Hello I'm looking for some advice. So back in may we had two little female guinea pigs at 8-weeks old. Week and half ago we found out one of them had two babies. I've had to separate the two companions because mummy was getting nasty with the other one.
I have mummies and babies in the top hutch and I have Ruby at the bottom one.
I've had a look myself and I think we have one boy and one girl babies but I am taking them to the vets soon to double check.
if there is one boy and one girl my best friend is going to have the little boy. But my question is when do you think I can introduce mummy and baby to the other companion Ruby and do you think this will work as a 3?
I'm still very new to having guinea pigs and I feel like I've been chucked in at the deep end but they are all lovely, they are a pleasure to have.
Hi!
You can post preferably clear and well-lit pictures of the baby bits (ideally add a picture of the inside of the slit too) in our sexing section if you want another opinion. Not every vet is necessarily experienced and practised in guinea pig sexing.
Our sexing guide also has got reference pictures of two week old babies.
Illustrated Sexing Guide
Is your little boy going to be a single or does he have company waiting for him? Please be aware that guinea pigs are group animals and that they are not wired to live on their own. Especially a single baby will miss out a whole lot of crucial socialisation and may struggle all his life with that deficit. At this age, they urgently need an 'uncle' boar to look after them and teach them to master society and their environment during the all important 'school' weeks between weaning and teenage.
Does your friend have a boar or are they planning to get him a preferably character compatible companion and a boar-sized large enough hutch/cage? Boars need a lot more space. Guinea pigs are group animals and should not be kept on their own; especially not having a joyless life stuck in a too small hutch out in the garden in all weather. The right to companionship of their own kind for any social animals is one of the five basic freedoms that are acknowledged by the UK.
This is what going to a single situation means from your baby boy's view:
Arrival in a home from the perspective of pet shop guinea pigs
Companionship
Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities
Cage Size Guide
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
As you may have read in our mother and baby care information, rebonding separated sows is about the trickiest bonding you can do. If there is an underlying rift and if the mother as the leader of her own little group is not willing to go back to her old position as an under-sow, then it will unfortunately not work out. It all depends on how character compatible your two original sows are.
Please carefully read our bonding guide. It takes you through all stages of the complex process with the attendant key behaviours and dynamics to enable you to understand what is going on and whether the behaviour is within an acceptable frame or not.
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
If the re-bonding of Ruby is not coming off, have you considered that she could live next to your little boy (it would have to be rather indoors for full socialisation through the bars for a few months) and be bonded with him once he is safe at 6 weeks past his neutering operation to live with him as her 'husboar'? Unfortunately neutering operations in this country are only performed when the testicles have decended and then you need a 6 weeks wait to ensure that there is no live semen still in the tubes, which are left in the body. The little baby in my avatar picture on the left is the surprise daughter of a supposedly safe over 5 weeks post-op boar (not one of my own, I hasten to add). But it would be an option for you to hang onto all your piggies in the long term even though your boy will be 6 months before he can be bonded with Ruby and you need to bridge this time.
Otherwise you will have to make sure that both your boy and Ruby can find a companion of their own, ideally not from a place that sells pregnant/mis-sexed piggies!
Neutered / De-sexed Boars And Neutering Operations: Myths, Facts and Post-op Care
These are the good welfare standard rescues we can guarantee for that you are in safe hands and won't have any more nasty surprises. Since anybody in this country can call themselves a rescue or a breeder (or any shade in between) without licensing or regular supervision, we cannot guarantee for any other place.
Rescue Locator
