Flags Housing Males And Females Together

[topaz259]

I found THIS ad on Craigslist:
(broken link removed)
It's three babies and their mom. The owner apparently doesn't know the gender of the babies and they're 3 months old, so the mom's probably already pregnant by now...!!! I'm SO MAD I don't know if this person can be reported for this or not but I just needed to vent.

 

[Snugglybutt]

Oh yeah, I see things like that all the time online. I had to stop browsing guinea pigs on Kijiji because I'd just get depressed. Almost every single post advertised a female + male living together, with 0 indications that either were neutered. Neutering is expensive where I live so it's quite unlikely any of them are.

 

[topaz259]

Oh my gosh, I didn't know this thing was so common!!! What do people think is going to happen?!

 

[LittleSqueakers]

My guess is that a lot of people don't know that guinea pigs can become pregnant/impregnate females at a very young age. Other people may not know how to sex them properly or are too scared of injuring or traumatizing the youngsters to try to sex them, and for whatever reason won't take them to have a vet do it. Then, I think, there are also people who think that as long as they "closely supervise the opposite genders while they're together," then they'll "be okay." I've read enough posts to convince me that this is a risk not worth taking.

You could always try emailing the owner and politely informing them that GPs can become pregnant/impregnate their mother at a very young age and advise them to separate the animals until they can get them properly sexed. Although, a lot of people don't respond to emails on Craigslist... This is a tricky thing to do as it must be done with proper tact, and some people will still tell you to mind your own beeswax, but it couldn't hurt to try.

 

[topaz259]

Ok, I've sent the person an email. Hopefully she separates them, there are too many homeless piggies already.