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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Posting for traffic - anyone with guinea pig breeding knowledge? Escaped boar!!

55 replies

HavanaGoodTime · 27/06/2021 19:54

We have 5 sows and a baby entire boar (11 weeks, booked for castration in 2 weeks time). He is in his own section of the run but at some point today he has got in with the girls!! He could have been in there 4-5 hours!

How likely is it that I will now have 5 pregnant sows?! Is there a morning after pill for guinea pigs?!

Don’t know what to do!

OP posts:
SteveBuscemisRheumyEye · 27/06/2021 20:33

Oh bloody hell! No good deed, etc 🙈

Original poster
HavanaGoodTime · 27/06/2021 20:39

I’m trying to be optimistic that when we found him he was alone at one end of the run and the girls were together at the other - maybe they told him to bugger off?! They are big girls and he is only diddy, they re bolshy and he’s quite shy...grasping at straws here...

OP posts:
liquidy · 27/06/2021 21:05

It is illegal to post a thread about guineas without including pictures.

ItsAllBlahBlahBlah · 27/06/2021 21:09

Aww congratulations on the pregnancies of all your little guineas. You're going to be a grandmama pig 😍

Place marking for updates and piccies.

Didicat · 27/06/2021 21:13

Photo of the offending little boar surely are a must!!! And the sows obviously!

Definitely consult a vet, but spaying guinea pigs is not normally done unless for medical reasons.

Original poster
HavanaGoodTime · 27/06/2021 21:15

Photos (hopefully) the little black one is our randy escape artist!

Posting for traffic - anyone with guinea pig breeding knowledge? Escaped boar!!
Posting for traffic - anyone with guinea pig breeding knowledge? Escaped boar!!
OP posts:
ItsAllBlahBlahBlah · 27/06/2021 21:18

Gorgeous 😍

DixonD · 27/06/2021 21:22

@ATowelAndAPotato

I think they are pretty efficient, so it is possible they are all pregnant!!
They’re not as easy to breed as you think. I’ve bred a lot of guinea pigs over the years.

OP, it’s very unlikely he’s got all of them, if any. Older females are harder to breed anyway. I kept my male guinea pigs in with the mother and litter until the litter was about 8 weeks old and I NEVER got a second litter, like you would with rabbits.

Original poster
HavanaGoodTime · 27/06/2021 21:23

Dixon that’s really reassuring! Thank you!

OP posts:
LizzieW1969 · 27/06/2021 21:24

Gorgeous guineas!! I’m looking forward to pics of their babies if there are any!

I remember that we let our pet sow and boar have babies when I was six years old. The babies were really cute, and active right from the start. I kind of remember that the pregnancy lasted for more like 30 days than 60 (that’s for dogs and cats).

I might be remembering wrongly; I’m now 51 now so it was a long time ago. Smile

youvegottenminuteslynn · 27/06/2021 21:27

Oh my goodness he is absolutely GORGEOUS 😍

Original poster
HavanaGoodTime · 27/06/2021 21:29

Oh yes he is gorgeous! Well they all are really! I just don’t want any harm to come to my girls!

OP posts:
22Giraffes · 27/06/2021 21:30

Ah I didn't mean to scare you! Fingers crossed all will be well, they are all gorgeous Grin

Evenstar · 27/06/2021 21:30

You may find that it won’t be as bad as you fear, they would have needed to be in season, in very rare circumstances they may retain sperm till they ovulate. I had a missexed boar in with 5 girls for over a month and they were indeed pregnant, some of them were older, but they all did OK giving birth and we only had 9 babies born alive out of 13 so you may not have all that many. They can have babies at an older age, my vet reassured me that it wasn’t a concern.

As per PP you should be watching for signs of pregnancy for the next 70 days, you should limit pellets but give plenty of hay and vegetables. If you weigh them weekly a steady increase in weight will give you an idea if they are pregnant.

If you are worried phone the vet for advice , but spaying the girls would be very expensive and risky for them.

There is lots of good advice on www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/

I would definitely contact the rescue, my friend who runs a rescue was very helpful with sexing the babies and finding carefully vetted homes.

I hope all goes well.

Chunkymenrock · 27/06/2021 21:32

In older sows who've never had a litter, their pelvises fuse, so they are unable to give birth naturally. Definitely best to contact the vet in the morning. Oh dear!

blubberball · 27/06/2021 21:36

Hopefully there are no unwanted pregnancies. Baby Guinea pigs are born pretty large, and fully formed, so the female's pelvis opens up to deliver the large babies. However, if they don't have a litter before they are a year old, the pelvis can fuse together making giving birth risky and difficult. Definitely get advice from the vet and Guinea pig rescues. Fingers crossed for no harm done. Flowers

Original poster
HavanaGoodTime · 27/06/2021 21:37

evenstar is there a way to tell if they are in season?

OP posts:
Evenstar · 27/06/2021 21:46

@HavanaGoodTime not that I know of, they don’t show any obvious things like dogs etc. The only thing is sometimes they can be grumpy with each other when they are in season, but some pigs are grumpy anyway!

I think it would be quite bad luck if many of them were in season and he was only in for a short time.

shdodnbek · 27/06/2021 21:54

Op if they are all pregnant you could start up a Mumsnet guinea pig rescue plan. I'm sure fellow Mumsnetters would step up to the challenge of rehoming 40 guinea pigs.

I am most certainly following this thread Grin
And apologies I cannot take one off you as I am allergic.

MagnoliaXYZ · 27/06/2021 22:02

We had guinea pig pups when I was a kid, unplanned pregnancy, the girls were unknowingly pregnant when we bought them. They had three each. We had to separate the boys at 3 weeks from the girls (we put them back with mum for supervised feeding, though they can eat and drink from birth) as they were starting to try and mate mum. They were only young when we got them, though I've also heard about not breeding them after a certain age and not having their first litter after one due to the pelvis.

MimsyBorogroves · 27/06/2021 22:03

I love newborn Guinea pigs. So tiny and perfect. I realise that is in no way helpful

seepingweeping · 27/06/2021 22:04

I'm only here so I can see updates on the pregnant piggies

Essexgirlupnorth · 27/06/2021 22:10

When we were kids we got 2 guinea pigs who were pregnant before we got them both had twins. We did breed two of our guinea pigs and they had one (massive) baby so you may not get as many babies as you think.
Fingers crossed they aren't pregnant

ToffeePennie · 27/06/2021 22:23

Yes. I breed guinea pigs. I have 13 currently but have had as many as 25.
There is a very distinct possibility that all the girls are now pregnant. There is nothing to do but watch and weigh them to check and then try to find homes for them.