Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Register for free to enjoy the full benefits.
Find out more about the NEW, drastically improved site and forum!

Register

Puberty How to estimate pig's age?

SuperK

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2020
Posts
8
Joined
May 12, 2020
Messages
8
I've haven't had much luck finding info on how to get a good idea of how old a guinea pig is. I can assume she's still very young just because of her size compared to adult pigs I've had but that's not exactly foolproof. She was abandoned at a pet boarding facility and the employees had been feeding her Oxbow young guinea pig food but I have no idea if they knew how old she was or they were just feeding her that because they didn't know the difference. Are there any fairly accurate ways to tell how old a pig is? I mostly wanna know so I can switch her to adult guinea pig food if she's old enough.
 

Soecara

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 18, 2012
Posts
1,985
Joined
Aug 18, 2012
Messages
1,985
how much (in grams preferably) does she currently weigh? It isn't super accurate but we may be able to give you a rough age estimate if we know how much she weighs. This only works for young guinea pigs who haven't finished growing yet.
 

SardonicSmile

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Posts
297
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
297
And maybe a picture of the feet, the nails included. Youngsters often have nice straight nails, which get thicker (and for mine at least, a bit more crooked) with age.
 

SuperK

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2020
Posts
8
Joined
May 12, 2020
Messages
8
I ordered a scale from Amazon to weigh her but it's not getting here until Saturday so I have no idea how much she weighs currently but I'll post a reply when I find out. I tried to get a picture of her feet but she's very squirmy so I snapped this when she was on top of her hide. I have no idea if you can tell anything from it or not.
20200513_235905.jpg
 

SardonicSmile

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Posts
297
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
297
The picture is a bit blurry and I am by no means an expert, but either someone really kept up with the nails, or this is still a pretty young pig. The nails look really good and small still.
 

spy9doc

Well-known member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Oct 9, 2011
Posts
51
Joined
Oct 9, 2011
Messages
51
A good cavy-savvy Vet can often pretty accurately assess the age from different growth indicators.
 

SuperK

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2020
Posts
8
Joined
May 12, 2020
Messages
8
I got the scale today. According to this she weighs ~645g, which is bigger than I would've thought lol
 

SardonicSmile

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Posts
297
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
297
If she keeps steadily gaining and with me assuming she has had steady weight gain up till now, going by my latest piggies weights, I would say she is anywhere between 4 to 7 months old...

One of mine was between 4 and 5 months old when she reached that weight, but she was a big one, at 1 years old she was around 1250grams.
Another pig reached that weight between 5 to 6 months old, and at 1 year old she was around 1130 grams.
Another pig reached that weight at around 6 months old.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Top