Breeding Guinea Pigs

Breeding guinea pig is very rewarding. First of all, mating them is easy. Rearing them is easy and at the end of the day you will be happy as you watch these little creatures grow and develop. Just make sure that you will be able to provide good homes for the babies. The male guinea pig is called a boar and the female is called a sow and the sow can start breeding at the age of just five weeks. However, although this is possible it is still too young for the sow. It is recommended that the sow weighs around 400gm, and this equivalent to the sow being 3 months old.

Breeding guinea pig, the male should be at around 3 or 4 months of age before you allow them to mate. The cycle of the sow’s oestrus cycle (heat) lasts around 16 days. During this time, the sow will be interested in communicating with the boar for around eight hours. Breeding guinea pig can occur anywhere during these eight hours. The sows and the boar-beaus get on really well, so the only and easiest way to get the romance in the air is to keep the two together until you are positive that the sow is pregnant.

It will probably be easy for you to tell when the sow has reached her season. In the time of season the female guinea pig’s spine will curve and this will help her rear end elevate. You will find in the breeding guinea pig stages that the pregnant sow mounts other sows that are accompanying her. If you have more than one sow, a very happy boar can service up to 10 female guinea pigs.

Keep in mind that during breeding guinea pig stages the female guinea pig has to take her time in order to produce her little ones. This will take between nine and ten weeks before the wait is over and the reward to you will be babies. A sow is able to produce anywhere from a single to six young. However, three or four is what the average amount is. If there is going to be a larger litter, the length of pregnancy will be shorter.

After the breeding guinea pig stage has ended, you will notice during the female guinea pig’s pregnancy she will develop a bulbous shape, and her weight will be doubled. It will be recommended that the water quantities are increased because the “soon to be mother” will be consuming more water than usual.

For you to tell when the female guinea pig will deliver her babies will be hard. The reason for this is that the length of pregnancy is long and also because female guinea pigs don’t go around building nests. However, after the time of the breeding guinea pig and now close to the delivering stages you will notice the pelvis widening. This will occur in the last week before the sow gives birth. The separation of the pelvis increases in the last few hours before birth to more than 2.5 centimeters.

The delivery is usually uncomplicated and this usually takes anywhere around an hour. There is usually a 5 minute gap between each piglet entering the real world. Sad to know is that stillbirths and abortions are very common throughout the lives of guinea pigs.

The diet of the pregnant guinea pig after the breeding guinea pig period is very important. It is very important that the female guinea pig consumes more than the normal dose of Vitamin C. Guinea pigs can contract scurvy just like humans, and because of that they have to receive their dose of vitamin C. Guinea pigs can’t produce vitamin C, and during the breeding guinea pig stages, the female will require at least three times more vitamin C that she would normally receive.

Vitamin C can be added to the drinking water at a solution of 200mg of vitamin C to every liter of water. However, in water vitamin C dissolves quickly and supplementing the pregnant sow with foods enriched with vitamin C will solve that problem.

Breeding guinea pig can be a pleasure, but what is asked of you can be a real challenge. Rest assured that what you will experience will be the most beautiful thing on earth.

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