Guinea pig advice needed please!!

[beanhead24]

One of our sows has had 2 babies, boy & girl.

We have split the boy from our females as he looked as though he was trying to mate with Mum. We split him at 2wks 5days, he is now 3wks 1 day. He is very lonely & is looking for Mum, have we done the right thing? A pet shop that I have just spoken to have said baby males are OK with females until 5-6weeks.

We are desperately trying to find a baby male to be a companion for him but cant get one for 1-2 weeks locally & really don't want baby boy to be lonely for another 1-2 weeks. Should we put him back in with Mum & other females?

Where are the cages in relation to each other? Can they go side by side so they can see each other?

Bumping for someone who knows more about breeding from GPs. We only have one gender so haven't had to deal with this.

ahhhhhh more confused than ever!!! Just spoke to a vet & she said that the baby boy would not be able to get females pregnant until 4-5months. This is wrong, surely?????

You have done the right thing. Baby boars can mate from 3 weeks of age, the pet shop is wrong.

I suggest you side by side baby boar's cage with his mum/sister so they can still see, smell and talk to each other.

Do you intent to keep both babies? You have a few options:-
Let baby boar live next to the others until he is old enough to neuter and re-introduce him. Remember he will not be sterile until 6 weeks post op. Personally this is what I would do.

Get him another baby boar friend. This will be tricky when they hit the 6-9 month teenage stage as they will not be litter brothers. Fights at this age for dominance are common and often worse in an unrelated pair. This the most risky, you could end up with 2 lone boars that can't live together.

Get an adult boar from a rescue to be his uncle. Hopefully older boar will be dominant and there won't be fights or at less just minor scuffles where elder boar puts him in his place. If you take this option, still neuter baby boar for the time when his older friend passes on. Avoids the lone guinea situation arising again.

HTH

I type very slowly. Blimey just seen your vets advice. So wrong. Suggest you look for a more cavy savvy vet too.

For reference on breeding go to www.guineapiglynx.co.uk or www.rodentswithattitude.co.uk

another vet has just told me 3-4 months. How can it all be so conflicting???

Well if advice being dished out by vets is 3-4 months, its no surprise the number of animals sold at pet shops already pregnant.

Oooh piglets.

Yes 3-4 weeks . Probably unusual but it is documented. You don't want to take the risk of an inbred litter though.

The mounting is probably part dominance play but they will happily mate with their Mums and Sisters (Little toads)

Side-By-Side him while he's apart so he can chat.
You can get him a male piglet friend but be careful of two boars in sniffing disstance of sows.
Or your simplest option might be keep him side-by-side until you can neuter him, then re-introduce him to The Ladeez. He'd need to be a good weight about 5 months or so)

I know years ago our sow weaned her piglets at 3-4 weeks herself ( they are hard works ) and we rehomed at 4 weeks. (We had homes waiting) . They are lovely self sufficient little animals much earlier than rabbits.