General New Female Guinea Pig-Possibly pregnant concerns

[TearLily]

Hello,

So I browse Craigslist ads regularly because we don't really have any rescues near by me that take guinea pigs in and I am always concerned with some people's questionable treating of animals. I won't buy from a pet store and I don't have option of a rescue so this is how I have gotten all my guinea pigs so far is from other people not having time to care for them or not wanting them.

I saw an ad on there with someone posting about one female and one male guinea pig being together in a small cage and wanting both to be rehomed together. Automatically my concern is obviously of the female being pregnant so I contacted person and said I could take female in but not male because I have only females and don't know how I feel about neutering a male because of risks, as well as not knowing any good guinea pig vets around me specifically for that and I don't really want a second all male herd right now or for one separate lonely male pig.

Person said okay but she only had that cage and would bring female in cage, I did let her know I was bringing my cage and she could bring both in her cage and put female in mine and when I thought box I thought of a big open box but she basically put her in like a shoebox with a lid and when she opened lid (in open parking lot and yes I had my friend with me for meeting) the female guinea pig almost jumped out the box. It was horrifying because it would have been horrible if she hit the ground or ran away in lot. Anyway basically what I am getting at is she told me male and female are about 6 months, from same litter of someone who had a pregnant gp and she doesnt think they are pregnant because the male doesnt try to mate with her. Obviously my suspicion was higher she could be pregnant but I will say she is very small at the moment.

She is super skittish at the moment (probably traumatized from shoebox and dogs of former owner who might of terrorized her according to said person) so I have not checked her to check if for sure female but she is in separate cage right now for isolation time from other piggies as well as changing food over slowly and slowly trying veggies out.

So basically what I am asking is how concerned should I be about her (if she is a she) being pregnant, if I am concerned if I should not try to introduce her to my current 3 female herd (planning to add grids to c&c and having grid barrier for them to slowly meet then later clean everything and wash everything in vinegar and do introductions), or would the herd if they all get along help her if she is pregnant and has babies or possibly do the opposite?

I also want to note I feel horrible about not taking both guinea pigs but I cant see myself rehoming to some stranger the one male pig or getting him fixed and I also don't agree with breeding guinea pigs but I also did not want this guinea pig to end up at a bad place and have babies and to be kept with male babies and so forth and Im not the most experienced with GPs but I will try my best and am willing to go to Vet if need be.

Thank you and sorry for blabbing on and kind of ranting...

 

[Soecara]

Act as if she is pregnant until proven otherwise, the chances she is pregnant are much higher than not. This is assuming both the male and female were correctly sexed and it was in fact an intact male and female housed together.

I would want to quarantine her for the full recommended three weeks if possible, simply because her background sounds a bit sketchy to me. This means completely separate cages in separate rooms, tend to your existing guinea pigs first then tend to the new girl last and always change clothes after tending to new girl. However she may not cope well being along so you will really have to play it by ear and decide if the risk of introducing earlier than the quarantine period is outweighed by benefits to her from being able to be with other guinea pigs.

Female guinea pigs are normally completely fine with another sows pups and make good aunts, as long as all adult sows are introduced before the birth.

For introductions I have found doing a split cage beforehand to acutally be detrimental to smooth introductions. It just gets them all uptight and territorial before acutally being able to have physical contact with each other. I have always found the smoothest introductions to be with groups/individuals completely unknown to each other in a brand new neutral area, but I always make sure I have a full day to dedicate to introductions regardless. Here is a great page for info about introductions if you haven't read it already https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html

 

[TearLily]

Act as if she is pregnant until proven otherwise, the chances she is pregnant are much higher than not. This is assuming both the male and female were correctly sexed and it was in fact an intact male and female housed together.

I would want to quarantine her for the full recommended three weeks if possible, simply because her background sounds a bit sketchy to me. This means completely separate cages in separate rooms, tend to your existing guinea pigs first then tend to the new girl last and always change clothes after tending to new girl. However she may not cope well being along so you will really have to play it by ear and decide if the risk of introducing earlier than the quarantine period is outweighed by benefits to her from being able to be with other guinea pigs.

Female guinea pigs are normally completely fine with another sows pups and make good aunts, as long as all adult sows are introduced before the birth.

For introductions I have found doing a split cage beforehand to acutally be detrimental to smooth introductions. It just gets them all uptight and territorial before acutally being able to have physical contact with each other. I have always found the smoothest introductions to be with groups/individuals completely unknown to each other in a brand new neutral area, but I always make sure I have a full day to dedicate to introductions regardless. Here is a great page for info about introductions if you haven't read it already https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html

Thank you for your reply and advice. I agree it is sketchy and if they are 6 months and actual right genders of then why she wouldnt already be pregnant because at 1-2 months he could've gotten her pregnant right so she would have gone through the whole pregnancy process but she is pretty small especially compared to my adult ones and my adolescent one. I would feel worse if i found out Male is actually also female because i wouldve taken both in over this questionable living situation.

I'll give your advice a try with the big neutral area together but before that I'll read up and I need to correctly sex her and so forth.

Thank you!