How Old Are My Piggies?

[KirstyS]

Hi. I'm sure this is probably an impossible question to answer but can anyone tell me roughly how old my 3 New Guinea pigs might be? I adopted them 2 weeks ago. The lady in the shop didn't know how old they were but guessed at 6-8 months. However after watching YouTube videos of guinea pigs I would've thought they'd be bigger by this age? The other guinea pig in the pic is my 2 year old Jo who is a lot bigger by comparison. Thank you :-)

 

[Wiebke]

How much do your little ones weigh? They look like anything between 2-4 months to me, which is the usual shop piggy age. Are they all girls? Please make sure of the gender, as the shop personnel doesn't seem knowledgeable.
http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm

 

[KirstyS]

hi. They are all boys. I got them from the adoption section at pets at home. All they could tell me was that they were an unexpected litter that someone had given up for adoption. I don't actually know how much they weigh but when I next get them out the cage I will weigh them and let u know. Thank you

 

[Wiebke]

So you are planning to split them into two pairs? Trios and quartets are the most unstable to boar combos, even more so in subadult boys that go through the big teenage hormones. Best pair up the most and least dominant of the boys in order to give them the best chance of making it through and see whether the middle one will bond with Jo. Alternatively, you can see which of the little ones Jo is getting on with best, and then pair up the other two and see how that goes. It should give you at least one stable boar pair.

We recommend to weigh all guinea pigs once weekly throughout their lives. This is an important tool in health monitoring, as loss of weight is often the first warning you have of a developing health problem. Seeing a piggy nibble and chew on crud can be very deceptive.
You may find this thread here helpful: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...ng-ideal-weight-overweight-underweight.38805/

I still think that your boys are obviously still sub-hormonal, i.e. under 4 months, which is usually the time when the testicles start descending and the testosterone spikes start hitting and you start seeing daily dominance behaviour.

 

[Freela]

My gosh... so cute! The red and black/brindle one looks like a short-haired version of my previous pig, Linney! My guess would be around 2 or 3 months, based on the size. I got two of mine (Sundae and Hadley) at about 12 weeks and they were a similar size. At 6 to 8 months, they would be almost adult-sized.

 

[KirstyS]

Thanks. They are very cute. But then so are all guinea pigs

 

[sport_billy]

This video gives some handy tips on weighing piggies