A bit long, sorry, but I need to know if this is possible:

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Vida

Vida

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Yesterday I took Willow(f) to the vet as she has mites possibly. The vet gave her an injection and gave me treatment to give her in 10 and 20 days and told me to have her isolated from the rest for now.

Question 1: How long does she have to be on her own? Will this not affect her bonding back later?

Anyway, so I took the 3 baby pups to the vet to have them sexed too. This is the same vet that told me mum was a boy! So I told him that I couldn't afford for him to get it wrong this time. That one mistake could lead to 5 pregnant females and that would mean my divorce (!!). mallethead I told him my marriage was in his hands and that I wanted him to be sure 100 %. Talk about pressure. Anyway so he called another vet and said that he wanted to be double sure. So they both agreed Tara is female and Arwyn is male, but they doubted about Vashti, although they think he is male. (Maybe a name change needed here LOL) So they told me to bring them back in one week to triple check. :{


So this leaves me wondering several things now and I would like to know if this is possible.

When the babies are 3 weeks old (preferably 2 and a half weeks to make sure the two males don't get their mum and sister preganant), I would like to move Matty (mum) and Tara in with Willow, Chestnut and Ash (they will be about 3 months old by then.)

Question 2: Is this ok? Will the three big sisters be territorial and terrorise their little sister? Will they accept mum back in with them? Is it ok for the 5 sows to be in together?



So then my next idea was to push two cages together so that Arwyn and Vashti could be in one and Rudy (dad) in another so they smell each other, for a bit, and then get the three of them and put them in the other C&C cage.

Question 3: Is it ok to have 3 boars in a cage next to the sows? Can the three boars be together?



And finally, I would like to neuter the three boys, one by one, so that I can finally take away the grids that separate the two C&C cages and have all 8 guinea pigs together.

Question 4: Am I dreaming? Is this possible? 3 neutered boars and 5 sows together. Would it be great for them or a nightmare for me?



I know I am going to keep all 8, but just want to find the ideal set up for them (and for me). I have two C&C cages joint together and two shop cages, one which I think is too small, about a metre long, and the other one slightly larger. I would prefer not to use the two bought cages to give the guinea pigs more room, but can if behaviour issues crop up.

Finally, I had no idea where to post this thread, so mods feel free to move it if it's in the wrong place! rolleyes
 
Hi there -

Normally I wouldn't separate for treatment of mites, I would just treat all the pigs. There could be a problem reintroducing but of course that depends on the girls. I would imagine it would be ok.

The boys should be in a separate room - as the smell of the girls could cause fighting, your best chance is to intro the boys at 3 weeks to there dad they may fallout later as boys are often hard to get to live peacefully in a trio but it can happen.

I would advise against neutering as all boys will not live together with a group of girls not to mention it can have post op complications. As your vet doesn't seem able to sex guinea pig's I would question how many he see's and his experience with neutering another reason not to neuter.

Take some pictures of the babies genitals and we can help you sex them - triple check :).

Good luck.
 
Questions: How old are your babies now? How old is Willow and who is she living with?

a) You have to preferably treat all piggies living together in one group for mites. Otherwise, you have to keep her separate until a few days after the last treatment and then do a full intro on neutral ground - and hope for the best that the others haven't caught them yet. You can order xeno50 for guinea pigs under 800g and xeno 450 for guinea pigs over 800g for topical treatment from here; babies are preferably not treated unless absolutely necessary:
http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?ma...zenid=fcjs7pahk94ddsk6409m5fq2d5&keyword=xeno

b) You can try to formally introduce all five girls and hope that they will get on (look up our tips in our reference section). They will work out their own group dynamics and hierarchy. Whether they will all get on, depends on the character combination and group dynamics. However, 5 piggies ARE already acting and behaving like a group, so it is somewhat easier. Reintroductions can sometimes be difficult.

c) You CANNOT have more than one neutered boar with any amount of sows. Boars will fight over the right to mate as soon as only one sow is in sight.

In the wild, a core group of sows will live with just one dominant male. Other boars will hang losely around the edge of the roaming herd, hoping for their chance of fathering the next generation or to make off with a like minded adventurous young sow to risk starting their own little tribe in some unclaimed corner of the grasslands.

Pet guinea pigs still have those group instincts and are either kept in groups of sows or sows/1 neutered male, mimicking a core group. Or they are best kept in bachelor pairs away and out of sight of sows (if next to sows, it has to be either above or below where they can't see the girls).

d) You can keep three young boars together, but you will have to brace yourself that a fall out at some point during the hormonal teenage time between 4-12 months is most likely going to happen. You may want to think about having the single boar neutered then and living with the girls; he will be incidentally old enough to neuter then. Sadly, guinea pigs do NOT live in family groups. If there is more than boar, you have to split your guinea pigs somehow.

e) Please feel free to post pics of your babies' privates (the clearer the better) in the pregnancy section. We have plenty of experienced rescue people and longterm owners who can give you a much better opinion than a couple of general vets who are not experienced with guinea pigs.
 
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Babies are 10 days old. Willow was living with her sisters Chestnut and Ash, all 2 months old. The vet is an exotic vet and has operated boars before, but for now it looks like that option is not needed. He told me not to treat all the guinea pigs as mum is in with the babies.

At this moment, I have two 2 month old sisters in one C&C cage. Willow in the other C&C cage. They really need to be together.
Mum and three babies in the biggest cage.
Dad alone in the smallest cage.

The treatment for Willow was an injection and then the same but orally in 10 and 20 days. Not sure of the name. The vet gives me the meds in the syringes ready.
 
Thanks - that gives a much clearer picture and explains your vet's actions.

Your mites treatment is a product that contains ivermectin; my vets used panomec for injections/oral treatment but there are other products, too. As Willow is with the babies and has mites (which is not at all unusual for a pregnant or nursing sow, considering the strain her body is under), she needs to stay separated from her sisters until the last treatment or she may transfer the mites, so whether you like or not, you have to wait until then. As the treatment is oral, you can introduce them after the last round; had it been topical, you would have had to wait until had spread around the body.

Your baby boys can go in with daddy when they are separated. Most boars accept babies and won't harm them, as at that age they are no threat to him in any way. He can teach them the ropes of boar behaviour. Some boars can be very caring.

I am sure that we have given you links for sexing websites, but here they are again. Have another check at three weeks old before you separate. Some babies can be more difficult to sex than others. As I said, you can always post pics here for confirmation!
http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm
http://www.guinealynx.info/sexing_pups.html
 
Just reread your reply. Willow is not the mother. Matty is. Willow is one of the babies born in May.
 
The babies are definitely 2 males and 1 female. I just checked again myself! I am going in a dizzy here, wondering how on earth I will house them if 3 boars can't live together.
 
Absolutely agree with the above - as usual :)

Another thing, since one piggy has mites, isolating her now is a bit like shutting the door after the horse has bolted. She may very well have already infected the others and the best course of action would be to keep the group together and treat them all for mites.

With the boars, I would try introducing them to dad at 3 weeks and see how they do. At 3 - 5 months, when they hit pubity, any relationship will be tested but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

As for neutering, really the only reason to neuter a boar is if you're going to have him with sows but he would need his "own" sows - his harem if you will and cannot "share" females with another male. In this scenario, your males would need to be separated and indeed, you would have three separate groups which I imagine would be a handful.

As it is, you cannot have three males together in any kind of proximity to the females. Boar relationships can be volatile enough depending on their characters without the extra excitement of females around. In all honesty, you may want to consider finding a home for your boars and having one neutered male live with your sows. The only other alternative is to have a female space and a male space and fingers crossed that you boars can all live together.
 
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