Guinea pig from Petco gave birth...

[bennettjp]

I guess this is somewhat an introduction and a Petco experience rant?

I am new to guinea pigs. I got them for my 10 year old daughter but I ended up enjoying them as much as her it seems. I picked up two females from Petco, one small female on 12/21/19 and a larger female on 12/24/19. I promptly built a 2x6 C&C cage and all has been well so far, except for some mild allergy issues and new owner woes. On Tuesday (02/18) evening, I went to bed owning two guinea pigs and woke up on Wednesday morning with 5. It appears that the smaller female that I picked up on 12/21/19 is the mother. I double checked with the staff at Petco before purchase and they said multiple times they were females. I double checked all of my adoption paperwork which indicates females as well. I reached out to Petco support, they took down my information and said they would look into it and reach out to me later. I took the larger female out and put her in a seperate cage for now until I can confirm she's actually a she, even though there hasn't been any fights or aggression. Has anyone had a similar experience? I don't really know what I expect Petco to do about the situation, but I was either sold a male instead of a female or someone on the staff mixed my females with a male at some point. I am scheduled to have surgery on 02/21 and this is the last thing I need to be dealing with.

2 of the 3 babies are solid black, maybe jet black? The third one is a light brown. Momma is what I would describe as a dark brown/caramel color. They all seem to be doing well. I am still putting in fresh hay, pellets, water and veggies. I literally have zero experience with this so any input would help.

Thank you,

 

[Guinepigmom_2.0]

I guess this is somewhat an introduction and a Petco experience rant?

I am new to guinea pigs. I got them for my 10 year old daughter but I ended up enjoying them as much as her it seems. I picked up two females from Petco, one small female on 12/21/19 and a larger female on 12/24/19. I promptly built a 2x6 C&C cage and all has been well so far, except for some mild allergy issues and new owner woes. On Tuesday (02/18) evening, I went to bed owning two guinea pigs and woke up on Wednesday morning with 5. It appears that the smaller female that I picked up on 12/21/19 is the mother. I double checked with the staff at Petco before purchase and they said multiple times they were females. I double checked all of my adoption paperwork which indicates females as well. I reached out to Petco support, they took down my information and said they would look into it and reach out to me later. I took the larger female out and put her in a seperate cage for now until I can confirm she's actually a she, even though there hasn't been any fights or aggression. Has anyone had a similar experience? I don't really know what I expect Petco to do about the situation, but I was either sold a male instead of a female or someone on the staff mixed my females with a male at some point. I am scheduled to have surgery on 02/21 and this is the last thing I need to be dealing with.

2 of the 3 babies are solid black, maybe jet black? The third one is a light brown. Momma is what I would describe as a dark brown/caramel color. They all seem to be doing well. I am still putting in fresh hay, pellets, water and veggies. I literally have zero experience with this so any input would help.

Thank you,

Petco isn't really good at checking their genders. Luckily the near me, had all the males in one cage and the females in the other. But with my experience my two boys, one came sick with ringworm. Which is like a missing patch of hair, dry skin, lump with sneezing (congestion). Poor baby and the symptoms didn't show till a week after i brought them home from the store. I called them to explain and of course the guy on the phone went over to the cage and happily says " oh wow look at you buddy you have some ringworm on your face" - its very horrible! The distributor they get them from don't take good care of the babies therefore many cases come with such problems. Luckily I took my baby to the vet, his brother is going to be in a separate cage because at the moment he is healthy, but i am not sure if he will get ringworm or not, but i am prepared.

You can try and go talk to the manager, maybe she can reimburse you for the extra piggies you didn't plan for. It's their fault they aren't super careful of sexing the babies, and also maybe do a health check on your babies as well...Petco has a reputation of sick guinea pigs and or wrong sex given to the customers....

For multiple babies you will probably need a lot of floor space and build a big enough cage to host 6(?)....GOOD LUCK! poor babies.....

 

[bpatters]

Turn the two sows over and compare their private parts. If they're the same, they're both sows. If not, leave them separated.

Pet stores are notorious for missexing pigs and keeping both sexes in the same enclosure, and we've had many a pregnant "male" on this forum. Given the timeline, it's also pretty likely that the pig was pregnant when you got her. Guinea pig pregnancies usually last about 9 weeks. You've had them right at nine weeks for the first one, and eight weeks for the second.

Here's some recommended reading for new pig owners: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/113176-Information-for-new-guinea-pig-owners