Will people ever learn? - lots more guinea pigs

I have lost count of the number of times this year I have had to take large groups of pigs from people who have brought 2 and not realised how quickly they will breed. Back in January I removed a number of males and pregnant females from a home resulting in a total of more than 50 guinea pigs. A couple of days ago I had a call from a lady who had brought 2 females, then had a male given to her and thought it would be great for them all to live together. She had already given lots away before phoning me, again not realising how quickly they breed. I went to pick them all up today and came away with 14 guinea pigs. There are 4 males, 3 baby females, 2 very heavily pregnant females and another 5 females that are more than likely pregnant.
I am sure you will all agree that information should be more widely available to members of the public regarding the age guinea pigs become sexually mature.
I already took in 6 guinea pigs at the beginning of the week, this lot have sent me over my limit yet again :roll:
Here are some pics from today

The 4 baby boys

4 of the females

and the filth in the cage they were living in :x

3 tiny baby females, 2 very heavily pregnant females and 1 pregnant female

settled into a nice clean hutch

Awww cuties
Too bad people will NEVER learn

Leah xx

Aww They're so lucky to have found you .. and the state of that cage they came in :x :x X

Awwww, they're all lovely! Can't believe the conditions of their old cage! :x :x

That cage is :x

Totally agree with you about more info about pigs- I went to buy a dog crate from a lady a couple of weeks ago and she started telling me about her guinea pigs....usual story, she had brought two supposed females, found out too late but seperated them when she was discovered to be pregnant. She just sold the babies but was a bit concerned that the mum was looking fat again....turns out she'd left the babies with mum until they were 6 weeks old. Told her its too late now but to split them at 3 weeks and then list them on guinea pig rehome.

That cage is absolutely disgusting. How do people expect them not to breed! Honestly.

They're all very cute though. I've never seen a pregnant guinea pig before, they're really big!

I was just wonderin', can piggies live in a double storey hutch?

m
xx

The ramp has to be shallower than for a bun but my two managed fine in one until I got them a better hutch......and the other two came along lol. Gypsy seemed to love running up the ramp full pelt, I think they found it harder going down than up.

those poor females, 3 pregnant, obviously one has already had a litter and is breeding back to back. i hope the pregnancies go ok for the girlies. they are all adorable, hope they have good homes when theyre ready.
how on earth do you cope with 3 pregnant guineas and a litter??? thats gonna take up a lot of room, and those boys too!

Such a shame,

I rescued 2 male guineas last year, they were being kept together when i got them home we settled them in and went to bed...

(The albino had scars and cuts all over hime and major fur loss)

anyway when we got up in the morning, oh dear, 2 males did NOT get on, they had been fighting most the night and were collasped with exaustion (sp?) we seperated them and it was touch and go for the albino for a couple of days, and although they hated eachother they seemed to crave eachothers attention and perked up when they heard eachothers sqeaks, so we built them a special run with a glass seperation, and it worked they began eating and became more strong and happy, the albino pig recovered fully, he was the most beautiful of the lot! (my four) sadly he died suddenly a year later, probably heart attack and the tri-colour is still with us today, he must be at least 6 years old now and still going strong!! :shock:

anyways, i'll stop blabbering, lol

whiskyscruffles said:

those poor females, 3 pregnant, obviously one has already had a litter and is breeding back to back. i hope the pregnancies go ok for the girlies. they are all adorable, hope they have good homes when theyre ready.
how on earth do you cope with 3 pregnant guineas and a litter??? thats gonna take up a lot of room, and those boys too!

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Its not just 3 pregnant ones though. In total I have 11 pregnant guinea pigs here, 4 due any day now and the rest have a bit longer yet :shock: . I would say around 80% of the pigs I have taken in this year have been in large groups like this where people didnt realise what they were doing :roll: Usually it works just nicely if I make sure once some of the others are rehomed I keep the cage space ready for the babies. This year has been particularly bad, with dozens of pregnant sows, 2 of which had to have emergency cesareans it seems the situation is getting a lot worse, not better

Can you spay guinea pigs, or do you just have to keep them apart to avoid babies?

Do people have common sense these days or what? I mean, EVERYONE knows that pet shops are appalling at sexing animals - how many people had a hamster as a kid only to wake up 3 days later with 7 hamsters... :shock: and forgive me for thinking this is blindingly, painfully obvious, but sooner or later male animal + female animal = baby animal :roll: .

I reallllly need to get a car, I'd love to be able to help out rescues with fostering and cleaning out, etc.

raine said:

Can you spay guinea pigs, or do you just have to keep them apart to avoid babies?

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Yes it is possible to spay guinea pigs, unfortunatly with these situations the sows are often either too young to be spayed or too far gone in the pregnancy

its a shame you are so far from me, i would adore a guinea-pig or 2 from you, i had one of my boys put to sleep on Tuesday, will be on the look out for another rescue soon

i had to explain to someone in a pet shop today, they were looking at guineas. she asked what to have, temprement wise, i said heres no difference between the sexes for temprement, and suggested she had two same sex. i reccommended sprowston as she was in thetford garden centre, so norwich isnt far. i said what sort of home they need and food and everything, she said "wow, thats a lot of work for something thats only alive 2 years" :shock: :shock: :shock:
2 years!!!! i explained my last guinea i lost was almost 9. and how rewarding they were etc. i said she should read up about them etc. hopefully i helped her make the right decision for her

^Why oh why don't people do their research?! :roll: :evil:

sezzy5889 said:

its a shame you are so far from me, i would adore a guinea-pig or 2 from you, i had one of my boys put to sleep on Tuesday, will be on the look out for another rescue soon

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There is a possible bunny run happening next weekend from Cheryl over to Northants - Northants is not far from Warwickshire, otherwise Tracy at Rabbit & Guine Pig Welfare in Rugby usually has piggies available.

Towsbuns said:

sezzy5889 said:

its a shame you are so far from me, i would adore a guinea-pig or 2 from you, i had one of my boys put to sleep on Tuesday, will be on the look out for another rescue soon

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There is a possible bunny run happening next weekend from Cheryl over to Northants - Northants is not far from Warwickshire, otherwise Tracy at Rabbit & Guine Pig Welfare in Rugby usually has piggies available.

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Really? how would i choose though, would there be a few brought over or would i choose from piccies and stories? not that i would turn away a piggie anyways I'm looking for a male preferably, neutered or not, any size, shape, colour etc...i'm not bothered as long as they have a happy life

How often do these bunny runs happen?

The white one gave birth to 4 precious little babies this morning, all alive and well