Genitals It was male... and we already have a female!!

[Nefashu]

Hi all and thanks for your interest.

This Christmas we bought a guinea pig (it was not a christmas present, but a new member in the family). Now i know a rescue center in our zone (Catalonia, Spain) so if we get another piggy, it will be taken from there, not form a shop.

The thing is that the (stupid)girl in the shop told us it was a girl. A few days later, we read here that it is highly reccomended to have piggies in, at least, pairs. So we decided to get another piggy. Of course, at the shop we asked for another female.

Today it was their first visit to the vet and... guess what... you know... hehe... ehem... Chromie, the first one, had a nice ... zucchini (if u know what I mean).

The situation atm is the following:

-Our vet was not sure how to intervene the male (Chromie) to neuter him. At least he was honest.
-He told us about an important vet center in Barcelona (60 km form us) where they are specialized in guinean pigs etc. (this center is so cool that it was in a tv show about vets in television!! )
-The operation cost is 128 € (ouch!). Is it cheap or expensive?
-The main problem right know ... is the female (Aria) already pregnant? Any way to know it without an expensive test?

We don't want them to be separated, but we cannot afford havin 4-5 piggies at home... I'll try to send some pictures and a kind of blog posting here if we proceed to neutering Chromie, his evolution and knowing if Aria is pregnant or not.

We will upate as soon as we have some news.

Thanks for reading!!!! Any help/advise is welcome.

On the left; Chromie, on the right, Aria​

 

[PiggieWigglies]

"Cheap or expensive?" : I've never neutered a male and I don't use that form of currency.
"Is the female already pregnant?" Males are sexually mature at 3 weeks, and females at 4. It depends on how long they were together. Watch her, you will start to notice at 6 weeks along.

 

[bpatters]

The first thing I'd do is separate them, hoping that the female is not already pregnant. Pregnancy is very risky for GP sows and pups, and you don't want her to get pregnant if she isn't already. Females only come in heat about every 14-16 days, so if you haven't had the male that long, there's a possibility she's not pregnant.

How long have you had the male?

The cost of the neuter sounds very reasonable to me -- much less expensive than you'd pay in the states. Thank goodness your first vet admitted that he didn't know how to neuter guinea pigs -- it's definitely not an operation you want an inexperienced vet doing.

There's no way to know for a while whether she's pregnant or not. Get a kitchen scale, if you don't already have one, and weigh her daily and record the weights. If she is pregnant, you'll start seeing larger daily weight gains as the pregnancy progresses.

Guinea pig pregnancies last 9-10 weeks. You can feel the pups moving at about six weeks or so if you put your hands along her flanks and press gently with your fingers. At about a week before delivery, you can hear the pups' teeth gnashing. The vet could tell with an ultrasound or x-ray at about 4-5 weeks, but most people don't have that done unless they have some indication that something is going wrong with the pregnancy.

See https://www.guinealynx.info/reproduction.html for more information.

 

[Nefashu]

"Cheap or expensive?" : I've never neutered a male and I don't use that form of currency.
"Is the female already pregnant?" Males are sexually mature at 3 weeks, and females at 4. It depends on how long they were together. Watch her, you will start to notice at 6 weeks along.

Cheap or expensive is because me and my girlfriend moved recently and we dont' have a big economy... For us IT IS a matter of money too ;_(

 

[elfje]

Price of neutering differs per country. ..and per vet. I think this is a lot of money. You could see if there are other vets aroud that would perform this surgery.
However....also ask for their experience on this and their advise about possible complications. Sometimes the stitches might cause problems.

In the Netherlands guinneas are a common pet and most vets are experienced enough to neuter them. Here charges vary...30 to 100 €. Most are around €50.
And it is possible your piggie is already pregnant. After a couple of weeks signs will be there...you don't need expensive tests for that.
For now...no carrots corn or other fatning veggies! I only know about carrots and corn to be fatning, but I am no expert on pregnant piggies. Good luck!

 

[Nefashu]

The first thing I'd do is separate them, hoping that the female is not already pregnant. Pregnancy is very risky for GP sows and pups, and you don't want her to get pregnant if she isn't already. Females only come in heat about every 14-16 days, so if you haven't had the male that long, there's a possibility she's not pregnant.

How long have you had the male?

Thanks a lot Bpatters . We already had Chromie (male) when Arya (Female) met arrived. It was 15 days ago when they first met each other. We were told that Ayia was 2 months old. So in fact she can be pregnant I think...

I'll start wighting Arya everyday since today, but considering that she is so young, I can't be sure if the weight variation is due to growing or due to pregnancy.

I'll post some results about weight asap as I have some.

 

[Nefashu]

Price of neutering differs per country. ..and per vet. I think this is a lot of money. You could see if there are other vets aroud that would perform this surgery.
However....also ask for their experience on this and their advise about possible complications. Sometimes the stitches might cause problems.

In the Netherlands guinneas are a common pet and most vets are experienced enough to neuter them. Here charges vary...30 to 100 €. Most are around €50.
And it is possible your piggie is already pregnant. After a couple of weeks signs will be there...you don't need expensive tests for that.
For now...no carrots corn or other fatning veggies! I only know about carrots and corn to be fatning, but I am no expert on pregnant piggies. Good luck!

