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General Smores Mysteriously Became Pregnant!?!?

Veronica

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So turns out Smores who I thought was overweight was pregnant..

This morning as I was going down to get breakfast Smores made and awfully odd sound that made me stop in my tracks, it was nothing I've heard before. Eventually she ran into a hay house which I picked up so I could bring her on the bed. Once on the bed she made a few noises then started hunching over and I noticed a weird thick liquid under her, which terrified me because when Peanut died a very similar liquid came out of her so I thought something was terribly wrong. Minutes later there's a tiny wet guinea pig in front of me!! Over the next half hour she gave birth to three more, the last of which (Chippy) did not survive. Chippy survived about an hour but wasn't very active or breathing well during that time so I'm curious as to what happened there as well if anyone can help me with that.


However the big question I have is how in the world did she get pregnant!?!? Her cage mate, Coffee, is a neutered male. Is it possible when he was neutered it wasn't done correctly? I adopted him when he had already been neutered, so this was not of my doing so I do not know where he was neutered or by who. But there definitely is no penis on him, I'm worried now because I don't want any of my other girls to become pregnant nor do I want Smores to be again either. Not to mention Toffee, the second male I adopted is neutered as well. Toffee seems to be more laid back and hasn't mounted his cage mate Bandit but I'm still concerned for her as well.


I adopted s'mores on February 20, 2018 so it's not possible she was pregnant the entire time correct?


Also any other advice for taking care of pups would be greatly appreciated as I haven't dealt with newborns, only two to three weeks olds.

Attached photos of the cuties, minus Chippy I didn't have enough time before she passed to get any
 

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IMG_6706.jpg IMG_6707.jpg

Veronica

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Just an edit of sorts by penis I mean anything at all down there, I realize now that that writing didn't sound right
 

spy9doc

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Congratulations on the babies! They look so much like their mother.

I can't answer most of your questions, but as a point of reference, neutering a male has nothing to do with his penis. The testicles are removed from the scrotum and eventually the scrotum atrophies to the point that you would never know he ever had one. Maybe this is a case of immaculate conception? :crazy:

Hmmm.......looks as though we were posting at the same time.
 

spy9doc

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double post.....
 

jaycriae

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Sounds to me like Coffee needs to go for a vet visit and be quarantined for now. Whoops. Congrats on the babies, and sorry about Chippy, though. For unplanned piggy pregnancies 4/5 (including S'mores as a survivor) is pretty good, though.
 

Soecara

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If she was adopted in February there is no way the pregnancy would be from then. Guinea pig pregnancies last for 59-73 days, and generally speaking the larger the litter the closer it is to the minimum time and the smaller the litter the closer to the maximum time. So it is likely that Smores was impregnated around the middle of April.

The only way this could happen that would make sense are either that Coffee was never actually neutered, or the neutering was unsuccessful (though I have no idea how that would happen as they remove the testicles in a guinea pig neuter so i have no clue how you could do that and still have him be fertile), or he was put with her within the first 3 to 4 weeks after being neutered (after neutering they can retain residual viable sperm for 3 to 4 weeks).

Onto the point of maybe he was never actually neutered, it is possible for an intact boar to have the appearance of "nothing" down there, as guinea pig boars have open inguinal rings they can draw the testicles up into a section of their abdomen if they want to.
 

spy9doc

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Much better explanation than I could have given!
 

Soecara

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I also forgot to mention that is assuming the only other guinea pig she had direct contact with is Coffee. If she was with any other guinea pigs at any time around April then it might not be Coffee who did the deed.

I'm not sure if you have already but if there is even a small chance that Coffee could be fertile he should be separated from all females.

New born baby guinea pigs don't require any care that is different to a 3 week old pup (from you at least, their mum should be able to take care of everything different that they need at that age), you just need to track their weights to make sure all of them are being fed properly. Don't panic if they drop some weight over the first day or two, that is normal because it can take some time for the mother to start producing milk properly. After that though they should all start gaining, if one falls behind the others you might have to give it some one on one time with mum to give it a chance to suckle.
 

Veronica

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If she was adopted in February there is no way the pregnancy would be from then. Guinea pig pregnancies last for 59-73 days, and generally speaking the larger the litter the closer it is to the minimum time and the smaller the litter the closer to the maximum time. So it is likely that Smores was impregnated around the middle of April.

The only way this could happen that would make sense are either that Coffee was never actually neutered, or the neutering was unsuccessful (though I have no idea how that would happen as they remove the testicles in a guinea pig neuter so i have no clue how you could do that and still have him be fertile), or he was put with her within the first 3 to 4 weeks after being neutered (after neutering they can retain residual viable sperm for 3 to 4 weeks).

Onto the point of maybe he was never actually neutered, it is possible for an intact boar to have the appearance of "nothing" down there, as guinea pig boars have open inguinal rings they can draw the testicles up into a section of their abdomen if they want to.

Well I've separated the males from all the his and will be taking them to the vet soon to see what's going on
 

CavyMama

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or he was put with her within the first 3 to 4 weeks after being neutered (after neutering they can retain residual viable sperm for 3 to 4 weeks).

This was my thought as well. Even post-neuter, males need to be kept separate from females as they are still fertile for 3-4 weeks.
 
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