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I don’t know what to do

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Mickey the lonely piggie said:
It says 100cm(L) x 52 cm (D) x 100 cm (H)
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I'm afraid that is too small for any piggies and falls below welfare standards. A cage needs to be 120 x 60cm (this is the smallest for two sows) at the absolute smallest but as I say two boars need bigger minimum of 150x60 due to their territorial nature.
Character compatibility is the most important factor of whether a bond works, but if you keep two piggies in a cage which is too small that can cause them to fight

Cage Size Guide
 
Mickey the lonely piggie said:
The pet store only had this size where can I get a big cage?
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Can you look online?
In the UK there are no pet shop/commercial cages big which are at the recommended 180cm for boars (there is one which meets the minimum of 150cm) so c&c cages are used a lot as they can be made to any shape or size as required.
 
Have you separated them or they’re all still living together? You said the pups are one boar and two sows. As said a cardboard hut won’t last long. You’ll find they can escape - pee and chewing on it - so you need something more substantial. Could you buy a dog play pen and set it up so they have constant access?
 
Siikibam said:
Have you separated them or they’re all still living together? You said the pups are one boar and two sows. As said a cardboard hut won’t last long. You’ll find they can escape - pee and chewing on it - so you need something more substantial. Could you buy a dog play pen and set it up so they have constant access?
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Yes i have separated them. I will search for dog pens online. I have one baby girl guinea pig always climbing up onto the cage and squeaking for milk. Whenever I give her a bit of milk she stops.
 
They do not need milk now, you can stop giving it to them. This has been mentioned quite a few times now. Just give them plenty of hay plus veg and pellets as recommended.

Are the boars secure so they can’t escape to get in with the sows? A photo of your setup would be good actually.

Remember to handle the boars first for whatever you’re doing in future.
 
What veggies are you feeding them? I don’t know if it was linked to before but below I’d the feeding guide. Try a sprig of coriander, a slice of cucumber and a slice of bell pepper. Sometimes you have to just be persistent. Keep putting it in every day. If they don’t eat it then take it out. Rinse and repeat.

If they’re in adult pellets you can give them two tablespoons each a day. Otherwise one tablespoon of young piggy pellets.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Mickey the lonely piggie said:
Cucumber, cabbage, carrots, bell peppers and kale
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are they eating plenty of hay? That is the most important thing

carrot should only be given in small amounts and only once per week as it is high in sugar
kale should only be given once per week and in small amounts as it is high in calcium.
 
Introduce lettuce (except iceberg) to them. You can give them a leaf between two and see if they like it - most do. Then you can give a lettuce leaf, cucumber, pepper and a sprig of coriander daily.
 
I’ve had my daddy pig since he was a baby and I never weighed him but he has never been sick. The mummy pig that passed away was never weighed but she did had bloody diarrhea. The babies seem fine. My friend has over 50 guinea pigs in her backyard and she says a scale is unnecessary
 
It’s good he’s never been ill. But things have moved on now. Weighing should be part of their lifelong health monitoring - a drop in weight can sometimes be a signal of something brewing. Guinea pigs are very good at hiding illnesses. Sometimes by the time they show symptoms it’s gone quite far.

It’s up to your friend what she does with her guinea pigs. And it’s your choice who you choose to take advice from. But be aware that advice will be given based on people experiences with their own. Whether you follow the advice or not is always up to you. No one can force you to do what you don’t want to. Out of curiosity, what is your friend’s setup? Are boars living with sows or single sex pairs/groups?
 
They are all living together in her backyard. She keeps her pregnant guinea pigs in one pig cage until they give birth and finish breast feeding. After that they mothers are allowed out but the babies stay in the cage until they are a little bigger. The sows and boars are altogether.
 
Routine weekly weighing is part of good care and pet ownership and is absolutely necessary. It allows you to pick up on the early warning signs of illness starting, it allows you to step in and syringe feed to prevent further weight loss and GI stasis (which is life saving) and get to a vet early. It’s good your boar hasn’t been ill, but if any piggy drops in weight due to not eating enough hay, you potentially won’t know about it until they become quite poorly as you cannot judge hay intake by eye and you potentially won’t see the 50g limit of weight loss at which you need to step in until it becomes a lot more weight loss, and then getting them back from that can be a lot harder.
It’s also important given your situation with pups, the only way to know the weight of the boars so you can separate them from sows at the necessary 250g or three weeks of age before they get their sisters pregnant and then comes the risks of pregnancy in any event but also the genetic risks of inbreeding.
Your friend is obviously a breeder. Whose advice you follow is up to you, but here you will be advised to weigh them weekly and keep all sexes very separate - not only due to the risks of pregnancies but also due to the risks to a boar bond for simply being in the presence of sows. We do not support breeding at all. We only support welfare and good pet ownership and weighing regularly is part of such care.
 
Mickey the lonely piggie said:
If I want babies from the sow do I still have to seperate them?
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Why would you want your sow to get pregnant? Breeding piggies risks death of both mum and pups, inbreeding risks genetic problems.
You’ve already said you don’t have the money for a vet so why would you want to create even more piggies to have to take care of.
Please separate them appropriately, and never let intact boars have contact with sows.

We are a strictly non breeding forum and will not discuss it. You signed up to those terms when you created an account here.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Why would you want your sow to get pregnant? Breeding piggies risks death of both mum and pups, inbreeding risks genetic problems.
You’ve already said you don’t have the money for a vet so why would you want to create even more piggies to have to take care of.
Please separate them appropriately, and never let intact boars have contact with sows.

We are a strictly non breeding forum and will not discuss it. You signed up to those terms when you created an account here.
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I do not plan on breeding them but I was just asking Just in case they do get pregnant by accident some how in the 2 weeks. My Guinea pigs have been separated appropriately.
 
Mickey the lonely piggie said:
I do not plan on breeding them but I was just asking Just in case they do get pregnant by accident some how in the 2 weeks. My Guinea pigs have been separated appropriately.
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If they are separated before they reach the stage of being able to get pregnant (which I think they have) then they won’t. I think you need to consider how many you can manage in terms of (vet) money.

How old are the pups now? And please can you post photos of your setup?
 
Mickey the lonely piggie said:
If I want babies from the sow do I still have to seperate them?
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Mickey the lonely piggie said:
I do not plan on breeding them but I was just asking Just in case they do get pregnant by accident some how in the 2 weeks. My Guinea pigs have been separated appropriately.
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These responses are contradictory. You can't come on here making out you want to breed from your sow and then when no body likes your statement make out you had no intention of breeding them.
 
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