Neutered Male, How To Introduce Him To His Babies And Their Mother? Advice Please

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Shelboner

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I would just like to ask what I should be looking out for with my boars behaviour?

I had him netured 4 and a half weeks ago, he was separated from the sow as soon as I found out she was pregnant and got him netured with a knowlagable vet. she had the babies 6 days ago everything was fine really healthy babies. I'm slowly introducing the babies to the father. and he seems to get really over excited by it all, which is cute. But he seems rather rough with them, nothing aggressive and the babies won't leave him alone ether. I plan on keeping all the babies aswell.

I also have another netured male that I'm planning on having with one of the female babies when she is old enough.

What sort of advice can anyone give me on their experiences?

Thank you in advance
 
Hi!

Great that you are keeping your babies and are doing your best to a good solution with all your piggies.

Here are our baby guides, as well as a diet guide for mum to help her to get over the demands of a pregnancy and the nursing period.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/after-birth-and-baby-care.109389/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/sexing-separating-baby-boars-and-rehoming-babies.109391/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/pregnancy-and-nursing-diet.109377/

Please be aware that babies can happen as late as over 5 weeks after a neutering operation; my Tegan is an example of that, just to prove that point (dad is not one of mine)! But you are lucky - the timing is going to work out for you.

Babies get emphatically pushed to the bottom of the hierarchy. Dad is obviously a bit stressed with his unexpected job. At that age, the babies are following any adult; they are still constantly nursing. They are going to gradually switch over to a mainly solid diet in the coming week. Rather than putting the babies with dad, try to keep him right next to the nursery so he can get used to mum and he babies. At roaming time, let them roam next to each other, but divided by bars for the next week, so they can get used to each other more gradually; the babies can go and visit, but with mum in the picture. Not all dads are natural nurse maids! This will also make it a bit easier to re-introduce mum and dad after the end of the nursing period.

You may find this guide here helpful in spotting key behaviours and conducting any bondings - your little girl/neutered boar intro should be the easiest, as she will just stick to him like a burr and he will be delighted to have a wifelet of his own in my own experience.
Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
 
Thank you :) I have done alot of care with animals and guineas. I love them. atm the babies and mum have a play pen and indoor hutch in my bedroom I've only let the boar see them through the bars and only once has he been in with them but I supervised the whole time and no humping went on. just alot of rumbling and strutting so he is really dominant then? he is also a fairly young boy about 7 to 8 months so rather immature and boystrous. he has had a really hard start to his life too. so maybe he lacks social skills?
Also I read mixed things about the time after the neutering online it says 2 weeks, my mum thought the vet said 4 weeks and I'm deaf and thought she said 6 so I got really confused, I will wait till 6 weeks to be sure then

Also the mother pig seemed really unsure of his presence? do you think I should leave it a few more days before I let her see him? so she doesn't stress too much. he is the most awkward guinea I have owned so boystrous and loud... but I love him.

I'm gonna send pictures of the babies I think 2 of them are chinchilla agouti so cute

Thank you
 
Shelboner said:
Thank you :) I have done alot of care with animals and guineas. I love them. atm the babies and mum have a play pen and indoor hutch in my bedroom I've only let the boar see them through the bars and only once has he been in with them but I supervised the whole time and no humping went on. just alot of rumbling and strutting so he is really dominant then? he is also a fairly young boy about 7 to 8 months so rather immature and boystrous. he has had a really hard start to his life too. so maybe he lacks social skills?
Also I read mixed things about the time after the neutering online it says 2 weeks, my mum thought the vet said 4 weeks and I'm deaf and thought she said 6 so I got really confused, I will wait till 6 weeks to be sure then

Also the mother pig seemed really unsure of his presence? do you think I should leave it a few more days before I let her see him? so she doesn't stress too much. he is the most awkward guinea I have owned so boystrous and loud... but I love him.

I'm gonna send pictures of the babies I think 2 of them are chinchilla agouti so cute

Thank you
Click to expand...

Please NEVER put a boar with any sows before he is 100% safe - it literally takes only seconds and much faster that you can get at him to impregnate a sow.
Give them time to get used to him through the bars. His presence now is rather disruptive while the babies still fully rely on her for milk.
 
Wiebke said:
Please NEVER put a boar with any sows before he is 100% safe - it literally takes only seconds and much faster that you can get at him to impregnate a sow.
Give them time to get used to him through the bars. His presence now is rather disruptive while the babies still fully rely on her for milk.
Click to expand...

That is what I meant :) but shall I leave it a few days before doing the divide
 
Shelboner said:
Thank you :) I have done alot of care with animals and guineas. I love them. atm the babies and mum have a play pen and indoor hutch in my bedroom I've only let the boar see them through the bars and only once has he been in with them but I supervised the whole time and no humping went on. just alot of rumbling and strutting so he is really dominant then? he is also a fairly young boy about 7 to 8 months so rather immature and boystrous. he has had a really hard start to his life too. so maybe he lacks social skills?
Also I read mixed things about the time after the neutering online it says 2 weeks, my mum thought the vet said 4 weeks and I'm deaf and thought she said 6 so I got really confused, I will wait till 6 weeks to be sure then

Also the mother pig seemed really unsure of his presence? do you think I should leave it a few more days before I let her see him? so she doesn't stress too much. he is the most awkward guinea I have owned so boystrous and loud... but I love him.

I'm gonna send pictures of the babies I think 2 of them are chinchilla agouti so cute

Thank you
Click to expand...

PS: You have got red dutch type mum (with the red bum missing) and two silver agouti babies. it is a bit difficult to see what the third baby is exactly in that picture as babies have darker coat colours than they have as adults.
Here are our forum guides:
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...ig-picture-guide-to-common-pet-breeds.121399/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...-coat-colours-agouti-shadings-roaning.121413/
 
Thank you :) the mum also has red specks that you can't see in the picture almost like a red dalmation :)
 
20161120_114914.webp
Wiebke said:
PS: You have got red dutch type mum (with the red bum missing) and two silver agouti babies. it is a bit difficult to see what the third baby is exactly in that picture as babies have darker coat colours than they have as adults.
Here are our forum guides:
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...ig-picture-guide-to-common-pet-breeds.121399/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...-coat-colours-agouti-shadings-roaning.121413/
Click to expand...

I think the brown one is a chocolate brown version of the grey ones they have white legs and tummy with a arrow shape of white on their face and he or she is super friendly
 
Shelboner said:
View attachment 55420


I think the brown one is a chocolate brown version of the grey ones they have white legs and tummy with a arrow shape of white on their face and he or she is super friendly
Click to expand...

Here is a good sexing guide for the babies, but you are also welcome to post (sharp and clear) pictures of the relevant bits in this thread here. often the gender becomes clearer around 2 weeks. If in doubt, have a look at the inside of the slit in mummy and daddy (they look very different as sows have side flaps that close up into an x shape feature when they are not in season) and then compare the babies. That is often the safest way to determine the sex at that age.
Sexing Guinea Pigs: How to Sex a Guinea Pig

From your picture, it wasn't quite obvious whether it was chocolate or black or both in your thrid baby! Very cute!
 
Thank you I have sexed guinea pigs before and by the looks of them I have one grey female and one grey male. but the brown one is alot harder to tell so I'm gonna look at them all again in a weeks time where they will be 2 weeks of age, he has a black then brown then lighter tips I will find a picture and see what you think :) 20161125_120435.webp
 
Awwww how lovely to have a family of guinea pigs. I hope all the intros go well when the time comes.
 
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