Breeding your guinea pig, and pregnancy care for the mother

The best breeding advise for your guinea pig

Breeding your guinea pigs should not be done unless you plan to keep the whole litter, or if you are a professional breeder that's purpose is to improve the breed, coat, and generation. There are far to many guinea pigs that get dumped off to shelters or sometimes on the side of the highway.  Breeding should be done VERY carefully, and wisely.

Okay so heres the question many people ask. How do you breed a guinea pig? Well the first step obviously is to introduce a male around the size of the female, but not over three years old, to your mama. Introduce slowly and cautiously, because if you don't keep a sharp eye, they may snap out at each other (female is usually the more aggressive one). Before introducing, clean out the female's cage so that her scent is muffled, and spray perfume on both hands, and rub on both guinea pig's coats. That way they smell the same and wont fight. Then once they are used to each others scent, fighting wont usually occur.

One important thing about breeding is that the male and female shouldn't have the same bad characteristics. For an example, female has a problem with her eyes, and male has a problem with his eyes as well. Then the babies will have those bad characteristics rubbed off on them, and can therefore turn out deformed.

The female can only become pregnant every 15 to 17 days, and this amount of time of which the female is receptive to the male is called ESTRUS, Heat. Estrus only lasts for a few hours in this amount of time, so I'd advise that you keep the male and the female for breeding for at least 32 days, which will higher the possibility of a pregnancy. When your female guinea pig is in Heat or Estrus, she will act epically kind, and will lower her back and slightly raise her little rump when you pet her back. This means that she is receptive to the male. Gestation is the amount of time of which the female guinea pig gets pregnant, to the time she gives birth. This amount of waiting time is about 63 to 72 days. If the mama has a bigger litter, the pregnancy is quicker. Both female and male guinea pigs will purr and each other, and make cute cooing noises. The male will mount over the sows rump and then TADA! The mama is pregnant.

When your mama guinea pig is pregnant, you should not hold her at all because there is always a risk that the babies will get hurt if mama squirms while you are holding her. As each week passes, the mama will get bigger and bigger, and start looking pear shaped in the lower part of her body. She will need to eat 2 times more than usual, and she will need more water for her pups. Up her vitamin C intake, as it will help her, and give her lots of food all the time. If you feed her too much, she can get too fat, and this can kill the babies, so on the back of her pellets, read how much you are supposed to feed a pregnant guinea pig.

Keep the cage clean at all times, so that when your sow gives birth, the babies wont get an infection. Remove the boar before the sow gives birth, because a few hours after she gives birth, she comes into heat and can therefore become pregnant! Becoming pregnant that soon after she has her litter is hard on her body. The sow usually gives birth in the night when you are asleep, but if you are awake to see this very neat birth process, this is what you will see/hear. All will be quiet, when suddenly the pregnant sow will start to cough. If you've ever heard your guinea pig choking before, this is how she will sound. The sow will look like she has the hiccups, and will squeak as she starts to push out each pup. If she is squeaking continually, but no pup is coming out, the pup may be turned around, or have some other major problem. The sow could also be too old, and therefore her pelvic bones may be closed up to prevent passage of the pups. For first mothers, sometimes the sow wont do as well of a job with her litter. If you see that she is ignoring a pup, reach down into the cage, and  gently pick the pup up , rip off a transparent sack surrounding the pup's face and mouth, and clean it off as much as possible before she has another pup. The waiting time between each pup to be born is about three to five minutes. The sow wont need to make a nest, and the whole birth usually goes quick and smoothly.

If the sow looks like she needs help, wash your hands, and tear off the sack wrapping around the pup carefully so it can breath. If the sow is pushing and squeaking to try to get out her pup, call the vet as soon as possible for a c-section to remove her pups. It may be a good idea to have the vet's number on hand just in case your sow has any troubles. Let nature take it's course, and have no fear (still stand by if possible help is needed). The birth should be smooth and quick. When the babies are born, they will be fully formed, and ready to eat and drink. You can even hold the pups right after birth. The sow will usually eat the sacks that each baby was wrapped up in, the placenta, etc. After the babies are born, the mom will make clucking noises, low murmurs, and grunts to her new pups, and she will continuously clean them up. Leave the mother and her babies alone together for at least one to two days so that they can bond. Make sure to hold the babies at a really young age so that they can bond to you also. When you hold a baby, it will probably squeal for it's mother, so keep handling to about five minutes. The whole breeding experience should be fun and easy!

If you have any questions, you can email me at Annacekblad@gmail.com or Michael at MichaelJT1@gmail.com

Good Luck!