Any idea on how to gauge the age range?

[Cavycavmomma]

I live in the USA and bought by my boys from a pet store who receives in piggies from people basically as rehoming and ages are not always given. 2 are a father/son and I was told the father may been a year and son 4 weeks (but he looked older) and there was another piggy with him that was not related supposedly same age. 1 we were told was 1.5 but I think he's older and the other 2 just adopted we're told are close to 3. All are skinny. The 3 older are longer of course and the babies are shorter in length but the vets around here are not knowledgeable in guinea pigs which frustrates me. I just would like to know how old they are.

 

[Cavycavmomma]

Bruno is father to Capt Jack no others are related. We were told Munchie was 1.5, Capt Jack and Ozzy were 4 weeks, Bruno 1 and Sparrow and Goth Boy 3 (Bruno is one with brown patch on eye and white)

 

[Piggies&buns]

I'm afraid is very difficult to gauge their age even if we could have hands on. We would not be able to tell from a photo and their physical size is not indicative of age.
Younger piggies tend to have thinner, sharper nails but my guess from what you’ve said would be that even that won’t tell you as they all seem to be older than that

 

[Freela]

Once they're done growing and not obviously babies anymore, it can be really hard to gauge their ages. Looking at size doesn't always help, as there can be a big range of normal sizes in guinea pigs (one of ours still looks like a baby to me, but she's actually coming up to a year of age, she's just really tiny!) One thing that can give you a bit of a guesstimate is the toenails. Pigs tend to get thicker, more twisted nails as they age. Babies have little pointy nails, older pigs have more gnarled, thick nails. It can't give you a precise age but it might be able to at least identify the pigs who are adolescents or younger adults from pigs who are solidly in the middle adult age.

 

[Freela]

Just to add... Ozzy and Captain Jack do, from what I can see in the pictures, look like babies, as they have that large head/small body ratio that baby pigs have! Once they have more adult proportions, age gets harder to guess!

 

[Wiebke]

You can't tell the age of adults just from a picture; you can only tell sub-adults from their youthful look and oldies from the signs of age. Even nails can be sometimes misleading - some piggies have naturally straight nails until old age and others have curlier/twistier ones. Generally in most piggies, nails become thicker, curlier and twistier as they age but it is very much a slow process. That is why you can usually only tell between 'young adult' (1.5- ca. 4 years) and 'mature/older' adult (ca. 4/5 - 7 years or occasionally more of a normal healthy life span) but not narrow it down any more.
Ozyy and Captain Jack are clearly babies (keep in mind that piggy babies grow very quickly and can be 500-600g by 8-10 weeks - that is about half the size of an average adult weight).
The advantage of adopting older boars is that their testosterone is gradually subsiding and that they mellow with old age. They are also much easier to handle (no longer as agile) and are hopefully (depending on their previous home) used to human interaction much more than wiggly babies who will still have to go through the teenage months. Older piggies are sadly generally passed over for adoption although I have never rued adopting oldies. They know who they are and they really appreciate the good things in life.

Our boar guide will take you through the different ages of boars, which you may find helpful when considering your choices: A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars

This guide here discusses possible constellations of guinea pig, including age
and gender: Boars, sows or mixed pairs; babies or adults?

And this guide here will take you through a guinea pig's development over the course of a life time: Journey through a Lifetime: The Ages of Guinea Pigs

Please be aware that there may untreated or undisclosed health issues or other problems. Make sure that you can afford any necessary vet and treatment fees.