Guinea Pig Breeding
If you have a male and a female guinea pig and are trying to breed them, then there are some things you should know. The normal gestation of a guinea pig ranges from about 60 to 70 days, they average is 68. When the pups (baby guinea pigs) are born they already have fur, teeth, claws and the eyesight is perfect.
Depending on where you have these guinea pigs housed they can begin to go outside within the first week of life. The will also begin to eat solid food right away, they will need to suckle for a while longer before they will drink off a water bottle. The male guinea pigs will begin to “talk” within a couple of weeks. They begin to court the females almost right away, usually in the third or fourth week.
A litter of guinea pigs can be as small as two or as much as eight. There are some cases that in part to a small liter complications may arise such as overweight pups and in some cases in larger litters, there may be too many and some of the pups won’t make it. With a large litter, the mom can’t take care of them fast enough resulting in poor nutrition for some of them and in some cases that results in death.
You have to be careful to separate the male and female after birth, the female can become pregnant again in just 12 hours after giving birth to her litter. Like in pregnant women, guinea pigs can suffer from toxemia, signs of toxemia are not eating, and lack of energy, breath odor and in some advanced cases of toxemia death can be a result. If your guinea pigs show any of these signs, it’s ok to take them to the vet, don’t be embarrassed.
