Pregnant guinea pig... I think. 3 MO UPDATE pg. 9

[jossanne]

No babies yet, and I've been thinking...

I decided to look at pictures for sexing guinea pigs again, and what do you know? The feed store was wrong. When has that ever happened?

Lulu is a BOY! She's the daddy, so Sunny has been in with a male since Dec. 26th when the one we were told was a boy was killed. So now... due date could be any day now, who knows! Sunny's huge, babies are vigorous, and we're just waiting.

 

[asher]

Oh goodness! hehe Well...babies soon then!

 

[citalk2much]

That is called never trust the pet store LOL

 

[cutiepieacres]

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That would explain why "she" hasnt been looking pregnant. LOL, Make sure Lulu is now out of the cage into his own separate cage so there wont be any breedbacks.

I just found the cutest pig at Petco the other day and it was in the girls cage and I told the employee I wanted to look at her and make sure she was a girl before I bought her as she is just a pet so I figured she can live with some of my girls, I have room for no more boys. She told me it was for sure a girl because the cage label said so and she had been looked at by the "experts" luckily for me this time it was a girl but I kept telling trying to her that just because the label on the cage says girl that it means nothing, as I have rescued plenty of pregnant pigs out of petco and have found girls in the boys cages etc. I think she was still pretty convinced the labels dont lie, she also told me guinea pigs bite all the time and was afraid to pick her up so.....

Good luck with the babies though!! I hope they come soon!

 

[jossanne]

We put a hardware cloth divider in their cage as soon as we figured out the mistake. The poor piggies are very sad to only be able to nuzzle each other through the wire, and don't seem to be eating as much. Luey spends most of his time hiding in his box now, and he was the more outgoing one before. When we took them out for a few minutes last night to have some together time, they sure were happy, and spent a lot of time just standing right together.

It just amazes me that the guy at the feed store who was the "expert" was wrong - these were their breeding stock. You'd think he'd know which ones were having babies! And you'd also think that he'd know what a nearly-due piggie looks like, and would have known at Christmas time that she wasn't having babies by the end of December, with the way she looked.

On a good note, though, DD wasn't overly disappointed that LuLu is now King Luey. She just feels bad that they can't live together anymore.

 

[cutiepieacres]

Hopefulley the delivery goes smooth and if she has a baby of each sex keep one for each piggie so that they can each have their own same sex buddy to pal around with without the risk of pregnancy. It is sad that they cant be together but right now it is best that they arent together.

 

[citalk2much]

You can have the male fixed. I had my guy fixed couple of years ago

 

[jossanne]

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I don't think any of our vets handle "exotic" animals. I tried to get a rabbit neutered about 5 years ago, and no one would do it. None of the vets have moved or been replaced around here, so I doubt it's changed. But I think I'll ask around, just in case!

 

[cutiepieacres]

really if you can have them caged with same sex buddies there is no advantage to having guinea pigs neutered like rabbits. It wont change personality, guinea pigs don't usually fight even adult boys, there isn't as big of a risk for reproductive cancers like in rabbits and guinea pigs don't spray and males dont really have a "musk." Not only that but guinea pigs really don't do as well with anesthesia as other animals so there is a bigger risk of them not waking up even if its done properly. After they wake up there is still a risk for infection as with and surgery. If there is an immediate health risk and a guinea pigs needs to be put under for whatever reason to fix an issue I would certainly go for it but for something that may not be necessary I personally wouldn't risk it. I know there are a lots of fixed healthy males out there but I have also heard of plenty cases where a simple neutuer resulted in the loss of a beloved pet.

 

[jossanne]

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Thanks Jackie