do cavies eat their young?

[valeriusj]

do they eat their young, because I know that hamsters do (I've witnessed it first hand unfortunately)... and hamsters and guinea pigs are related, are they not? so, I was just wondering.. because unfortunately I think my FEMALE IS PREGNANT BECAUSE MY ******* PET STORE TOLD ME THE MALE WAS NEUTERED... THEN I FOUND OUT HE WASNT (angry? yes)....i guess it's my punishment because i didnt go to a shelter... sorry anywho, back to the question, do cavies eat their young?

 

[__ben]

well hamsters arnt closly related, I think if you feed all pigs alot it shouldnt happen. I think!

 

[Merrill]

No, they do not. One instance people would consider "eating" their young is when a pig is giving birth, and she might try and yank with her teeth on her pup's leg in order to get the pup out, and accidentally pull it off.

 

[tashagurl]

Guinea pigs do NOT eat their young!! When they rach between their legs to pull the baby out the pull them out by the babys teeth. Unless the baby is breach. You can handlethe babies as soon as they are dry. I wouldnt do it before then as the mother might reject them if they have human smell on them. Although my last birth was on a very cold night and I removed some of the babies to dry them and keep them warm because the mom was still giving birth. After she was done I imediatly gave them back.They were fine. Other rodents eat their young. But their young are also born hairless and completly and utterly helpless.

 

[Mulengro]

guinea pigs DO eat their young! when i was younger (and far more naive) i had a male and a female together, and the female got pregnant. right around the time she was to give birth, we went on an overnight vacation and when we came back she was skinny, and there was a big red stain all over the bedding, but no babies! they had plenty of food, and their veggie dish was still full. i was so sad and angry that they'd do that!

 

[kennethlhm]

This is the first time I heard GP eat theirs babies... Are you sure?

 

[cavylover_76]

It can happen. My rabbit ate her babies. My vet said that some are such nervous moms that they do it as a protection thing. Maybe Mulengro's pig was spooked by something. Or maybe they were sick piglets.

On a happier note, my brother's pig just had babies a couple weeks ago and all is fine with them. I hear it's very rare for GPs.

Best Luck!!!

 

[dream lopz]

rabbits?

It can happen. My rabbit ate her babies.

Best Luck!!!

Rabbits and guinea pigs are different animals. Guinea pigs are rodents. Rabbits are lagomorphs. Guinea pigs are born with fur and the can hobble around shortly after birth but rabbits are born with the eyes closed they can't move or anything they have no fur. G.P's are preggers for twice as long (give or take a few days). Rabbits can reabsorb their litter even 2 weeks into the pregnancy.

My point is you can't compare rabbits and guinea pigs especially about this. Yes rabbits do eats the kits thinking they are protecting them but guinea pigs don't eat their pups.

Guinea Pigs make no sence! they don't seem to tie in with hamsters (even though logicly they should) they are just on an oinking world of their own!!! lol

 

[cavylover_76]

I realize that rabbits and pigs are different animals. I also realize that the newborn pigs are not born as helpless.

However, they are both very skittish animals by nature. You cannot say that it never happens with guinea pigs. There is a person on this thread whose pig did just that. As I said, it's a very rare thing.

 

[icesprite]

As far as I understand, guinea pigs will generally not eat their young. However, if a pup is stillborn, the mother might eat it. This is purely a defense mechanism. Since cavies are prey animals, instinctively they will do all they can to get rid of any signs of their existence. Leaving a stillborn baby lying around the house is probably not a clever idea if you want to remain anonymous. Unlike other animals, however, I believe guinea pigs tend not to eat live young if they have been touched by human hands.

 

[CuteFluffyThing]

there is a 1/50 chance a guineapig will eat his young , this MIGHT occur if you havent fed the guineapigs . Allso i would like to say to NEVER feed your guineapigs meat and especially the young ones . They might start to pull their hair out and bite themselves

 

[CavySpirit]

CuteFluffyThing, I'd like the reference to this fact that you are quoting. Please indicate website or book. Bottomline, guinea pigs do not eat their live young and very, very rarely eat their dead stillborns.

 

[mncavylover]

Huh??? Feeding your Guinea Pigs meat is a very stupid idea for one, but I doubt that any sane animal would bite themselves... Where did you get that idea? Also, I don't think piggies would eat their young. That's something most animals just never do. Hope I could help! =)

 

[Mulengro]

again, guinea pigs DO eat their young. i don't know why, or how often, but the one time my pigs had babies they ate them. or did they just give birth to a pile of red goo? cuz that's all that was in the cage. it's a sad, horrible thing, but it happens, though i don't know the cause.

-mulengro

 

[CavySpirit]

You don't know what happened, because you didn't see it. Assumptions only. Guinea pigs do not eat their young.

 

[mncavylover]

I agree. How can you say your sow ate her babies when you didn't actually see it happen??? Maybe something else happened that you didn't see... I still don't think they would eat their young.

 

[Mulengro]

well what happened to them? we didn't have any other animals and the house was all locked up. any other suggestions?

-mulengro

 

[cavylover_76]

Where else would Mulengro's infant pigs have gone? He came up with not only a logical explanation, but a probable one considering the female was pregnant, gave birth, and the babies were nowhere amongst the blood.

No one can say with 100% certainty that it NEVER happens. Sorry, one just can't.

 

[mncavylover]

I'm not trying to say that it doesn't ever happen, it's just that there was nobody home to see it. It may have been one of the rare, odd, disturbing occurances that happen once in a decade or something. It certainly doesn't seem to be common, though, does it?

 

[CavySpirit]

Could have been a miscarriage with tissue and whatnot that was eaten.

We've had quite enough discussion on this topic. We don't need much more.