my guinea pig is 3 or 4 can i mate her.

[kieno]

Hi, word from a small-scale, professional guinea pig breeder -

That 8-month thing is only related to first litters. It just means that it is generally treated as unsafe to allow a guinea pig's first litter of her breeding career to be born at a date where she is 8 months of age or older. The best time to start a sow with the boar is much younger than 6 months though, it's done by the young sow's weight and it's between 500-600 grams (one well-respected source has the wider 450 - 600 grams as the recommended range).

You should find out the sow's actual birthdate, 3 or 4 years being vague.

This situation is not exactly the perfect breeding scenario. There are several tricky things to think about with this.

You should find out from the former owner why she was retired into a pet home. It could have been strictly age, in which case you might be okay getting another litter out of her. Note that being on the wrong side of 'might' in this case is a potential cluster****. On the other hand she may have been retired due to problem.

How long has it been since she had her latest litter? It's known that the longer the break between litters has been, the more babies will be in the new litter. More babies in a litter are generally harder on the mother. We know it's been at least 6 months which to me seems that it is getting a tad long. If it's been a year out or something, no thanks to that IMO.

There is a lot of anti-breeder sentiment going around the internet right now. Having said that, there is no reason in general not to breed guinea pigs if you believe you have the means to get babies you do not want to keep for yourself into new homes. People are allowed to have young guinea pigs for pets if they choose, and haters' gonna hate, there's nothing you can do about that. It's not like you can make a hater stop or change their mind once their hate has blossomed into a turdflower (facts are no obstacle to them, either).

If you end up breeding any guinea pig, remember that guinea pigs are among the harder rodents to breed in a pet environment and avoid having problems with. They are more prone to having problems birthing the babies than other rodents, but it goes further than that.

If something in the care/nutrition is off, you can end up with a mess instead of happy babies. The perfect environment is like 68 - 73F temperature; a decent-sized pen with a friend or friends (or the boar); room for them to walk around and do stuff as a natural course of things; the core of the diet being provided from good hay plus high quality guinea pig pellets that are high protein, high calcium, and high fat and supplementation of that diet with some veggie source (grass being the perfect one). The sows are known to eat a higher net volume of food when they get some veggie like that to munch on once or twice a day, and that directly affects how healthy the litter comes out (they can be born too small if the mother eats less than she could have).

The combination you have of somewhat older sow + she might be getting out of shape in a pet home + she would be having largish litter due to the artificial breeding break of some duration - not exactly a perfect scenario. But at the same time, everything might turn out just fine. It's hard to say, except that I'd definitely want to find out the real age and if she was retired for a reason other than simply age. Minimally, there could be some disqualifier to her health that would make you cancel all such plans.

She was a breeder at the pet shop she only got a break for the time I had her, they didn't want to sell but I insisted and I got her, she is 4, very nice pig, not sure of the birth month.

 

[Fuzzy Torpedoes]

I know it sounds fun, but breeding your pets (especially small ones like guinea pigs) is not for the inexperienced. You can always buy a new guinea pig, but especially if she's had lots of litters before it doesn't sound very healthy... Just an opinion though

There isn't a way to get experience with breeding guinea pigs aside from learning what you can and jumping in, especially with how bad the internet is right now with the unwarranted hatred of breeders and the efforts of various internet forms to demonize and ban discussion of breeding.

The internet's full of "facts" about cavy breeding and guinea pig biology that are based upon knee-jerk assumptions that people (including some less-than-objective veterinarians) decide sound good them so they run with it, and it sucks. Cavies are from South America and their biology is notably different from the European-based livestock that people are accustomed to. The facts about guinea pig biology are often not intuitive.

In the absence of other factors, I believe that that the sow having been regularly-used for breeding is a good sign for a potentially uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery. But, what I feel like is a concern for this case is the age of the sow + the 6-month breeding break + the pet home for 6 months (potentially less exercise and similar, sow may be out of shape) + potentially the owner not taking the nutrition seriously enough (not personal against the OP, just a generalization).

She was a breeder at the pet shop she only got a break for the time I had her, they didn't want to sell but I insisted and I got her, she is 4, very nice pig, not sure of the birth month.

4 is getting up there. I wouldn't be shocked if she did in fact go on to have another successful litter despite that age, but at the same time, in my own operations, I don't think I would roll with that.

 

[kieno]

There isn't a way to get experience with breeding guinea pigs aside from learning what you can and jumping in, especially with how bad the internet is right now with the unwarranted hatred of breeders and the efforts of various internet forms to demonize and ban discussion of breeding.

The internet's full of "facts" about cavy breeding and guinea pig biology that are based upon knee-jerk assumptions that people (including some less-than-objective veterinarians) decide sound good them so they run with it, and it sucks. Cavies are from South America and their biology is notably different from the European-based livestock that people are accustomed to. The facts about guinea pig biology are often not intuitive.

In the absence of other factors, I believe that that the sow having been regularly-used for breeding is a good sign for a potentially uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery. But, what I feel like is a concern for this case is the age of the sow + the 6-month breeding break + the pet home for 6 months (potentially less exercise and similar, sow may be out of shape) + potentially the owner not taking the nutrition seriously enough (not personal against the OP, just a generalization).



4 is getting up there. I wouldn't be shocked if she did in fact go on to have another successful litter despite that age, but at the same time, in my own operations, I don't think I would roll with that.

I feed her fresh green grass and hay every morning, June plums, avacado, sour sop, Spanish needle, guinea pellets, sunflower seeds, cabbage when I can afford and bananas.

*Edited by staff*

 

[Fuzzy Torpedoes]

hm interesting. I have no idea what the outcome of that feeding regimen is.

She's a really pretty girl (saw the pic).

 

[kieno]

hm interesting. I have no idea what the outcome of that feeding regimen is.

She's a really pretty girl (saw the pic).

Typical feeding regimen for cavies here in Jamaica, some people in the country just feed Spanish needle and thing called water grass here not sure of the right name, Jamaicans love calling things already known by another names, just giving them different names, I just hate that, oh and grass, I think I'm doing much more work, I try to give her a different types of vegetation to ensure she has a balanced diet, when I'm out of guinea pellets I give regular grower pellets.

 

[Fuzzy Torpedoes]

Jamaica sounds like a good place to have guinea pigs outside, but especially if breeding, the midday temperature of the pen should be kept a bit lower than the daily high temperature that I'm seeing here: http://www.climatestotravel.com/climate/jamaica. I can see that yours is under a porch and somewhat on an incline, maybe it's in a spot that's good for keeping the afternoon temperature relatively low.

There was a study that showed that pregnant guinea pigs can have birth-defected babies if the pregnant mothers are maintained at a temperature that is too high. I can't remember exactly what temperature they tested at but it would have been similar to the daily high temperatures I'm seeing in Jamaica. So, you'll want to be aware of that. The pen being in a spot where the guinea pig doesn't go above 75F would cover it.