Hi and welcome!
Please be aware that we are a strictly non-breeding forum. You have accepted our explicit rules during the sign up. Any advice we will give is strictly for preventing any further breeding. Any ongoing pregnancy support will only be given if you cooperate to make sure that there are no future pregnancies of your own doing.
Terms of Service And Forum Rules
Please double-check and sex your piggies and split them into same sex pairs. You cannot keep sows and boars together unless they are de-sexed, full stop. Two boars and two sows will also never work; as soon as your boys hit the teenage months, bloody fights are guaranteed.
What to check and look out for in new guinea pigs (vet checks, sexing, parasites&illness)
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Sows have their first season from 4-6 weeks onwards, boars start at 3-5 weeks (basically as soon as they are weaned). They come into season roughly every two weeks and never stop being able to conceive until they die. They also come into season again within hours of giving birth. They are basically nonstop breeding machines from the moment they are weaned until they die from birthing complications or being too worn out from too many births at a young age unless we step in. Boars don't have a menopause, either.
There is a good likelihood that you are already dealing with a sub-teenage pregnancy, which means that vital resources are diverted from your sows' bodies at a time when they need them for growing and maturing themselves. Please be aware that 20% of all pregnancies end with the death of babies and/or mothers. Guinea pig pups are more advanced and are much larger than human babies, compared to their mother's weight/size. This percentage is with a very best of care. In all other case, the risk is going up much higher. Please also be aware that whatever the age of the mother, babies are the same birth size, so it is much harder for small mothers to get them out, and the damage for their body (so they survive the experience) can be permanent or even fatal (i.e. broken pelvis). Please make sure that you have a good vet and that you can pay up to $1000 for a cesarian operation upfront (US vet fee) in case you run into trouble during birth so your sows and any babies are not at risk of dying slowly and in total agony.
Please take the time to read our detailed pregnancy, birth, baby and mother care advice:
Pregnancy & Baby Care Guide's
Also take the time to carefully read our new owners most helpful guides collection. We have a whole section that deals with settling in skittish piggies. Please be aware that commercial for sale breeder and shop piggies do not get anything in the way of friendly human interaction, so they have to very slowly get used to a home environment and to the idea that the big smelly giants hunting them down and playing with them before they maybe kill them when they get fed are not predators out to get them. Accept that this is a process that takes time. We have dedicated guides on how prey animal instincts work, how you can avoid behaving like a predator and understand piggy behaviour enough (there is a guide for that too) to use it make them feel safer in their own language is a slow and very gradual process. Guinea pigs are not living animated cuddly toys.
Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides
