Pregnancy Unexpected pregnancy, guessing 7 weeks or so...what to do to baby proof my cage?

[bernieg]

I feel horrible for not noticing the signs sooner, but my 5 month old is pregnant. I am assuming she is around 7 weeks or so as she is pretty large and I can already feel the babies kicking and slightly see them kicking. I am guessing she only has two pups....I am experienced with the birth and labour of rats and their behaviours during, prior, and after birth but not guinea pigs and am pretty nervous. I recently bought my two girls (Tikka, who's pregnant, and Truffles) from a pet store around November 26th. Since then I had noticed Tikka was getting larger and larger and thought I was over feeding her. I give them fresh veggies at least once a day, and have started giving them veggies in the morning and night with lots of hay. I feel because I was unsure if she was pregnant or not I haven't taken the proper precautions to ensure my girl a safe and healthy pregnancy. With the research I have done so far, I am assuming she will have her babies very shortly and was hoping if anyone could give me help to baby proof my cage and anything else I could do for her during this time. She is still in the same cage with her sister Truffles as they are getting along fine. Anyone who has any information that could help me would be greatly appreciated. I love all my animals to death and am excited for this pregnancy but also nervous because I'm not as knowledgeable as I feel I should be about guinea pigs, specially a pregnant one!

 

[PiggieWigglies]

Hello and welcome! What I can think of to do for her feeding wise is make sure she has lots of calcium so feed her alfalfa hay (but make sure she has timothy pellets, if her pellets and hay are alfalfa, thats too much calcium) and veggies with vitamin C in them. @CavyMama @Inle_Rabbit might help. They are very helpful with these things

 

[bernieg]

I have been giving her Alfalfa hay because she is still 5 months, and I heard you should give them alfalfa hay until they're around a year old! Should I be giving her veggies more then twice a day? Or should I continuously have veggies in there for her? Thank you

 

[CavyMama]

Well, you've learned first hand one of the reasons we don't support petstores here. They often missex their pigs and end up putting males with females and send home pregnant pigs with people. Hopefully this is lesson learned and you won't be buying from petstores anymore.

To babyproof, you can piggyback another set of grids onto the ones you already have to make the holes smaller. You can alternately raise the height of the walls by adding more coroplast to the top of the sides.

 

[Princess_Piggie]

@bernieg anything alfalfa should be immediately cut from their diet when they turn 6 months When they get past 6 months it's just too much calcium and it can become dangerous.

 

[bernieg]

@CavyMama Yes I know, I won't be buying animals from a pet store again...I actually do not have a C&C cage, I'm planning on buying one soon thought, I have a living world cage right now...

@Princess_Piggie Oh alright! I'll make sure to do that, thanks for clearing that up!

 

[lissie]

Are you sure Truffles is female? Don't believe what the pet store told you.
Please verify if she's really a female. If she turns out to be a male, he can impregnate Tikka after giving birth.

See these pages on how to identify guinea pig gender.
https://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm
https://www.guinealynx.info/sexing.html

If Tikka has any baby boys, they have to be separated at 3 weeks old.
https://www.guinealynx.info/sexing_pups.html

More info on pregnancy.
https://www.guinealynx.info/reproduction.html

 

[bernieg]

I am 100% sure Truffles is a female. I checked myself at the pet store just to make sure. I read you could determine the sex of the pups right after they are born, is this true? And if so is it more difficult to determine so early?

 

[lissie]

Yes, you can check when they are born. They may be harder since they are small. You can wait until they're 2 - 3 weeks old. Since you won't have to separate until 3 weeks.

 

[bernieg]

Alright, thank you so much. .

 

[bernieg]

Update: Found out approximately when Tikka got pregnant! It was about 9 weeks ago! Which explains why her pelvic bone has begun to separate! I felt it two days ago and I felt a slight gap and felt it again this morning and it's almost a finger wide! I'm so excited. I'm away for the weekend but my mom who has done tons of research also will be there to keep a close eye on her! I had to separate her cage mate as they were getting aggressive which each other, and they hadn't done that yet. I'm hoping I can out her back after the abides are born! One question, how long do you think she has until she goes into labour seeing as the gap doubled in two days? I know it's just an estimate but I'm not home until Sunday and I really hope I get to witness her giving birth!

 

[bernieg]

Double pregnancy...another pet store guinea pregnant & other is about to give birth

Quick question can anyone please answer. Tikkas pelvic bone is now separated almost two fingers! Babies are moving but not very much and her stomach is hard. I know there's no definite approximation but I heard since it's her first litter once her pelvic bone is separated they can give birth that night? She's also been laying down a lot more than usual. I'm just so nervous. She's so big and I know she's somewhere between her 69-71 days because I contacted the pet store I bought her from and the male got there on the 8th of November and was taking out 4-5 days after when they realized he was mounting them. I also found out the OTHER female I got is also pregnant. I'm guessing with only one because she's not that big but I felt kicks today! I am so worried they're both around 5 months and there is no exotic vet nearby it's about a 2 hour drive.....

 

[bernieg]

Thank you so much...going to keep updating the new on this thread! I know Tikkas ready to pop, just happy she's a decent age to be a mama!

 

[bernieg]

Father all white with red eyes? Roan?

I just found out that the father to both my piggies was a pure white red eyed guinea pig. He was the only male in with the girls. I'm absolutely terrified that my girls give birth to roan or lethal pigs. I've read up on it a bit but not much and was wondering if anyone could help? I don't think my piggies carry the roan gene. But here's some pictures!

 

[bpatters]

@bernieg, there's no problem with having roan pups, as long as you don't breed them. It's the lethal pups that result from roan/dalmatian pairings that are the problem. The PEW (pink-eyed white) father you describe might possibly have one of those genes, but may not. Roans have white hair mixed in with the colored hair, and both of those pigs whose pictures you posted have that, particularly the top one. But that's still no guarantee that the pups with be lethal.

 

[bernieg]

@bpatters Thank you for clearing that up! If for some reason I end up with a lethal pup, is there anything I can do? My one girl (Tikka the top one) is due any time now, her pelvic bone is separated about a thumbs width for 2-3 days now, and has been laying down practically all day unless it's to go to the bathroom or eat. The other one (Truffles) I'm guessing is a week or so behind her...which leads to my next question, when Tikka goes into labor can that set Truffles to prematurely have her babies? Thanks so much once again.

 

[Princess_Piggie]

I'm sorry, I'm confused, I don't see anywhere else in the thread you mentioning that Truffles was also pregnant?

Anyway, in regards to lethal pups, what you'll need to do depends on the health of the pups. Some are only blind/deaf, so don't require extra care (other than perhaps removing ramps depending on how good their mobility is), while some have no/deformed teeth, meaning you'll need to hand feed them for life.

 

[bpatters]

The second pig shouldn't go into labor when the first one does, but, as I've said before, pups come when they come.

Just make sure you've got them in a BIG cage when both of those litters are there, or the pups are going to be missing the edges of their ears.

 

[bernieg]

@Princess_Piggie I did actually was just very brief! " I also found out the OTHER female I got is also pregnant. I'm guessing with only one because she's not that big but I felt kicks today!" She was also in with the male. Alright and will I know if there is something wrong with them right away? Or should I take all my pups and mama pigs to the vets a few weeks after birth?

@bpatters Yes I'm actually going to order a proper C&C cage! Right now my handy mom has made a temperature one and it's very nice. How long does it normally take for a cage to ship?

 

[JenNPiggys]

Just make sure you've got them in a BIG cage when both of those litters are there, or the pups are going to be missing the edges of their ears.

Can you explain this? Please and Thank you!