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Introductions introducing new guinea pigs to each other?

avengedsoph

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I have 3 boy guinea pigs at the moment, but i am going to get 2 or 3 more girls. but before you say it 'dont breed' i will let them meet and will try to make sure they dont have babies if they do, then they do, but i will try my best. but my question is if i get 3 girls, one is going to be from a different litter, will it get on with the other two who will be from the same litter in the same cage? sorry if its confusing?
 

bpatters

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Avengedsoph, do you know about roan genes in guinea pigs? Can you always tell by looking at a guinea pig whether it has a roan gene? Do you know what a lethal white guinea pig is? Do you know how many sows, on average, die in childbirth? Do you know how many pups die at birth, or are stillborn?

Many, many guinea pigs carry the roan gene, which is very visible in some pigs, and not at all in others. When two roans mate, every pup has an equal chance of being born normal, or being a lethal white.

Lethal white guinea pigs are born blind and deaf, with no or malformed teeth, and badly mess-up digestive systems. If they live, and many do not, they require lifelong hand feeding several times a day, and frequent tooth trimmings, which may have to be carried out by a vet at considerable expense. Their veterinary bills are extraordinarily high, and few people will adopt them because of the intense amount of work they require. They usually wind up as sanctuary pigs, dumped on some guinea pig rescue because their owners cannot or will not care for them, and the rescue cannot adopt them out. If you want to find out something about the care of lethal guinea pigs, read (broken link removed). Mildred Mittens, the screen name of the woman who cares for Fairy, can never leave her for longer than two hours at a time. Are you ready to stay home with any lethals that may be born to your guinea pigs?

On average, one out of five sows dies in childbirth. Are you willing to see one of your sows die because you decided to breed her? Will you be willing to handfeed her surviving pups around the clock for a couple of weeks?

Are you telling us that you are willing to risk all that just to put some sows with your boars and "will try to make sure they don't have babies?" If you put them together, they will have babies. It takes seconds, literally, for a male to impregnate a female, and there's no way you'd be able to stop it, especially not with half a dozen guinea pigs running around.

What's your goal here? Do you want to have baby guinea pigs, or (maybe) see them born? Then apply as a foster for a rescue. They get many pregnant guinea pigs, and need knowledgeable families to look after them. They'll arrange for adoptions after they're born. You get the see the miracle of birth, but not because you set out to breed a guinea pig.

Do you just want a large herd? Then look for more males. You can't tell the difference in a male and female when they're running around the cage unless you just happen to get a glimpse of the male's testicles, so why does it matter to you that they be females? Or look for spayed females.

Besides, you likely won't be able to put multiples boars in with females -- they'll fight, sometimes to the death, over the females. If you get three more females to go with your males, you'll wind up with either two or three separate cages of guinea pigs, because multiple boars with the sows is NOT likely to fly.

You've got a choice here. You can be a responsible owner and refuse to breed guinea pigs when so many thousands in this country are already homeless and in need of adoption. Or you can throw the equivalent of a teen-aged temper tantrum and insist on doing what you want to do, when you want to do it, regardless of the potential harm to your animals.

What's it going to be, the adult choice or the child's choice?
 
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avengedsoph

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im not going to put the girls and boys together they are going in different cages but i want to let them play together i will be with them at all times so they wont have a chance to mate.
 

catzeye21138

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Guinea pigs from different litters may get along with each other as well as litter mates would. It depends on the guinea pigs, some are compatible, and some aren't. All of my pigs aren't related, and they get along just fine. Hopefully your's will also.

As far as getting new guinea pigs, you do not need to keep them together by any means. If you introduce the females to the males, and have them living together, they WILL have babies. It isn't a question of if they will, or not.

I highly suggest that if you insist on getting females, making a separate cage for them. Keeping them all together is irresponsible.

edit: Keeping track of 6 guinea pigs isn't as easy as it sounds. It would be better if you let the females play with the females, and the males play with the males.
 

avengedsoph

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i wont keep them in the same cage people! they will be in different rooms!
 

bpatters

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i wont keep them in the same cage people! they will be in different rooms!

I have 3 boy guinea pigs at the moment, but i am going to get 2 or 3 more girls. but before you say it 'dont breed' i will let them meet and will try to make sure they dont have babies if they do, then they do, but i will try my best.

Ummm, wanna explain those two statements of yours?
 

catzeye21138

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That's good that they will be in different rooms, but you also said this.

i want to let them play together i will be with them at all times so they wont have a chance to mate.

