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Definitely not 2 boys!!

KellRam89

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So my daughter whose 12 wanted guinea pigs, has for years but we've never been able to because my mother is highly allergic. We lost my mom April 1st in an accident and we decided to let my daughter get a pair of guinea pigs. My aunt had 8 guinea pigs she want looking for homes for (unclear where they all came from exactly I'm guessing her many grandkids) she said the 2 my daughter picked out were about 6 months old, and both boys. PERFECT or so we thought... 2 weeks later we come home tonight to 3 brand nre5 babies!! I never bothered to confirm the sex of the guinea pigs because she said they were boys 😭

So we did our research quick!! Seperated dad (babies were still damp looking so I don't think he could have reimpregnated her yet but we will watch her and handle it accordingly) I've handled the babies if I'm correct she has 2 girls and 1 boy. I'll confirm again and again over time.

I know the boys have to be removed at 21 days.

So here lies my questions I would like help with, because I don't know what sites to trust on Google.

1. Mom gets fresh veggies, pellets and Timothy hay daily.. I didn't know she was pregnant so she wasent getting supplimented.. do I need to buy alfalfa to add with her Timothy hay once a day?

2. Please give me tips in how to help care for her and babies!! We have them in LARGE totes as a cage right now. (Cage is being ordered tonight. We didn't order one right away to make sure there was no allergy issues with the 2 piggies for our house.Will be ordering a bigger cage now!)

3. If I'm correct and mom had 2 girls and 1 boy.. can the girls stay with mom or do they need to be removed too?? My aunt said she would take the dad back, and I'll help her sex the rest of her GPs so this doesn't happen again.. so my next question is can the son be seperated, fixed, and then added back with his mom and sisters?

please note this was NOT intentional. We were told we had 2 boys. We did not want babies but we have them and ate committed to taking care of them. We will keep them unless we can find a loving home for them, otherwise I guess we have a herd?

Pic of 2 piggies together is mom and dad. Mom is the black and white one her name is Shadow. Dad is the calico his name is Phoenix. Babies are cookie (calico) Honey (greyish Brown and white) Brownie (reddish brown and white)
 

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ItsaZoo

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First of all, thank you for doing so much research on proper care for mom and the babies. You've already got a lot of information.

Since gestation is anywhere from 59 to 73 days, this little mom was quite pregnant when you got her 2 weeks ago. And if the two you adopted were housed with other guinea pigs, the other guinea pig may not be a boy. It's good that you separated him right away just in case.

As far as cages, be sure to get one that's large enough for mom and babies. Moms can get stressed when they're crowded and then they injure their babies. Also be sure the bars on the cage are close together so the babies can't get stuck and get injured. The family can stay together for 3 weeks while the babies nurse. At 3 weeks the boys should be separated. The girls can stay with their mom. As far as neutering the boy, he will need to be at least 4 months old and be sure to find a vet that is experienced with this type of surgery.

While mom is nursing she should have extra calcium, and the babies should get extra calcium until they are 6 months old. Adding Alfalfa hay to their regular hay is one way to provide calcium, as well as adding parsley or cilantro to the fresh veggies that they get.

Make sure the pellets are a good quality brand. KMS and Oxbow are good brands and provide proper nutrition.

Good luck with your new family - they are adorable and very lucky to be healthy and have such a good home!
 

KellRam89

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Thank you! We are going to be ordering a 2x5 with 2x2 loft c&c cage. It looks like it can take awhile to get here so we are going to find a bigger place to house them for the meantime..

Shadow gets Romain with cilantro every morning along with other veggies so good to know she was getting supplimented a little!

We did confirm that Phoenix is a boy. We looked up how to sex them and checked their genitalia and he is indeed a boy. (And if my eyes are correct on the tiny babies we have 2 girls and 1 boy)

Phoenix is not handling the seperation very well [emoji3525] we are hoping to get him back to my aunt's today so that he can rejoin her herd and not be alone and scared. We thought about keeping him and having him live with his son but are worried that because Phoenix hasent let us handle him in the 2 weeks he's been here and now with how panicked he is over living alone that he will not do well waiting 3 weeks for a roomie and also worried about then not getting along. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using Tapatalk
 

bpatters

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Surprise! Cute pups!

If they were in with other pigs at your aunt's house, the male you have may not be the dad. Guinea pig gestation is normally a little over 10 weeks, so the sow could have been pregnant when you got them.

However, she may well be pregnant again -- they can get pregnant again within minutes of giving birth, and he'd have been VERY interested in doing that because it's a strong heat cycle for her. Back-to-back pregnancies are very hard on the sow and the second litter of pups, so make sure she has high quality hay and pellets (the only ones we recommend are KMS Hayloft and Oxbow), and supplement her with vitamin C.

