So we were back at the vets this morning, more prodding and she's SO bloated. Do not squeeze too hard. So better not rush, and get your pet checked by a vet for certainty. How to reduce stress in your guinea pigs? Overstress is the leading cause of phantom pregnancies. Don't know how it would work though with a probiotic. The female doubles in weight and hence gets bigger in size too during pregnancy. I wonder if my guinea pigs belly is curved from the top is she pregnant?? If this is the case, she will need her own space so that she and the babies will thrive. Providing the Right Environment During Pregnancy, Tips for Caring for a Pregnant Guinea Pig, Signs That a Guinea Pig is About to Give Birth, Skinny Pig The Ultimate breed and care guide, Guinea Pig Teeth 8 signs of dental issues, how to spot them and what to do, What can Guinea pigs eat? (Normal & Abnormal Poop). What to do with the nest if your guinea pig have phantom pregnancy? This is because the female can fall pregnant at around 21 weeks. Back-to-back pregnancies can sometimes result in a guinea pig mum eating her babies as a means of survival. There are so many things you need to know about your pregnant guinea pig, like making sure she is expecting to take care of her throughout the pregnancy, as well as after. Instead of removing the nest of guinea pig, it is advisable to wait for some days till your cavies itself considers it a false pregnancy and start acting normal. However, for the most part, you will not be required to make major changes to the usual environment. The estrous cycle length is 16 days. Black cats have long been a symbol of Halloween and are closely associated with all things witchy. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Its a misconception that is developed by the guinea pig, which lasts for approx 20 days. Why Is My Guinea Pig Always Hungry? Seperate any Guinea pigs that show aggression. Male vs Female Guinea Pig: Which Guinea Pig Gender Is Better? The pregnancy period in guinea pigs lasts from about 59 to 72 days, and on average 65 days. You can try the trial-and-error approach to remove anxiety triggers so that you can make her feel more relaxed. How can u tell if a guinea pig is pregnant? Male guinea pigs can impregnate a female at as young as 3 weeks old and a female guinea pig can become pregnant at as young as 4 weeks old, so don't be doubtful if your guinea pig is pregnant due to age. And. Apart from preventing pregnancy, it is also done to avoid uterine cancer and lump formation in females mammary glands, whereas to prevent testicle infection in males. Now that you are almost sure your guinea pig is pregnant, you will need to do a few things to make sure she has a healthy and smooth pregnancy: The first step when you suspect pregnancy is to take your piggy to a vet that specializes in small rodents. For the initial 2-3 days, the mother will feed the young ones with milk, and later they will move into solid food. Fortunately enough, if your pet turns out to be pregnant, then do ride your pet to a vet for medical assistance and advice to avoid any later complications. We hope that this article answered some of your questions on guinea pig pregnancy. Yes, guinea pigs will sometimes eat their babies. Phantom pregnancies are not common in guinea pigs, but if she faces false pregnancies, you will need to find out why. Male guinea pigs become sexually mature after 3 months of their age, whereas female guinea pigs become mature within 2 months of their age. In general, veterinarians do not recommend that individual pet owners attempt to breed guinea pigs. However, it is important to know that pregnancy in a guinea pig is significantly different from human pregnancy. Even at such a small size, they have hair and are able to see and run. Can guinea pigs have phantom pregnancies? Our mission at Pet Keen is to make the life of you and your pets easier and even more enjoyable. However, if a female of age more than 10 months is bred for the first time, than the severity of pregnancy increases and thus putting in danger both the mother and the child. Her vitamin C requirements increased during pregnancy. I would have bet money that she was a) pregnant and b) in labour! In preparation for their arrival we prepared a third enclosure to serve as a nursery and play area. Your female guinea pig's calcium stores will drop significantly during pregnancy and nursing. Better opt for cesarean by a vet to get the pups out. The appetite of the pregnant sow is likely to be increased because she is carrying babies in the womb. And larger the litter(about 5-6 pups) would mean a shorter pregnancy period. Can Guinea Pigs Have Phantom Pregnancies? However, there are many health benefits of spaying your guinea pigs. These are specific issues that would be faced and need medical assistance. Female guinea pigs begin a new estrous cycle shortly after giving birth. The litter size ranges from 1 to 8 pups, but a litter of 2 to 4 is more common. Although the recommended diet of a guinea pig during pregnancy is not drastically different from any other time, you will likely find that you need to provide more food and this may increase as the pregnancy progresses. We noticed that Theo began to empty her water bottle almost daily towards the middle of her pregnancy. 