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Babies!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jenni75
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Jenni75

Hello All,

Well, my mums guinea pig gave birth to a bouncing (literally) baby pig on Tues/Wed. It's her first litter and we were beginning to wonder whether she hadn't just eaten a tennis ball! However, only one baby survived. Can anyone tell me what might have happened? Apparently there were 5, one alive, one dead though fully formed and three smaller ones that didn't develo properly. Also, the one alive has its eyes open and running around the pen - is this normal? Silly question I know but neither I or my mum have bred gp's before...... :-[

Thanks!
 
Hi, I am not much into breeding as I am at the other end and run a rescue, so you might be better getting advice from other members. I do know that first litters are small (1-3). They do have eyes open as soon as they are born and eat within hours. If they have babies with siblins (siter and brother) they tend to have some difformaties. It might be that the litter was so big that she had problems.

Mary
 
Hi, sorry to hear that 4 didn't make it :'( but at least there is one little survivor to enjoy.

Baby pigs are amazing being born fully formed with fur and their eyes open. They are soon running around and nibbling at food.

Can't say why the others didn't make it. Were they still wrapped in thier sacks? If they were, perhaps as a novice mum she didn't get to them in time to release them?

Hope to see some pictures soon of the new arrival :)

Alex
 
Hi!

As Mary said that deformities and problems can arise if the piggy was inbred with a sibling. Can also hapen due to the age of the piggy and also whether or not it is indeed her first litter. So sorry to hear about the others.

It is right and amazing to watch a baby pig who is fully developed and bouncing around.
 
I'm not sure if they were still in their sacks as it's my mums pig so I haven't seen the new addition to the family yet. But I know she was in labour for about 2 days - it's enough to put you off having any yourself! :o

They're definitely not related, one was shop bought and the other was bought at a farmers market type thing - she was the last one left, an albino and the silly seller left her in the sun so a bit of aftersun on the ears was needed, mum keeps her in the shade at all times now.

I shall be visiting the little one tonight so if I can get him still long enough I shall take a pic and post it - apparently hes quite square ?
 
Jenni75 said:
I'm not sure if they were still in their sacks as it's my mums pig so I haven't seen the new addition to the family yet. But I know she was in labour for about 2 days - it's enough to put you off having any yourself! :o

They're definitely not related, one was shop bought and the other was bought at a farmers market type thing - she was the last one left, an albino and the silly seller left her in the sun so a bit of aftersun on the ears was needed, mum keeps her in the shade at all times now.

I shall be visiting the little one tonight so if I can get him still long enough I shall take a pic and post it - apparently hes quite square ?
Click to expand...

Hi Jenni75,
you don' t get albino Gp's it will be a pink or ruby eyed

Sorry for the loss bubs, at least one healthy for you and mummy pig to enjoy. keep an eye on mum as she was in labour for so long as it can cause other problems
make sure she is eating lots of veggies and drinking


I find it amazing that they are fully furred , eyes open and running straight away truly amazing

karen
 
Ah, she was sold to us as an albino - pink eyes, pink ears and white fur - not a patch of any other colour on her.

Well, we're assuming 2 days as on the Sunday you could see her straining and it looked like ripples down her side. Every so often she would place herself in the corner and looked like she was pushing, you could see movement anyway. On the Tues/Wed there was a baby running around :) Mum was about to take her to the vet so I'm guessing the gp must have heard the v word and took matters into her own paws! ;D

GP mum is doing well, eating, drinking and running around so all are healthy and happy. Unfortunately I couldn't get a pic of the baby pig this weekend as he was hiding away when I visited my mum and I didn't want to upset gp mum or baby by getting him out.
 
If she is very young it's possible she did'nt really know what to do. It is instinct in animals, but when they are very young they sometimes panic and forget what they should be doing, which is getting that baby out of the sac as soon as possible. If she is older than 10 months she may have given birth to the live one first and the others were a bit too big and by the time she passed them it was too late. The other thing is they are not genetically matched. Is she going to be bred from again? Maybe better not to breed from her and get another sow if your mum wants to breed. Hope mum and baby are dong well.
 
I think she's about 12 months actually so probably too old to breed, and it wasn't intentional to breed from her at all! When we did want to breed we'd put her with my Freddy for about 5 months and nothing - they just ate and 'sang' together!

We've come to the same conclusion - that the first live baby probably starved the other of oxygen which is why it was born dead and the smaller ones of nutrition and room which would explain why they didn't grow.

Mum doesn't want to breed anymore - not from her anyway. She has her rabbits and has more than her hands full with them! :)
 
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