Any experts on guinea pig breeding out there?

[sphil]

Sorry in advance - this is a bit complicated!
We have three guinea pigs, two females and a male, who are all living together atm, as we're trying to breed them. I'm pretty sure that both the sows are now pregnant and I'm intending to remove the boar next week. The problem is that the two sows might have become pregnant at different times - before we got our boar, one of the sows was in with my sister's boar for 10 days, until he sadly died (was very old - but as she said, at least he died happy ). If she IS pregnant by him then she could have babies from Dec 1st onwards, whereas the other sow's earliest due date is Dec 23rd.

My question is, can I keep the two sows in together? I read somewhere that one sow giving birth before the other can trigger miscarriage but have no idea if this is true. I'd rather not separate them unless I have to - they've always been together and they keep each other warm! The boar is very hairy so will probably be OK, though feel a bit sorry for him too. If he accepts one of the male babies (if we get any) then we'll keep one as a companion for him.

TIA

I'd seperate them. They don't usually harm each others babies but the new ones start bonking very early. Never heard of the miscarriage thing.

Can I ask why are you trying to breed them?

What will you do with the babies when they need to be removed?

(Sorry I cant answer your question!)

We have a number of friends who have already asked for the babies - and we'll keep up to three ourselves. Have two spare hutches, and space for more if needed.

We have juat acquired our two gorgeous boys from a guinea pig rescue - Now that our two are with us the lovely lady who runs it has got another 45 to rehome

Sorry but deliberately breeding them when there are loads all over the country in rescue centres waiting for caring homes............. It doesnt make sense to me at all

We bred guinea pigs last year, first time by surprise (we got a little gp, she arrived pregnant) and the second time like you, we had 2 females and a male, but we staggered the pregnancies so one gave birth 2 or 3 weeks before the other. We took the male out as soon as we were sure the females were pregnant, and only separated the females when the first had given birth - no triggering of miscarriage here.

We had loads of people wanting ours. We still get people asking for them. We did it cos we'd had babies by accident and loads of people wanted them. Also, it was nice for the dds. I know the arguments about getting them from refuges but really, over the years, I have had so many pets from refuges - 5 of my 6 cats have come from refuges - that I think occasionally I just want to have the fun of baby animals rather than everyone else's cast-offs.

typing this with one of my very gorgeous new rescue kittens on my lap.

Sorry Yurtgirl, but when we got our original two I checked all the rescue centres near us (Somerset) for weeks and weeks and there were no guinea pigs at all in any of them. We did get our male from a local breeder who is downsizing because of illness, so I guess he was a rescue pig in a way.
I'm with Fennel on this one - we're not intending to keep breeding them and they will all go to good homes or stay with us.

I'm worried about that - though he was on his own when we got him from the breeder. That's why we'll try to keep one of the male babies as a companion for him, and if we don't get any males, we'll have him neutered and put him back in with the sows.

They're lovely aren't they? They are DS1's really, but I've fallen in love with them. They're so inquisitive and responsive - even Hairy Horris (the boar) who still shoots around the hutch like a cannonball when he sees me (we've only had him a few weeks).Mind you, he sat on DS1's lap eating a carrot last night - big breakthrough as he's been too nervous to do this up til now.

Still no answers to my miscarriage question?
I may have to ring my friendly breeder - trying to avoid this as she'll keep me on the phone for HOURS

A half-answer to your question: as an irresponsible child, I often had more than one piggy preggers at a time, and no, it never seemed to affect their companions.

We did eventually (at around the 50 guinea mark) work out which of ours were the boars, and separate them accordingly. Oddly, the males seemed to get on just fine, but the females used to get on each other's nerves. Some of the males lived semi-wild in the garden and brought themselves into the greenhouse at night. I wouldn't recommend this, but I think they frightened off the local cats.

(My brother around the same time built a vast railway layout that expanded until there was no room for our little brother in the bedroom, so he ejected him to sleep in the utility room under the airing cupboard. Can't decide whether my parents were very tolerant or very neglectful! )

. Sounds a bit like my family. My sister was mad about all kinds of amphibians. My dad built her a huge cage for her tree frogs that took up half our sitting room. She used to have to put the males in boxes at night because they woke up the neighbours with their mating calls. We had a toad pen in the back garden, two giant Australian toads beside the piano and an axolotyl in a tank in the kitchen.

I have a friend whose guinea pigs live wild in the garden - they come up to the house at feeding times .

I take your point sphil - I didnt mean to cause offence I just find it frustrating when I know how many lovely gp's are waiting for new homes in rescue places

If you or anyone else fancy a trip to South Wales a visit to Glynneath Guinea Pig rescue is worthwhile - Suzi has got about 45 atm!!!!

Oh I think I read about that one on the net - just a bit far for us unfortunately