adding a 3rd baby?

ashellaneous

ashellaneous

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I had intended to get two piggies but my sister wanted one as well (which would live with mine), so I decided to get two that would be mine and one is her’s. I just got two (one for each of us) that are sisters from the same litter. One of the seller’s guinea pigs has an unexpected (and unwanted) pregnancy, so I was considering getting on of those and none her with my two. But I’ve read that it can be difficult to have 3 sows, and was wondering if this would be a bad idea? I’m afraid to get a male and get him neutered because animal surgeries scare me but I definitely don’t want any pregnant piggies. My first two will still be very young when (if) I got the third one. They are currently 3 1/2 weeks old and the pregnant piggie is already very big. I’m not sure if this hurts or helps.

Should I look into getting one of the new litters when the time comes or pass it up? What would be good for the herd?
 
Sows can live in herds. The considerations are:

Space - for three piggies together you need a cage covering 12 square feet.
Character compatibility - the piggies need to like each other and want to be together to be able to form a hierarchy and bond
Cost - you need to be sure you can afford the vet fees and costs for the piggies you already have as well as any new ones

As they are young they are very likely to be happy to be together. Three piggies together can mean an outsider situation occurs as they get older - two can become closer and one gets left out - but as I say, sows can live in herds of quite a few sows, so its not necessarily a problem adding more sows (as long as the considerations
above can be met)

Knowing how to carry out a bonding is also important. You cannot simply put any new piggies into the cave with your current piggies - any bonding needs to be carried out on neutral territory.

What I would say is that if you are a new owner, then it may be best to simply have two piggies and see you get on before trying to add more.

Your piggies are very young at 3 1/2 weeks to have already been sold though.

Have you checked the sex of your current two piggies yourself to be sure they are definitely both female?

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
 
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Piggies&buns said:
Sows can live in herds. The considerations are:

Space - for three piggies together you need a cage covering 12 square feet.
Character compatibility - the piggies need to like each other and want to be together to be able to form a hierarchy and bond
Cost - you need to be sure you can afford the vet fees and costs for the piggies you already have as well as any new ones

As they are young they are very likely to be happy to be together. Three piggies together can mean an outsider situation occurs as they get older - two can become closer and one gets left out - but as I say, sows can live in herds of quite a few sows, so its not necessarily a problem adding more sows (as long as the considerations
above can be met)

Knowing how to carry out a bonding is also important. You cannot simply put any new piggies into the cave with your current piggies - any bonding needs to be carried out on neutral territory.

What I would say is that if you are a new owner, then it may be best to simply have two piggies and see you get on before trying to add more.

Your piggies are very young at 3 1/2 weeks to have already been sold though.

Have you checked the sex of your current two piggies yourself to be sure they are definitely both female?

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
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Okay, thanks!

I don’t know how to check their genders
 
ashellaneous said:
I guinely can’t tell and I can’t send pics because I’m by myself and can’t take a pic while holding them. I’m thinking the best I could do is try to take them back tomorrow and have the seller look? Or bring them to the vet to get checked out?
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Do they both look the same as each other?
You may not be able to determine what sex they are, but if they are both the same, then that will help in knowing they are in fact the same
 
Piggies&buns said:
Do they both look the same as each other?
You may not be able to determine what sex they are, but if they are both the same, then that will help in knowing they are in fact the same
Click to expand...
Sadly they look different…

Thank you so much for your help! I’ve separated them and will try to bring them back to the seller tomorrow. Again, thank you so much!
 
I’m so pleased you managed to check them. Brilliant that you’ve separated them. Such a shame though. It’s awful that you were given a wrong sexed pair. 😡
 
I’m sorry to hear that.
Unfortunately getting missexed piggies from private sellers is always a risk.

Baby boars need to be separated from their mother and sisters at three weeks of age to stop pregnancies, but it’s still best they aren’t rehomed until closer to 8 weeks of age.
Baby sows can remain in with their mothers until they are old enough to be rehomed, at around 8 weeks of age. This gives them valuable time to learn from adult piggies things such as what is safe to eat, social interactions etc.
 
weepweeps said:
I’m so pleased you managed to check them. Brilliant that you’ve separated them. Such a shame though. It’s awful that you were given a wrong sexed pair. 😡
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You’ve been such a huge help to me today! I’m so upset that they did that, knowing I was only interested in two females and I’m a beginner so of course I don’t want to breed piggies.