One word of caution about romaine. It's no higher in calcium than the other lettuces, but some pigs will secrete copious amounts of urinary calcium when eating it, and that may contribute to bladder stone formation. Other pigs don't do that, so it's not a problem with romaine, but with the pig. A safer bet is red or green leaf lettuce.
 

KellRam89

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We did read that she could immediately get pregnant again ,[emoji24] we will be watching!!

We do feed her Oxbow brand Timothy hay and pellets! Glad to hear we picked a good brand! We are going to pick up some alfalfa today to add with her Timothy hay. (We have her on young GP pellet because she isn't quite a year is that ok?)

She was only housed with this male. (Aunt thought they were both boys) not with others except her 2 other litter mates which they sepersted them at 3 weeks she said. There were 2 boys 2 girls and she apparently grabbed the wrong black GP to put in the boy cage. My aunt ALSO had babies yesterday!

So our 1 little boy may get a boy roomie/cousin from my aunt that I will personally make sure IS A BOY haha (other option is fixing our baby boy and reintroducing him to his mom and sisters and just having 4 which my daughter likes that idea better)

Thank you for the lettuce info!!!! I will search the forms for a list of veggies so I can make sure we're getting it right!

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using Tapatalk
 

KellRam89

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Considering a cage like this either as a single story or investing and getting the double can somebody tell me if this isn't okay option for guineas?
b1d200a718676cec9cdae052829b36a6.jpg


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Thunder

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It is not a good cage. A much cheaper option is a C&C cage. The cage is only 6 feet of floor space and it is way to small.
 

spy9doc

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can somebody tell me if this isn't okay option for guineas?

No.......that cage isn't even suitable for one cavy! There is a lot of information here on the forum. Please......make your own C&C cage and everyone will be happy. ;)

Check on the parent site of this forum for acceptable cage sizes.

https://www.guineapigcages.com/
 

KellRam89

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Thanks!! Our first Instinct was a C&C cage so we will stick with that option!!

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spy9doc

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You're welcome!

My best advice is not to rush into anything. You seem to be good at doing research and this is an important area. I started with a 4x2 cage with a 1x2 loft and soon found that even that wasn't large enough for two cavies. The beauty of a C&C cage is that you can always reconfigure or expand it if the family grows. I expanded mine to a 5x2 with a 2x2 loft.......and if I had room, I would make it even larger. I have everything on both levels.......pellets, water, hay, litter box, and hideys. We live in a small home and as it is now my piggies live in my small home office and their large cage sits alongside my desk. Like many others, I work from home at present so they have a large cagemate virtually all day. I just acquired two little boars and I get to watch their personalities emerge and see all the cute things they do as they grow.

There is a plethora of cage pics and designs on this site. Take your time and look at them all before you start. After you have gathered a bit of information, I'll be happy to share some pics of my cage in progress if you like. Using the offset loft design makes it easy to clean under the loft. And, if you make a really secure cage, you won't need the support (angled grid) under the loft. My design uses a lot of grids, but my cage is SO sturdy that I can lie or sit in it.....not something I do regularly. lol


Big cage - small space.jpg Cage side.jpg Offset loft design.jpg
 
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KellRam89

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We realized that ordering a c and c cage and getting it shipped would take weeks. So we did some research on the size of grid we needed, where to get coroplast, and we built one! This is what we came up with for a starter cage. We have more panels left so we can expand if needed!
8e6f9be7811fb2a363a089e4792d82ac.jpg


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Candalalala

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Looks great so far! I'm glad you were able to fine grids with 9x9 holes! If you use the extra panels for floortime, be weary that babies can squeeze out of the holes! :)
 

bpatters

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Yes, the babies can get out. I'd put some cardboard on the inside of the open walls to keep them from escaping.
 

KellRam89

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Hello! So I wanted to keep things on the same form since it's about the same momma!!

Short update. Momma and babies are doing great, baby boy was seperated at 21 days and introduced to another male friend. Mom and girls are still together. Boys are in the smaller cage as seen above and mom and girls are in a 3x4 (will be adding a 1x3 or 2x3 upper level for them once I get more panels).

So, as stated before I seperated dad as soon as we found the babies (as I didn't realize we had a girl because my aunt sexed them wrong) aunt took dad back and we make sure he's housed with another male. But because we were not home when babies were born (left at 10am no babies back at 8pm and babies were born) were not sure if he impregnated her again.. the babies were born Sat June 6th so if she was pregnant she would be about 5.5 weeks along. When will I know for sure that she is pregnant?

If she is do I have to seperate her from the other girls? And if so for how long?

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using Tapatalk
 
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