Worried About Possible Inbreeding Among Rescues

[guinea_pig_mom4]

Hi folks, I'm new to this page so I'm going to provide some context before I get to the point with my question. I have had my two female Abyssinians, Pocket and Baloo, for 2.5 years and they were roughly 10 weeks old when I got them. They happily reside in a 3x6 C+C cage with blankets for flooring.

About six days ago I saw a posting on Facebook where a girl had witnessed someone "release" 12 young guinea pigs on the side of the road, and this kind passerby rescued them all. She was having a hard time finding homes for them all and I've always felt guilty that I bought my two pigs from Petco (I know, I know- I was young and uneducated at the time and will never make that mistake again) so I decided to take in two of these pigs and get them healthy and used to being handled by people. I have no history for these pigs other than the fact that they all lived in a small commercial cage for the week they were living with the girl who rescued them. (Sows and boars in the same cage.) They are both super skittish and clearly malnourished. They've been gobbling up the timothy hay and dry food in their cage.

I placed a divider in my current C+C cage until I can go get more pieces and make an entirely separate one for the rescues, but my question is this: Should I keep my two rescues separate from each other until a vet can confirm my assumption that they are both males? (Vet appointment is schedule for tomorrow afternoon.) They already have been in the same cage as their brothers and sisters for at least a week, so if one of them were to turn out to be a female, she could already be pregnant. Is it bad if I let them stay in the same cage overnight?

I have the divider between the rescues and my females covered with a blanket so they couldn't touch each other even if they wanted to. So I'm not worried about my females being at risk- just a little concerned about the possibility that one of the rescues could be a female. I do NOT want any baby guinea pigs on my hands.
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated! This is my first time rescuing!

 

[bpatters]

Turn them both over and compare their private parts. If they're different sexes, they'll look different. See http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm for more help.

BTW, this would have been an excellent occasion to have quarantined the new pigs, given that you know absolutely nothing about them. It's too late now, but do keep an eye on your older two to make sure they're not developing an illness or showing signs of parasites.

 

[guinea_pig_mom4]

Thank you for the info! Putting in a covered divider was as close as I could get to quarantining for the moment- I'm staying with my parents for the weekend because the pigs are local, so my space and resources are pretty limited. My two girls are pretty resilient so I'm hoping they'll be alright. I've been keeping a close eye on them since I brought the first rescue pig home on Friday. They haven't had any physical contact and I've been diligent about washing my hands between touching the different pigs. Hoping that the vet will give both the rescued babies a clear bill of health tomorrow! Neither of them has been itching or coughing, and they appear pretty healthy with the exception of being underfed.

 

[CupcakeCavy]

How did the appointment go? Hopefully all the piggies are nice and healthy!

 

[guinea_pig_mom4]

Appointment was great! Turns out I have one female (Juniper) and one male (Simon) and they are both healthy! I just need to make sure they're kept apart, and I also need to keep an eye on Junie over the next few weeks to see if she starts rapidly gaining weight... My vet was confident than Juniper is an adult female, and likely not the sibling of Simon who is clearly still very young. However it does seem like Simon is particularly attached to her as demonstrated by the way he freaked out when I initially took Junie home. Poor little guy.