Pregnant Piggie

[4piggies4us]

The other morning one of our piggies fell out of the cage and my boyfriend was on his way to work and noticed that it was out so he put it back in the cage that they usually get out of, thinking it was one of the males again. Wrong, it was a female. So She was left in the cage for two hours with two very happy boars. There was a little squeeling but nothing more than usual. when I got up to go to work I noticed that we had a different ratio of piggies in the cages and that the female cage was missing one and the male cage had an extra. I quickly got the female out of the boy cage and returned her to her cage. The problem is that I don' t know all that much about piggies and can't seem to decifer the information on the web sites about a pregnancy. I know how to get ready for baby piggies, but am unsure how long they are pregnant for and what I should look for around her due time. I know about horses, and cows but not piggies...we are already prepping the cage for babies just in case the question is how long are they pregnant for? Can anyone tell me I am so confused. I was not planning on breeding at any time but never thought a mistake like this would ever happen either. I don't want the babies but will handle it so I don't have to get rid of mom and babies.

 

[pigsforlife]

How did the female "fall" out of her cage? What sort of cages do you have? You need to make them alot more safe, falls can be dangerous, life threatening even.

 

[clotho]

I too was concerned when you said your piggie fell out of the cage. Please find a way to make it so your piggies can't get out of their cages on their own. It's especially important since you have males and females in the same household, as you have already discovered.

Guinea pigs are pregnant for approximately 10 weeks. If you don't already have a scale, get a digital one (kitchen scale works great) and start weighing her once a week. Actually, you should weigh all your piggies once a week to make sure they are maintaining their weight. Weight loss is your first sign something is wrong and gives you time to figure it out. If you wait until a piggie is showing obvious symptoms of illness, they are already very sick.

In this case you are looking for a big weight gain - probably starting in 4 or 5 weeks - and this gain will continue if she is pregnant. Her body will develop a pear shape as the babies develop. By seven weeks you will be able to feel babies moving around inside her and then you'll know for sure she's pregnant.

I have my fingers crossed for you that she's not pregnant. Females go into heat about every two weeks, so it's possible she's not in heat and didn't get pregnant. Please keep us updated.

 

[MissGinger]

How come you dont know the difference in your pigs?
You should be able to look right at them & know Who is Who.

 

[Pumpkin_RIP]

I agree with Missginger. It seems very odd that you can't tell your piggies apart....

 

[Percy's Mom]

Please read the original post a bit more clearly. It wasn't 4piggies4us that mis-identified the pig, but the boyfriend. It's not uncommon for the person who may not take care of the animals on a regular basis to not know which is which.

 

[MissGinger]

"when I got up to go to work I noticed that we had a different ratio of piggies in the cages and that the female cage was missing one and the male cage had an extra. I quickly got the female out of the boy cage and returned her to her cage"


this is what i posted about

 

[Calliso]

"when I got up to go to work I noticed that we had a different ratio of piggies in the cages and that the female cage was missing one and the male cage had an extra. I quickly got the female out of the boy cage and returned her to her cage"


this is what i posted about

Being that she got the female pig out it sounds to me like she knows the difference between her pigs. The ratio of pigs might have just been the first thing that tipped her off that something was wrong.

 

[4piggies4us]

Ok, thank you for the advise on piggies and pregnancy. I am not saying that I am an expert on piggies in anyway. I was just trying to gain some knowledge on what to look for or expect so that way I know what I am getting into. The mistake was made and there is nothing I can do about it. I hope for all of our sake she is not prego, I do not want her in that condition. I would prefer her to just be happy with her sister again. I am going to weigh her and keep up on it anyway. I am also going to baby proof the cage now just in case. The cage she fell from was a cavy cage and it was only about 12 inches she fell. I have two levels boys on bottom and girls on top. We have doors that swing upward and it was not latched tightly the night she fell out. She was out all night long running around the house. She usually gets about an hour of floor time a night anyway so she probly wasn't scared. Everything around the cage is soft too, so I think it helped. I know the fall could of killed her or hurt her very much, I was happy to see she didn't seem like she was in any pain. My boyfriend did a very nice thing for me, when he put her away. We can tell the difference in the piggies it is just that they are basically all the same shape, and the same color with the same type of color patterns, same hair length. I can understand where someone would of gotten mixed up at 4 am. He saw she was on the ground picked her up and put her in with the boys thinking she was one of the boys. I could of easily made the same mistake. I can tell them apart but mistakes are made occasionally. We have learned from it and pray she is not pregnant. We are moving in month and are making another cage that is easier to access and clean anyway. This is a temp. cage. It's 2x6 wide and 4x2 tall. Thank you for your concern and the information I will keep an eye on her and keep my fingers crossed.