Hi,
We were given two guinea pigs a few weeks ago from a friend, thinking they were both brothers. They were born along with with another 2 (females) on New Year’s Eve. Anyway I’m pretty sure one of them is actually female and I know at their age now that could mean trouble but we’ll have to deal with that if the inevitable has happened! Our friends have offered to take the unknown one back and replacing with a definite male but my kids have bonded with them both and so have they with each other so I’m reluctant to take one away completely. I’m planning on phoning our vets tomorrow to see if I can take them down and get her to actually sex them and speak to them regarding neutering Kevin if I’m definitely right in my predictions. I know I will have to keep them separate for a while but that is fine, I plan on allowing them supervised time together just so their bond doesn’t get affected. I was just wondering though how safe neutering a guinea pig actually is? They seem so small for such a procedure (we are first timers and are loving it), our vet is only a small animal vet so I’m confident in her ability just worried about putting him through it though we haven’t really got a choice if I want them to stay together. Appreciate any advice.
Thank you
Hi and welcome
Could you please post preferably clear and day lit pictures of the genitalia in order to make sure that you have got the genders right, please? Sexing sub-adult piggies, and especially babies just from the outward appearance of the genitalia can be confusing and is sadly leading to a lot of mis-sexing. There is a hands-on component to every sexing process, which means double-checking a couple of less obvious but much more gender specific areas. This is unfortunately not something we cannot do via the screen but always do with any piggies we sex in person. However, learning how to sex piggies properly without ever having to rely on other people is not the worst life skill to acquire!
Here is our illustrated sexing guide, which includes pictures of the critical area where you look and in one case feel:
Illustrated Sexing Guide
A vet check is also not a bad idea. Do you have access to a piggy savvy vet as general vets that don't have a lot of experience with piggies may not have the necessary experience?
Your babies are still too young for a ca. 10 week pregnancy to show (the earliest a sow of yours give birth would be at 14-16 weeks of age) or for the testicles starting to descend.
Please keep in mind that piggies of both genders use mounting as a mildly dominant socially interactive behaviour in their strictly hierarchical society. Here is more illustrated information on social interactive behaviours and dynamics:
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
If you really have a mis-sexed pair, then you will have to factor in a full 6 weeks post-op safety wait. The little baby in my avatar is the surprise daughter of a supposedly safe over 5 weeks post-op boar (not one of mine), just to point out that can really happen as late as that!
Here is our comprehensive neutering information:
Neutered / De-sexed Boars And Neutering Operations: Myths, Facts and Post-op Care
Please be aware that you are very likely dealing with a pregnancy in this case; boars start making babies from 3 weeks of age and sows come into season for the first time from 4-6 weeks.
Please open an ongoing specially monitored thread that will accompany you throughout the whole process until any male babies are correctly sexed and safely separated at 3 weeks/250g of weight (whichever comes first). Because we are a strictly no intentional breeding forum, our pregnancy section is only visible once you have registered and accepted our very specific forum rules on this subject.
Here is the link to our comprehensive pregnancy, birth mother and baby care information, which we have specifically written for inexperienced owners faced with an unplanned pregnancy and which is as practical and step-by-step as we ccan make it to guide you through the whole period. Best bookmark this and use as your reference along the way:
Pregnancy & Baby Care Guide's
Unfortunately, guinea pigs don't do play dates. They only do full-on bonding/re-bonding sessions which are more upsetting for them when they are constantly interrupted than a clean separation with living alongside and safe round the clock interaction through the bars. This means that your piggies have to go through the pain only once but can still keep their bond alive and have the constant stimulation and interaction that they need for their wellbeing. Ideally you keep your boy in a traditional cage he cannot get out of. Boars can be very athletic and incredible determined when it comes to getting at sows!
The bar biting will settle down after a day or two, but you need to stay hard during the initial time.
PS: You may also find our New Owners guide collection for all the areas we get the most questions and concerns about as a helpful resource and worth bookmarking. The guide format allows us to keep our information updated.
Here is the link:
Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides
