Hello All

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furry friend

I came across this forum by chance, and I'm in no doubt it will serve me well with any problems I have.

First off, I'd just like to say hi to you all. So Hi :(|)

Secondly, I'd like to tell you all about my Guinea Pig set-up, so I can receive some feedback. Sorry if it's a bit long-winded :))

We have had our male guinea pig for about three months (we bought him when he was 7 weeks), but today bought two females(5 weeks old) to keep him company.

I also went to B&Q today to get some wood, wire mesh etc, so I can ,make a new enclosure. It's taken me all day and I still haven't finished it fully, but it will well be worth all the work. It is 1.5m by 2.5m, but I want to build upwards now, so that there is even more living space.

Anyway, we put the two females in and they loved it, while we kept the male seperate in the unused cage of hell we first got. He was going ballistic because he could see them and smell them and obviously the poor chap hadn't seen one of his own kind for so long. We decided to put him in with the females, and just supervise them. This we did for about 3 hours, and there was constant chasing and sniffing by all to have.

I made three seperate houses for them, with thomas having his usual house and the females (we haven't given them names yet) smaller cosy ones for now. No, erm..., business ;) has been done yet, but is it just a matter of time? I went to check on them all before in the dark with my torch, and they where not even in their houses. I found them all just sitting together in a little den I had made. They obviously all get on.

What I want advice on though is whether I should still seperate the male and the females, and also should I get him neutured. If I did get him neutered, what effect will this have on his behaviour?

Sorry if I come across as yap yap yap, but just wanted to give you people the low-down on the set-up I have. The last thing I want is to be doing something detrimental!

Thanks.

Steve
 
Hi Steve,

Welcome to the forum. I am in Merseyside too. :) Yes, do keep him seperate from the girls. Do not put him in with the girlies at all until he is neutered. I think they have to be over 6 months to neuter or over a certain weight.

Females come into season around every 17 days and can easily become pregnant. If a young sow becomes pregnant she can die so it's not worth the chance.

The females can stay together no problem. I actually have seven girls that live in a group.

Neutering has no effect on behaviour it just stops the important risk of pregnancy. You boar may still mount the girlies but other than that he should be fine living with them.

Good luck with them, can't wait for piccies!

Louise
:)
 
Hi welcome to the forum.

If your girls are only 5 weeks and with an un-neutered boar there is a very strong chance that they will be pregnant as they can become pregnant from as young as only 3-4weeks, this is much too young for them to fall pregnant safely. If you were looking to breed intentionally, this is a pro-rescue forum and we don't discuss intentional breeding here. If your sows are not already pregnant, then you will have to wait about 3 weeks after neutering your boy to put them together to prevent babies.
 
Hi Steve.
Firstly welcome :)

Regarding your piggies, your boy needs to live alone until he's been neutered or you stand a good chance of having babies which isn't good for your girls because they are so young. Neutering doesn't change behaviour, it only stops babies.

Please also note that this forum is pro-RESCUE and doesn't allow the talk of intentional breeding. Please have a look at the rules regarding this
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18257 :)
 
Welcome to the forum!

You really must keep your male separated from the females until you have got him neutered. You can't take chances putting them together for even short periods,as it only takes a few seconds. Please note the coments regarding the fact that talk of intentional breeding is not allowed on this forum.

I really hope you enjoy using this forum and I am sure you will find plenty of help and useful information.
 
Hi there and welcome to the forum from us in OZ :)
You're piggies sound beautiful i'm hoping that you pop up some photo's for us all to admire x)x)x)
Hope to chat to you real soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Hi and welcome.

Did the pet shop not advise you to keep them apart? A female and a male can 'get it on' in a very short time and like others have said a young female may not survive a pregnancy at a very young age.

Good luck with your piggies and I hope they bring you loads of happyness like mine have :)
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)
I wont repeat what has already been said but it is good advice.
I recently had one of my boars neutered and it went well. He was about 5 months but a healthy chunky boar. Prior to having him neutered, he lived next door to the girls with a strong grid divider and he and Fifi used to snooze next to eachother! He will be reasonably happy like that until you get him neutered.
Take your time to find a competant guinea vet who has a good record of piggy neuters..Louise (sunshineand twinkle) may know of one as she is nearest to you :)
 
Thanks all for the advice. I have seperated the sexes now, but hopefuly it's not too late, as it wasn't my intention to breed them, just to stop thomas being all alone.

Also, I found having one was a breeze to look after, but after only a day of having three, I realise how much hard work they are and in NO WAY will I want a litter! :o

I wasn't totally happy with the enclosure I spent 5 hours yesterday on in the back garden, so I've just finished renovating it further and moved it into the shed, away from the elements. I'm now made up with it, and I know I won't have to spend any more time fiddling with it. I think my wife and baby where getting a bit annoyed with me moddy coddling them :)):))

I'll post pics as soon as I can, and thanx once again -c
 
I wasn't totally happy with the enclosure I spent 5 hours yesterday on in the back garden, so I've just finished renovating it further and moved it into the shed, away from the elements. I'm now made up with it, and I know I won't have to spend any more time fiddling with it. I think my wife and baby where getting a bit annoyed with me moddy coddling them :)):))

Yes, we spend all our time and money on our pigs too - welcome to the world of being a piggie slave! :)
 
Ha, welcome to the world of Piggy Slaves! You've joined the right forum here ... :))

Glad you decided to take Thomas out of the mix and hopefully he hasn't done "his duty" with the girls! You'll find out in a couple of month if he has or not.
Get Thomas to the vet and get him "fixed" so he can stay with his girls without having mini pigs.
And yes, one piggy is breeze to took after ... the work has just started for you! LOL
 
I am convinced that my one of my guinea pigs, Sparky thinks that I have take the last 10 weeks off work solely for his benefit. Goodness how he's gunna cope when I go back next week!@)

Welcome to the wonderful world of being a piggy slave, your life will never be the same again.
 
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