, you won't feel the baby.
https://www.guinealynx.info/reproduction.html
https://cavyspirit.com/breeding.htm

Why is it such a big deal to separate them? Just put something in there to block them from each other. Or put the boar in a bathtub or somewhere you can keep him separated.

If you get him neutered, you will have to separate them when he's going through recovery anyways.
https://cavyspirit.com/neutering.htm

She is pregnant, they vet told me so.. and said it was early stages. That's the only reason I haven't separated them. I chose her because I wanted to make sure she wasn't bred from again.

Well separating them is a big deal to me because they're really skittish still and I was worried being on their own would scare them even more, but I will obviously do what is right for them.

And yes I am aware now that he needs to be separated either way.. my original question was whether to keep him separated permanently or neuter him as they are my first pigs, and I've read about pigs dying from being neutered and being ill and whatnot so that's why I'm fretting over what to do and whether it is worth it.

Did the vet do an x-ray or ultrasound? I've not heard of any vets being able to tell in that early stage from just looking at the sow.

Do you plan to keep the babies? If you do, don't neuter him. You can put the baby boys with him if there are any.
But please, whatever you decide, please separate them now. It's not worth the risk keeping them together.

Re: Will boars eat the babies? Is it safe to pick the babies up?

My cousin's daughter told me her guinea pigs ate their babies. I have no idea, because they took awful care of their pigs. I tried to get them to let me take them, to no avail. Two adult females and one adult male in a 10 g fish tank :-(. The two females died giving birth after a ton of litters, and I don't know what happened but at a time they had like 7 pigs in there. My cousins wife was always like, "I love them, they are my babies", but it was disgusting conditions they lived in. I debated calling the police, but it would've started a family problem and we live in farm country (where most people don't give a hoot, I've called on dog abuse and neglect and no one does anything). Over like a year span all but the dad and one lone surviving baby boy had died. My cousins daughter said she left (forgot to feed/water them) came home after a vacation and there was blood all over the tank. The dad was bloated, and the baby was gone. Now I'm assuming the bloat came from him dying, but she said she never found the body of the baby. Ugh. That story just makes me cry retelling it. That was like 4 years ago, and no new pig since then (I assume, I've kinda distanced myself from them because I was so horrified).

Can you tell us where Bolton is? I'm assuming there are many Boltons in the world.

No, she just had a feel of her. They don't get many pigs in so perhaps she is mistaken, however my sow is still a pretty normal size so she mustn't be very far along.. I will take her back and ask her to check again.

I'm not certain, it depends on how many she has. I think I am leaning towards neutering because I think that's best for them both, so I will separate them after his op, which I should hopefully get booked in early next week. I won't be able to get an extra cage until that time!

Re: Will boars eat the babies? Is it safe to pick the babies up?

ClemmyOddieIndy said:

My cousin's daughter told me her guinea pigs ate their babies. I have no idea, because they took awful care of their pigs. I tried to get them to let me take them, to no avail. Two adult females and one adult male in a 10 g fish tank :-(. The two females died giving birth after a ton of litters, and I don't know what happened but at a time they had like 7 pigs in there. My cousins wife was always like, "I love them, they are my babies", but it was disgusting conditions they lived in. I debated calling the police, but it would've started a family problem and we live in farm country (where most people don't give a hoot, I've called on dog abuse and neglect and no one does anything). Over like a year span all but the dad and one lone surviving baby boy had died. My cousins daughter said she left (forgot to feed/water them) came home after a vacation and there was blood all over the tank. The dad was bloated, and the baby was gone. Now I'm assuming the bloat came from him dying, but she said she never found the body of the baby. Ugh. That story just makes me cry retelling it. That was like 4 years ago, and no new pig since then (I assume, I've kinda distanced myself from them because I was so horrified).

Can you tell us where Bolton is? I'm assuming there are many Boltons in the world.

Click to expand...

That is awful!! This is why I am worried because I've heard that they do it for no reason - even when they are well fed.

It's terrible what happened to all those pigs in your story, I'm really sorry to hear it I'm not surprised you're horrified by it.

And Bolton is in Lancashire/Manchester in the UK

Ellespigs said:

No, she just had a feel of her. They don't get many pigs in so perhaps she is mistaken, however my sow is still a pretty normal size so she mustn't be very far along.. I will take her back and ask her to check again.

I'm not certain, it depends on how many she has. I think I am leaning towards neutering because I think that's best for them both, so I will separate them after his op, which I should hopefully get booked in early next week. I won't be able to get an extra cage until that time!

Click to expand...

If she is in the early stages of pregnancy you could probably do a spay on her. However, it sounds like you need a more cavy savvy vet.

ETA: The reason I told that story is I think it's really only in cases of neglect that they would do that. I mean it was severe neglect those pigs experienced. My heart broke for them, and I tried to get her to give them to me. But she refused.