Fudge

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chilwell

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Fudge still seems a bit depressed. Since the piggie babies have come along she is not herself, she no longer popcorns around the cage but just sits in one place, she is eating ok but just looks sad :(

I have bought another bigger cage and separated them, Cuddles and the babies in one and Fudge in the other, I had to do this because she was bullying the babies a bit.

I will be putting the 3 babies in the bigger cage when it comes to separating them for good and will put Cuddles back in with Fudge. Will Fudge accept Cuddles back again?

Also when is the best time to separate the babies away from Cuddles for good? Is 3 weeks too early, when do they start trying to hump the mother?

Thanks.
 
I haven't seen your previous posts about Fudge, so correct me if I am wrong. Are Fudge and Cuddles both female? And Cuddles is the one that has had the babies?

I found when Sasha had her babies, she seemed a little glum but I think it was just tiredness.

I had to seperate Mabelle as he was a boy and we had him neautered before it was clear that Sasha was pregnant (pet shop mix up). We kept them seperate until the babies were about 3 weeks old I think it was. He was REALLY glum. We had them next to each other though, seperated by a set of bars, so they could interact with each other.

If any of the babies are boys, you will have to seperate them early anyway, as they could get mum pregnant.

I shouldn't think that you will have too much trouble reintroducing Fudge and Cuddles. Just will need to do it on neutral ground (in a run for example) and keep an eye on them. I seperated our babies so we had two in one cage, another two in with mum and then put dad in with the group with mum. They were fine from the second I put him in. He had a bit of a rumble strut and followed them about for 5 mins or so, but no chattering of teeth or squeaks or anything.

Good luck :)


EDIT: http://www.guinealynx.info/sexing_pups.html <<-- This site says to seperate the males at 3 weeks, so you should be fine.
 
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Thanks.

Fudge and Cuddles are both female. Cuddles was pregnant when we bought her, petshop had males in with females rolleyes

Cuddles is fine and is an excellent mum but Fudge is just sitting around and not popcorning anymore. I have put the babies in another cage and Cuddles is with them most of the time however I do put her in with Fudge a lot so the girls can hopefully stay bonded. They used to snuggle up together but they haven't done that since the babies were born :(

As far as I can tell all 3 babies are boys, I will put pics on here soon so I can get help with sexing!
 
chilwell said:
As far as I can tell all 3 babies are boys, I will put pics on here soon so I can get help with sexing!
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Good plan! My two babies that I said I seperated from the rest of the group, I did that because I thought they were boys, but we (and the vet) got it wrong. We've since had Seymour neutered and now have two groups of three, one boar two sows in each.

What are your plans for the babies? Will you be keeping them or rehoming? They are so cute when they are tiny aren't they!

None of mine are particularly cuddly with each other, but I'm sure they will be fine when they are back together full time.
 
Since Fudge and Cuddles will have a different group scent now, you'd do better to go through a full introduction on neutral ground again. Make sure that you scrub the cage they are moving into and scrub and rearrange their furniture during the introduction. This will cut down a lot on any squabbles/fights they may have and help with the inevitable dominance sort out.

Guinea pigs are VERY strict about group scent; as their sense of smell is far more developed and important than it is to us. They divide strictly into "us" and "not us" - even if it is a group of one! It is not always easy and straightforward to put sows together after they have been separated because of a pregnancy, so you want to be careful. Don't expect any love fests and immediate happy-ever-afters!

You can separate the babies from their mummy at three weeks old, but you need to make sure that you separate any girls and boys from each other at the same time. Girls can get pregnant from 4 weeks onwards. The major reason for separating any boys is so they can't get their baby sisters pregnant!

Isn't there any possibility to introduce Fudge to Cuddles and any girls as a group in neutral territory and see whether she will interact better this time?
 
Wiebke said:
Isn't there any possibility to introduce Fudge to Cuddles and any girls as a group in neutral territory and see whether she will interact better this time?
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Do you mean completely separate Fudge and Cuddles while Cuddles is with the babies and then reintroduce once the babies are 3 weeks old?

I have a big cardboard run in which they all go in at the moment and they are all fine in that, I guess it's a much bigger space! Obviously we will have to build another so the boys and girls are always separate, don't want more babies!
 
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