Ok, strict lettuce from now on. Here in Spain it's not rare, but neither a common pet.

 

[elfje]

Ok, strict lettuce from now on. Here in Spain it's not rare, but neither a common pet.

Lettuce doesn't contain that much vit c. Pepper/paprika contains more and are safe for pregnant piggies. (Green have less sugar than red or yellow...so are better in this case!) But there are lots more veggies that are safe!

 

[bpatters]

Your young pigs need unlimited pellets -- plain hay pellets, no added nuts, seeds, or colored bits. They also need unlimited long strand grass hay -- timothy, blue, orchard, brome, meadow. You can google them for whatever is the corresponding name in your country. And they need a cup or so of veggies. Bell pepper (capsicum) should be a staple, as should red or green leaf lettuce. Other things you can give are thumb-sized chunks of carrot, tomatoes, young green beans, summer squash, corn husks and silks (pull the outer husks off, as corn is grown with a lot of insecticides), cilantro, parsley, etc. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List for what you can feed and how often.

Young and pregnant pigs also need extra calcium. You can supplement their grass hay with alfalfa, or alfalfa-based pellets will do the trick, as will a sprig or two of parsley.

They also need vitamin C, especially if she is pregnant. The bell pepper is a good source of that, but you may want to add a supplement.

 

[Nefashu]

Ty bpatters, but atm we don't Aria is pregnant or not. Asap as we have some news about it we will let you know.

Thanks a lot 4 your help

 

[bpatters]

But your pigs are young, and young pigs and pregnant pigs need exactly the same diet.

I was giving you that information because someone else gave you incorrect information -- that you couldn't feed carrots or fattening veggies, and you said you were going to limit them to lettuce only. That's insufficient nutrition for pigs of any age, and they have carrots at any time. Just not too many, because of the sugar.

 

[Nefashu]

Oh ok, thanks a lot. Right now, their usual diet consists of:

-Hay
-Lettuce
-Green Pepper
-Sometimes apple 2-3 days per week)
-Guinea pig food from store, which includes pelets in it.

So we think that diet is ok for them. Thank you!!!!

On the other hand, it's awesome how active this forum is... u guys are awesome.

 

[elfje]

Sorry...incorrect information? If you feed a pregnant pig lots of carrot and corn, chances are that the babies grow too big and that might cause problems in delivery.
I have however never said to limit to lettuce alone ! Just to be careful what you give the pigs.
Maybe I wasn't clear.

 

[bpatters]

Guinea pig food from the store may be very poor quality if it has things other than pellets in it. Guinea pigs have very narrow throats, and should not have anything with seeds or nuts in it. Also, poor quality food is often VERY high in calcium, and can lead to urinary tract stones, which are very painful both to the pig and your pocketbook. You should check the ingredients list, and if it contains more than .4% calcium, you should probably look for another pellet.

 

[bpatters]

Neither carrots nor corn should be fed to any guinea pig in large quantities. But there's no problem with feeding carrots to pregnant guinea pigs.

 

[ClemmyOddieIndy]

Sorry...incorrect information? If you feed a pregnant pig lots of carrot and corn, chances are that the babies grow too big and that might cause problems in delivery.
I have however never said to limit to lettuce alone ! Just to be careful what you give the pigs.
Maybe I wasn't clear.

Genetics not carrots will determine the size of the babies.

ETA: Did the vet show you that he was a boy? I know vets can even mis-sex pigs if they aren't familiar with them.

 

[Nefashu]

Re: It was A male... and we already have a female!!

Gosh, how many help ^_^

Okay let's see:

--DIET--
No more pet shop food for guinea pigs. Now their diet will include:
-Hay
-Pellets (bought them today as you told us; it has 0.24% calcium, so I assume it's ok. Under these lines I attach the compositions of the pellets.
-Lettuce daily (one cup per guinea pig).
-Green pepper
-Apple sometimes.


--WEIGHTS--
Chrome (male) - ~6.5 to 7 months - 814g (1 lb, 11.7 oz)
Arya (female) - ~2.5 to 3 months - 554g (1 lb, 3.5 oz)

But... today they both had a shower (SEPARATED!!) and we realized that Arya has a strange shaped belly... when we caress her, we can notice a kind of wider belly on her sides ... but if she is pregnant, she has been only for two weeks. Can we notice the belly bigger after only two weeks? The other thing is the weights; although Chrome is male and a lot older, their weight is pretty close... omg :S


--COMMENTS--
-elfje - I didn't understand you, now it's clear. Thanks a lot!
-Clemmyoddieindy- I saw it, I checked with the pictures I could find from the link at guinealynx and I'm pretty sure they are male and female. Anyway, when we take them to the specialized vet we will know for sure. Thanks a lot for your interest.
-bpatters- Are u always logged in? haha! Thanks a lot too.

 

[Nefashu]

The pellets we bought:

 

[Nefashu]

I just found some graphs at guinealynx.info where they show a graph for females and males and they both seem to be ok in weight... maybe Chrome is a little bit thin but anyway he is ok.

In case it can help anyone:
https://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html

 

[bpatters]

@Nefashu, just so you know, those weights for GPs over at Guinea Lynx are light. They come from outdated vet text book information, and are based on weights for lab research animals, not pets. So it's fine if your pigs are quite a bit heavier than those.