Surprise! My daughter's new guinea pig just had 2 pups.

[jhustack]

First, let me say we are new to guinea pigs. My daughter wanted one for Christmas. After researching, I learned they do better in pairs. We rescued 2 females, both about 3 months old. Yes, they are both females. Well, one was a little bigger than the other one. This morning, I heard Snowball doing her excited squeal, so I went in to check on her. To my surprise, she has two babies. I have no idea what to do next. Both females are still in the cage and so far, Snowball is nursing. Should I remove Fluffy? I have a Midwest cage set up and realize that I am probably going to have to get another one to give them room. Also, do the babies need special food? I have been doing internet searches all morning to find out what to do. Any advice would help. Thanks.

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[cavycalm1]

First, let me say we are new to guinea pigs. My daughter wanted one for Christmas. After researching, I learned they do better in pairs. We rescued 2 females, both about 3 months old. Yes, they are both females. Well, one was a little bigger than the other one. This morning, I heard Snowball doing her excited squeal, so I went in to check on her. To my surprise, she has two babies. I have no idea what to do next. Both females are still in the cage and so far, Snowball is nursing. Should I remove Fluffy? I have a Midwest cage set up and realize that I am probably going to have to get another one to give them room. Also, do the babies need special food? I have been doing internet searches all morning to find out what to do. Any advice would help. Thanks.

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First of all, they are two cuties!
You may want to start off by triple checking that fluffy is definetly a girl because you don't want a back to back pregnancy!
If you do plan on keeping them, you will want to add another Midwest cage.
And for the food, tho babies need more calcium to help them grow, so you would need to add some parsley into their diet.

[Soecara]

No need to remove Fluffy, as long as Fluffy is definitely female. Guinea pig sows usually make good aunties for another guinea pigs babies, it is only on very rare occasions that a sow will take issue with another sows pups. You will however want to upgrade to the double connected midwest setup sooner rather than later, the edges of the pups ears may get chewed if the sows feel overcrowded.

Baby guinea pigs, lactating sows, and guinea pigs under 6 months of age all require the same care, which only differs from adult guinea pig care in the sense that they require extra calcium for their growing bones (or milk), whereas calcium intake should be limited for adult guinea pigs to minimize the risk of them forming bladder stones. If you are already feeding young guinea pig pellets (oxbow and KMS are the only brands we recommend) then there is no need to do anything differently for mum and pups.

If either of the pups are boys they will need to be separated off from the girls when they are 3 weeks old, here is a page with images you can compare to http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm . Don't worry too much if you aren't sure what genders they are, it becomes easier to tell as they get closer to three weeks (also male guinea pigs have a bone in their penis which can usually be felt as a firm vertical line under the skin if you gently rub your finger across the top of their genitals).

[jhustack]

First of all, they are two cuties!
You may want to start off by triple checking that fluffy is definetly a girl because you don't want a back to back pregnancy!
If you do plan on keeping them, you will want to add another Midwest cage.
And for the food, tho babies need more calcium to help them grow, so you would need to add some parsley into their diet.

Thank you. I have checked Fluffy. She is a girl. I went ahead and ordered a second cage this morning. I noticed that they seemed a little cramped with all 4 in there. My daughter is absolutely in love with the babies. I am just hoping to give them the best start since we have them now.

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[jhustack]

No need to remove Fluffy, as long as Fluffy is definitely female. Guinea pig sows usually make good aunties for another guinea pigs babies, it is only on very rare occasions that a sow will take issue with another sows pups. You will however want to upgrade to the double connected midwest setup sooner rather than later, the edges of the pups ears may get chewed if the sows feel overcrowded.

Baby guinea pigs, lactating sows, and guinea pigs under 6 months of age all require the same care, which only differs from adult guinea pig care in the sense that they require extra calcium for their growing bones (or milk), whereas calcium intake should be limited for adult guinea pigs to minimize the risk of them forming bladder stones. If you are already feeding young guinea pig pellets (oxbow and KMS are the only brands we recommend) then there is no need to do anything differently for mum and pups.

If either of the pups are boys they will need to be separated off from the girls when they are 3 weeks old, here is a page with images you can compare to http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm . Don't worry too much if you aren't sure what genders they are, it becomes easier to tell as they get closer to three weeks (also male guinea pigs have a bone in their penis which can usually be felt as a firm vertical line under the skin if you gently rub your finger across the top of their genitals).

Thank you for all the information. I will definitely look at the link. While I love how cute these two nuggets are, I don't want anymore. Lol

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[DianeDa]

oh! they are so cite! But they will grow so fast, mine is 4 months already and looks much bigger than even 1 month ago! They are so adorable! I didn't get: are you planning to keep all the 4 now?

[jhustack]

oh! they are so cite! But they will grow so fast, mine is 4 months already and looks much bigger than even 1 month ago! They are so adorable! I didn't get: are you planning to keep all the 4 now?

I did purchase a second cage and they have plenty of room now, however, I think we have one boy and one girl. I think we are going to find the boy a new home. He is the brown face one. We will have 3 girls then. My daughter wants to keep the boy too, but I haven't found a vet in my area that will neuter a guinea pig that doesn't cost a fortune.

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