Just went out to cover up the guinea pigs for the night and found 3 babies!!! We only bought them last weekend, never had guinea pigs before, so it was a bit of a surprise.........lol. Mum certainly wasn't fat, but looking at her now, she is very thin, so I think a bit of fattening up to be done. Have brought both mum and babies indoors as it's a little chilly outside.

Does anybody know what I need to do for them, they look pretty active, running around the cage and actually eating the hay, they've all fed from mum, so do I just leave them to it??

Kids thought it was wonderful :-)

Congratulations! Aren't baby guinea pigs cute!!

Is the other guinea-pig male? Mum will have come in season almost as soon as she gave birth, so keep her away from any males. Other than that, keep them out of draughts, put in plenty of food and hay, and let them get on with it!
:)

No, both females, that's certain, but like I said I only got them last weekend so obviously the deed was done well in advance..........lol.

They are really cute though! Thanks for the advise, will keep an eye on them but let mum get on with it! I just hope the other guinea pig isn't in the same condition...........lol.

What sex are the babies....try to find out asap. They obviously wont have any "drive" yet...., but you must split them up once they are walking around on their own, eating etc. Or you will get more on your hands (I got a guinea pig from a breeder type person a couple of years ago and within a couple of weeks we had 2 more (mine had mated with her dad...nice!!) )

The mother should be competant at feeding, caring for etc, but keep an eye on her, make sure she doesnt dry up etc, sometimes you might need to step in and give a hand...and yes...keep them warm.
Enjoy, they are so cute arent they! :)

Id seperate them pretty quickly, as guinea pigs are born able to run around eat etc, not sure on when they can reproduce though.......

Em

Males can be fertile from about 6 weeks, but you should be certain of their sexes by about 4 weeks (mine all looked like girls till then - great I thought, there's a shortage of females..... ended up only one was a girl...)

Edit: they need to be with mum for about 5 weeks or so.
:)

I know what you mean, these 3 all look like girls too, I'll wait a bit longer to see if things change......lol.

its best to leave the babies with their mother for about 4 to 5 weeks, the males don't reach sexual maturity till around 8 to 10 weeks so they will be ok :)

Steph - the gestation period for guinea pigs is 9 weeks, the same as for dogs, so your pig would have been well pregnant already!

JG- Yep, I didnt literally mean a couple of weeks (as in 2 weeks), but a few weeks into us having her. But yes, she was a way into her pregnany when we got her (I was only very young at the time though so wouldnt have known it. :) )
RE: splitting up, as I said, do it asap, pigs are still pretty reliant on their mothers for the first few weeks as with most mammals...but shortly afterwards, I would deffiantly split them up if you have mixed sexes.

Do not seperate them until the babies are about 7 weeks (baby pigs are born looking just like their parents, eye's open and running). They will not mate until about 10 weeks or so. The females can get bred by 3 months. My sister use to breed them and she always seperated by 7 weeks with no problem. She just finished raising one because the mother passed away during birth, but the little guy is doing fine. female pigs should be bred by 3 months and not after 7-8 months because their pelvis fuses together, if not bred early their pelvis doesn't seperate to allow the babies to be born.

Guinea Pigs

This may be of some help, enjoy them they are sooo cute

ttfn :)

guinea pigs carry their young for 63 days, the young are born able to run and feed etc on their own, they shouldnt be weaned until they are at least 6-8 weeks, males i think are able to reproduce from 4-5 months and i know it is advised to let females have their first litter before they are 6mths as their pelvis fuses after that and they can have problems giving birth. hope that helps, if you need any more info let me know as e used to breed and show our pigs, i cant remember much of the breeding side i was only 7ish at the time i can remember showing though as my pigs got quite a few 1st and 2nds, most of the breeding side was refreshed when i took my petplan pet store management course which pet shops selling livestock are supposed to display a copy of the certificates awarded in order to get their licenses

Male guinea pigs reach puberty at 8-10 weeks, and females at 4-5 weeks, according to my reference books. It also says the babies should be separated into their different sexes at about 5 weeks. Seems a little too young to me.
:)

Just a quick update............babies are doing really well, running around the cage, it seems really strange that they were only born on Saturday but acting like mini-adults! Had a quick look at sexing, but think I'll wait a couple of weeks........lol.

Thanks for all your help!

While on the subject, JG - how is poor Sharon?

Sharon is getting steadily balder, poor girl, but although the tumour is growing she's still muscular around the shoulders and scampering around enjoying life (as far as I can tell). We take it day by day.
:)
PS - what colours and coats have the babies got?

aawww poor sharon :(

hi,
my mum breeds guinea pigs.She seperates them at eight weeks.Up till then it can sometimes be dicey as to who is female and male,we sometimes have fun with kids as they like choosing names straight wawy and sometimes need to change it at eight weeks.(beckham became beckie-but truffles tablet and maccaroon were easy to keep as they do both)

I did bring up two babies from day one as we lost mum and two more of the same litter and they are extremely independant straight away and yhese two were handled constantly and loved it.The female of the two has successfully had two litters of her own , one produced ten of which astounded us as we normaly have between 2-4. Only five were born alive but we sadly lost little tiny on day three he just didn't fend for himself and his eyes never opened.

You can keep the two adult females and the babies together as they don't have a problem with other females,your problems only start when the male babies reach ten weeks but better to seperate before then.
Handle them constantly and enjoy there squeaking back to you.
lol

pamie.

MY mum keeps her original 15,i have 3,sis has 6 ( two of hers are long hairs and they are comical)