Bonding Guinea pig gave birth and the cage is really big with the rest of the herd, separate?

[Kaneusta]

I adopted a guinea pig from my friend because one of his guinea pig passed away and he didn't want to care of the pregnant sow. The Pregnant Sow gave birth 4 about 5-6 hours ago. I have a neutered boar and 2 other sows not including the pregnant mom/4 litter. My cage is a relative big size (Takes up a good chunk of the room) and it seems like the mom is just kind of ignoring the babies while they're going around and exploring. I have a small cage that I keep separate, should I bring the mom and 4 litter in there and keep them in there so she can nurse them for the next 3 weeks? What are some things I should look out for to see the mother taking care of the babies?

The babies for now seems like they're fine, hiding a little bit but otherwise interacting with the bigger guinea pigs, but the mom seems like she's just relaxing and doing her own thing. I'm experienced taking care of guinea pigs but this is my first-time with newborns so I don't know what's the procedure of this. Should I just keep checking for daily weight, should I isolate the babies and mom in a separate smaller (Midwestern C&C Cage) and wait until the mother starts feeding them, should I start hand feeding tomorrow and if so how to do so and what to get them?

Also, I know Males have dominance problems, is it the same for newborn males or only those who goes into their hormonal phase around 3 months?His guinea pig passed away and he didn't want to take care of a pregnant guinea pig and he asked if I could rehome herHis guinea pig passed away and he didn't want to take care of a pregnant guinea pig and he asked if I could rehome her

 

[Soecara]

It is normal for the mother guinea pig to not pay much attention to her pups after she is done cleaning them off. The pups will run after her if they want to, and they will follow her when they want to suckle.

As long as she lets them suckle there is nothing to worry about. Do keep in mind though that she won't get her milk properly until roughly 24 hours after giving birth, this is completely normal so you will not see her letting the pups suckle until her milk comes in. You might not see the pups suckling so the easiest way to tell if they are or not is to weight them daily (aim to do this at the same time every day), they will lose some weight for the first day or two then they should start gaining weight.

If one pup is not gaining weight like the other pups you can give it some one on one time with mum for half an hour or so twice a day in either the midwest cage or a laundry basket. Don't hand feed unless you absolutely have no other choice, guinea pigs are born highly developed so they are capable of eating solid food within minutes of being born.

I have never had pups with a neutered boar before, so I can't offer much advise on that. However baby boars don't typically start to have dominance issues until they are around 4 weeks to 3 months old depending on the individual boar, and given they need to be separated from the sows at 3 weeks old this shouldn't be an issue.