I don't want to pick on you, but I'm trying to advise you not to let your females guinea pigs play with your male guinea pigs.
 

catzeye21138

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i wont keep them in the same cage people! they will be in different rooms!

That's good that they will be in different rooms, but you also said this.
i want to let them play together i will be with them at all times so they wont have a chance to mate.
I don't want to pick on you, but I'm trying to advise you not to let your females guinea pigs play with your male guinea pigs.
 
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avengedsoph

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while were on the topic i understand that there are many guinea pig who dont have home but im from the UK and there arnt many places were i live to rescue them you can only buy them from petshops, so if i wanted another guinea pig its either breed or pet shop and i understand were everyone is coming from but if people want to breed people should let them. im just saying from two sides is all im not having ago at anyone
 

catzeye21138

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Have you tried craigslist? (broken link removed)How about this site? (broken link removed)I can't stop you from breeding. But I can give you wonderful alternatives. You need to be informed.
 

lovemyguineas

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I want to give a little input. Speaking from experience.... I made a few mistakes myself. My first BIG mistake was I bought my Guineas at the pet store. I bought one at first, which I was told was a girl. SO I did some reading (BUT not enough) and found out that guineas like to be with a friend so 10 days later I went back to the same pet store and bought another guinea. I didn't want mine to be sad living alone. Of course I made it clear, I had a female so I wanted a female so they could live in the same cage and play together. My son and I pick out a female guinea and brought her home. Introduced the 2 of them. Well the so called first female I got would not leave the new female alone. Kept jumping on the back of her etc. BUT I just assumed this was the getting to know each other stage. I got them out to play together 3 times and this behavior continued from Pixie ( my so called 1st female ). Twix( my second female) didn't seem to care. She just went about her business. Thank God that the 3rd time they were out Pixie was getting friendly and I just didn't want her being like that with Twix so I Picked her up only to discover that my so called female was indeed a male! Needless to say they had separate cages (which they had from the beginning because I wanted to introduce them slowly) BUT I can not put my guineas together even now (unless I would get one of them fixed and I just dont want to do that to either one of them. I then changed Pixies name to Snicker Doodle since I now knew he was a boy! SO I have been worrying for the past several weeks about poor Twix. I keep hoping she is NOT PREGNANT because I just love her to pieces and would not want to risk losing her. IF she did by chance get pregnant on one of the 3 times they were together before I knew he was a boy (because I trusted the pet store in sexing my pigs) she should have them by the 18th of this month if my calculations are correct. My piggies were together for floor time play September 5,7, and 9th. The 9th of course being the day I discovered my so called female Pixie was a male (Snicker Doodle now). I NEVER again got them out together nor do I want to knowing that there is a chance to lose my Twix! IF I had it to do all over again (now after all this research and this wonderful site) I would have searched for my guinea pigs online and in shelters. I of course have had this discussion with my family and we all agree that IF we would ever get any more (because I feel bad having a male and female that can not play together and have thought about TRYING to get another female and a male so each one of mine would have a friend (same sex friend of course)), I definitely would save one before making another pet store purchase! I just can NOT understand why anybody would want to breed guineas on purpose knowing the risk of them dieing. Then again I really LOVE my guineas. And they do talk to one another and look at one another (through the cages of course) so that is nice.
 

avengedsoph

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i am not against breeding but i will not do it i love my pigs to much i just think that if that's what people want to do and they can support all pigs can pay for a vet and have good homes they why not? surely didnt you look? i got my boy when they were 7 weeks old surly you could of seen there balls? i dont understand how people dont no i had girls when i was little and i knew the difference :s
 

lovemyguineas

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NO this is where I went wrong......I TOOK SOMEBODIES WORD THAT THEY WERE TELLING ME THE TRUTH! They keep girls in one side and boys in another so I picked from the girl cage and ended up having a boy. I did not check. I never looked at there private area because I trusted what I was told. This is why I say I definitely learned a lesson and would have done things differently if I had it to do all over again!
 

avengedsoph

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normally a person would double check...each to there on i guess
 

catzeye21138

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i am not against breeding but i will not do it i love my pigs to much i just think that if that's what people want to do and they can support all pigs can pay for a vet and have good homes they why not? surely didnt you look? i got my boy when they were 7 weeks old surly you could of seen there balls? i dont understand how people dont no i had girls when i was little and i knew the difference :s
A large problems lies with people who don't know exactly what they are doing. Sometimes being able to pay the vet bills just isn't enough. Breeding and pregnancy is a complicated thing that not everyone can just take on. Then we get back to the issue of Adopting over breeding, and I think you already know this forum's viewpoints so I'm not going to recap.
 
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