Baby boar troubles

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RudderlessHippy

RudderlessHippy

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Hi again

New problem with my surprise 6 baby guinea pig

Alice's litter are two weeks and three days old now. This mornig it became apparent that one was an obvious boy. He has started mounting his mother. Should I seperate him immediatly, is he still too young to actually impregnante her? I really can't handle any more piggies.

The vet has sexed them all, I have three girls and three boys which poses a rehoming problem. I have trustworthy freinds who are willing to take in pairs of boars, and I was going to keep the girls, but since I have 3 boars, two are brothers but one, Captain Darling, is blind and deaf, and I'm not sure about introduing Alice's boy to them, but I don't want any living by themselves! I was going to keep the blind and deaf one but I don't want him living by himself and he is used to his brother Igor now so I thought they should stay together.

Help!
 
The guidelines for baby boys is to remove them on day 21 if they weigh 250g+, if they weigh less than 200g they will need to stay with mum for a little longer. Please do not remove any babies before day 21. They do practice a fair bit before they are able to do anything about it.

If they weigh 200-250g from day 21 then you base the decision to remove them on their behaviour (ie too much interest in the girls).

You can keep a male with the blind/deaf baby as long as they get along. It makes very little difference to their behaviour and as no-one has told him he is different to other piggies he will behave almost normally.

If you have a single male baby they can get introduced to an older male quite easily, usually.

HTH

Suzy x
 
Thanks

Would you suggest not trying to introduce the single male to the other two?
 
Hi! Don't panic - boys practise for a few days before going life. Mummies come into season again around day 15-17 - that is probably what excites your biggest boy right now and has woken up his manly instincts.

There are two options for you that I can think of:
- rehoming your third boy through a reputable guinea pig rescue where he can paired with another single boar for rehoming into a home checked new home (where in Wales are you?)
- asking your friend to take all three boys. Most likely there will be problems when the boys hit the big hormones at 4-6 months old and you usually get one boar either causing problems or being at the receiving end of them.
However, that is incidentally exactly the age when a boar is old enough to be neutered, so the problem boy could come back and live with your girls once he has passed his 6 week post op wait? that way, you can hang on to one of your boys and your friend will end up with the most stable constellation of your boys. Or you could try one of the baby boys with your adult pair (probably best the quietest) and neuter is there are problems.
 
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Three boys together can be difficult as they hit their hormones as Weibke said.

As for your blind/deaf baby, he'd probably be better off with a friend. It will give him confidence and my blind/deaf boy Hamish often uses his brother Angus as a 'guide pig' if he's not sure but generally is really independant.

Where in Wales are you?
 
I am in Monmouthshire.

I want the blind piggy to stay with his brother. I'm worried at the moment that he doesn't seem to be gaining as much weight as the the other two...
 
RudderlessHippy said:
I am in Monmouthshire.

I want the blind piggy to stay with his brother. I'm worried at the moment that he doesn't seem to be gaining as much weight as the the other two...
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You may want to give the blind baby extra feeding time on his own. Have you or your vet checked his teeth? If necessary, you may need to top him up with mushed pellets or Critical Care, best with a spoon and not a syringe, though.
 
vet checked his teeth, they seemed fine, and he does eat and I've seen him feeding from Matilda. I'm keeping a close eye on him at the moment though
 
Give him some one-on-one time with his mum at least once or twice every day as long as she is nursing. He can stay on with his mum until he is 250g.
 
Most baby pigs enjoy their nuggets softened with a little warm water - he may benefit from the added nutrition.

Lethal gene males are fertile so will need removing at 21 if they have made the weaning weight. See my previous post for the guidelines.

Suzy x
 
They also find veggies easier cut up into strips and their pellets mushed. Sometimes the difficulty can be co-ordination as much as dental issues and it takes them longer and more effort to eat.

You should see Hamish's wrestling matches with his veggies! He's almost 5 months now and still only gains/maintains weight when fed his pellets mushed into porridge.

They can also have GI problems so their gut doesn't always absorb properly but keep persisting. As Suzy & Wiebke said, keep him on Mum as long as possible and give him time to feed from her alone. Also feeding critical care or if he won't take anything else puried veg/baby veg off a spoon will help keep him going.

If you feed him mash off a dish with sides, try using a plate as sides just confuse them - Hamish just chews the side of the bowl instead of the food if I don't use a plate or low dish.
 
He's doing ok at the momnet though still not putting on weight like the others. I have been mushing up pellets for him and he eats them, and I have also tried leaving him alone with matilda but I'm not sure if she feeds him during that time :s he's very small. Weighing him is hard because the moment he's in an unfamilar place he runs round in circles!
 
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