Sadly, the female actually does look chunkier than the male. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was the case and one was male, but I wasn’t sure until you helped me. Luckily it was caught now. I only got them last night, so I’m assuming she got pregnant in their care and not mine (if she is). I’m planning on returning them both and asking them to hold the female until I can get another female to pair her with (I don’t want her to be alone). So hopefully they don’t try to force her babies onto me because I can’t care for them.
 
ashellaneous said:
You’ve been such a huge help to me today! I’m so upset that they did that, knowing I was only interested in two females and I’m a beginner so of course I don’t want to breed piggies.

Sadly, the female actually does look chunkier than the male. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was the case and one was male, but I wasn’t sure until you helped me. Luckily it was caught now. I only got them last night, so I’m assuming she got pregnant in their care and not mine (if she is). I’m planning on returning them both and asking them to hold the female until I can get another female to pair her with (I don’t want her to be alone). So hopefully they don’t try to force her babies onto me because I can’t care for them.
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If the sow is only 3 1/2 weeks old then its not likely she is pregnant. Sows generally don’t have their first season until between 4 and 6 weeks old so cannot get pregnant until then. Plus any pregnancy wouldn’t show until towards the end of the 10 weeks of pregnancy and of course she is far too young for that. The earliest documented sibling pregnancy is 24 days.
She is likely just a bigger piggy. Siblings birth weights can vary quite a bit

They do need to be separated though as she will come into season quite soon and is then able to get pregnant
 
Piggies&buns said:
If the sow is only 3 1/2 weeks old then its not likely she is pregnant. Sows generally don’t have their first season until between 4 and 6 weeks old so cannot get pregnant until then. Plus any pregnancy wouldn’t show until towards the end of the 10 weeks of pregnancy and of course she is far too young for that. The earliest documented sibling pregnancy is 24 days.
She is likely just a bigger piggy. Siblings birth weights can vary quite a bit

They do need to be separated though as she will come into season quite soon and is then able to get pregnant
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That’s a relief!

I hope I separated them enough. I used extra grids then placed a fleece blanket over it and tucked in the bottum and sides on both sides so that they (hopefully) can’t move the blanket aside.
 

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I would remove the blanket. They are too young to not be able to interact. They need to be able to see, smell and hear each other at all times.

Honestly, if you have a rescue centre near you, then I would contact them and not return these piggies to the seller. See if a rescue can take the young boar in and pair him with his own new friend and rehome him. And then ask them to help you find a sow for you to pair with your current sow and bring them home as a pair
 
Piggies&buns said:
I would remove the blanket. They are too young to not be able to interact. They need to be able to see, smell and hear each other at all times.

Honestly, if you have a rescue centre near you, then I would contact them and not return these piggies to the seller. See if a rescue can take the young boar in and pair him with his own new friend and rehome him. And then ask them to help you find a sow for you to pair with your current sow and bring them home as a pair
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I have the blanket because they can fit through the grid (I don’t have extra of the baby proof ones).

I’ll look into that!
 
ashellaneous said:
I have the blanket because they can fit through the grid (I don’t have extra of the baby proof ones).

I’ll look into that!
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Ok. A blanket may not stop them if they are desperate to be together, so something to bear in mind.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Is the whole cage made of the same grids? If so, then they can escape from the whole cage in that case
Do you have more grids? if you do, then you can double them up and tie them together to make the gaps smaller.
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No, I only bought enough baby proof ones for the main part of the cage and bought the cube grids for the stand and a lid. But I don’t have any extra grids after the ones I used for the barrier.
 
ashellaneous said:
No, I only bought enough baby proof ones for the main part of the cage and bought the cube grids for the stand and a lid. But I don’t have any extra grids after the ones I used for the barrier.
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Take a deep breath.
You really are doing a wonderful job handling avery difficult situation.

To reduce the size of the holes in the grids (your cage looks lovely by the way) you can use something like a biscuit cooling rack, an oven tray, or a fridge shelf and attached this with cable ties over the current grids. This will still allow the piggies to see each oterh which is very important given that they are so young.

I do agree that if at all possible I would try and avoid going back to the seller.
Clearly they are only interested in the money. They have given you incorrectly sexed pigs, and in all honesty 3.5 weeks is really very young to rehome them.
Is there a rescue somewhere nearby you could talk to?
 
If you have extra grids you can also cable tie them so they’re overlapping, making the holes smaller. Please consider (as suggested above) surrendering the boar to a rescue. Given there is another pregnant sow, I would question whether that is really unintentional. Good luck and hope you can find a solution soon 🙂
 
Oh poor you, so sorry they were mix sexed, hope you can find a pair of sows or boars very soon x
 
Welcome to the forum.
Sorry that you find yourself in this situation.
We will support you whatever happens.
 
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