BREEDING
(WHAT ONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IT)
To meet the requirements of a whole guinea pig family, the cage should be at least 120 x 60 cm (47,25 x 23,62 inches).
The parent animals should not be younger than four months and not older than three years.
I don't want to go in too deep into genetics or other technical things, because I personally consider it more interesting, not to know what comes out.
But keep in mind not to breed with animals who have bad characteristics
themselves.
If you have a female and male in one cage, it should not take long until they
get babies.
The male is always trying to attract the female, by shaking it's bottom and
cooing forcefully.
Most of the times those attempts are answered with a rough butt of the female.
That is because the cycle of the female is 14-18 days.
Thereafter it can be covered only for the next 24 hours. Only on this day it will allow the male to get close enough for mating.
The mating act than only takes a few seconds.
If you are lucky to watch the act, you can approximately calculate the birth date.
If you want to breed with a cavy which is a little older, it
might be, that it does not get pregnant at the first time.
During the pregnancy you will notice, if you know your animal well, some changes in its behavior.
If you didn't spend a lot time with your animal 'till then, you will probably not even notice anything at all, before the delivery.
The cavy grows noticeable fatter, listless and becomes a
pear-like shape.
Two weeks before the delivery you can see the babies move inside of the female. If you hear closer you can also maybe hear them grind their teeth.
In general you should not carry around the mother too much. When lifting the animal you should be even more careful then usual and the body should not be pressed to tight.
The period of pregnancy is 59-72 days (the average is 68 days).
The less babies the shorter the pregnancy will be.
If possible you can feed vitamin compounds in
addition during the pregnancy to support the development.
Usually the delivery is unnoticed, because the average guinea pig mother does not make any efforts to build a nest or so.
In my opinion there are no special or average hours of birth.
The youngsters are born with already opened eyes, the second teeth and the complete fur.
They are eating dry fodder from the first day on.
The animals are born in a sitting position, after the mother has eaten the
amniotic sac, the babies are licked clean and dry.
During this phase soft squeaks can be heard.
After that the mother eats placenta. The next action is nursing.
The weight at birth lies between 40-100 g.
Die babies are being nursed for about four weeks.
During this time they gain about 10 g weight per day.
It is recommended to make a table and write down the weight of the babies each day.
Most of the time the youngsters stay with their mother. She has to show them
everything and protect them now.
Three hours after birth
If the mother dies or does not care about the babies, you will have to take over than.
In the shops you can buy mother's milk substitute for kittens, this has already been tested and considered as good.
The babies have to be nursed every two hours.
After rub from tummy to anus with a soft cloth and wipe off the coming excrements.
It is not necessary to feed the babies during the night. They need to be kept warm during the night though. In general you should show the babies a lot of different food. The more you show them during the first few weeks the easily the can be fed in the future.
You are laying the foundation for their future life now.
ATTENTION: The female can be covered already three hours after the
delivery. It is recommended to separate the male from the female a few days
before the birth.
The difference between male and female is only obvious when comparing both genders. It's not too easy to find out in the baby age otherwise.
Sexually mature animals are more easy to
identify.
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ABOUT FOUR WEEKS AFTER DELIVERY
Males and females should be separated about four weeks after the delivery to avoid uncontrolled breeding.
From this time on they can also be given away to friends or relatives.
If you should not be able to find someone, there is still the possibility to sell them to a local pet shop.
Most of those want to be informed some time before you bring the animal(s). Usually about two weeks. So please start thinking about what to do with the babies as soon as possible.
After you have separated the youngsters, it will take some time
until they get used to the new situation.