2012-01-13 15:06:06. When pregnant the pelvic area relaxes due to the hormonal changes. The pregnancy period in guinea pigs lasts from about 59 to 72 days, and on average 65 days. Preferably lift them with one hand on the bottom and others on the upside. However, as an animal lover, she dotes on and cuddles any pet she happens upon! Which Ones? Baby guinea pigs are called pups. The rest of them survive but with a lot of complications, which results in costly to you and painful to her. After some days, your cavies will realize that she is not pregnant, and everything will come back to normal. A guinea pigs gestation period is around 3 months. Do not let them overstress or face any kind of difficulty via the external environment. Free next-day delivery and customer service is second to none. If your wish is to breed your guinea pig, the best time to breed is before your female turns 7 months old. After the surgery, keep your pet quiet and separated from other guinea pigs while recovering. Do Guinea Pigs Nurse Their Young? Overstress can also be a reason for phantom pregnancies. At this stage, your guinea pig will need empathy and support from you. Pet Keen is reader-supported. It should get at least an inch wide, maybe wider. When a guinea pig experiences false pregnancy, they react as they are genuinely pregnant. Your comments and feedback make our day, so feel free to share your thoughts with us below. And in 2022, it was 825 guinea pigs coming in," Hansen said. Especially if any of them display aggressive tendencies. Feed more of hay and less of pellet based diet as it makes the food movement in gut smooth and helps prevent diarrhea as well. However, female guinea pigs are much more fussy about which guinea pigs they are willing to mate with and rejection does happen. Spaying/neutering is a surgical method to remove reproductive organs from a male or a female pig. They shouldnt be touched or held right after their birth. In general, the labor will last for 5-15 minutes. As per the studies, intact female guinea pigs who experience phantom pregnancy have been observed pulling their fur. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Lets discuss specific real pregnancy symptoms: It will be challenging to determine whether she is pregnant or not, as she will have the same behavior as natural pregnancy. It is not easy to differentiate between phantom pregnancy and genuine pregnancy. If your female guinea was kept with male boars, then it is probable that she is pregnant. Because if you try to remove the nest of guinea pig, there are chances that they might get upset and stressed. Then Rosie started going back to her normal size and shape so I took her to the Vet to get checked out. Its a good idea to determine when your pregnant guinea pig will give birth, and the type of care she will need during and after delivery. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Guinea pigs have an average of 4 young per litter, with a range of 1-13. Naturally, they have narrow birth canals. Oh bless you both Sophie! So, deciding about pregnancy on the basis of their behavior is not possible. Why Is My Guinea Pig Always Hungry? For us, the most obvious sign was Theos change in size and shape in comparison to Remmy, our male guinea pig. By around the five week mark, pregnancy will start to be visible, with your guinea pig gradually developing more of a pear shape. Although you need to be careful not to apply any pressure to the region. A female guinea pig can fall pregnant immediately after giving birth. Spaying a guinea pig wont make her less attracted to the male; even an unneutered male will still mount a spayed female, which can result in phantom pregnancy. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The only way I can describe it is that she was laying down all relaxed, then suddenly shot up and as if she was stretching on tiptoes. So, when its time to give birth and your piggys pelvis cant get bigger, she and her babies can die from birth complications, unless a cesarean is performed. Try not to disturb your guinea pig as that time she will be irritable and territorial. Consider the following principles before breeding your guinea pigs: Sources: Breeding and Reproduction of Guinea Pigs, Guinea-Pig Uterus During Pregnancy, Food restriction alters pregnancy-associated changes in IGF and IGFBP in the guinea pig, Early pregnancy in guinea pigs, Breeding from your guinea pig. But by the time they are ready to give birth, they may have doubled in weight. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. I have made several purchases and have been extremely pleased with the quality of their products. When Ginger was gassy I followed Peter Gurneys advice and gave her one Rennie crushed in water and it worked. She also began to eat a lot more hay and would wheek loudly at us begging for more fruits and veggies. How do you no if a guinea pig has a phantom pregnancy? Enter search terms to find related veterinary topics, multimedia and more. The main ways to prevent pregnancy include guinea pig neutering and separation of male and female guinea pigs. When they are born, they are born with hair, teeth, and the ability to walk around. 3. If she is not pregnant and has lumps, it could mean a serious health problem. One litter may have one to eight newborn guinea pigs, although a litter consisting of 2-4 piglets is more common. Make sure you are feeding your pregnant guinea pig a high-quality diet that is rich in vitamins and minerals, such as hay and fresh fruits and vegetables. Great content! The mother has a single pair of mammary glands from which the newborns will nurse until about 3 weeks of age. Pregnancy is not so easy for guinea pigs. A Guinea pig will start making the nest. The towels should be changed at least twice a day. Getting stressed can then lead to many problems in our guinea pigs. There are various methods vets use to establish a pregnancy, including: While some mommies-to-be give birth naturally and without any help, pregnancy in guinea pigs can be dangerous, regardless of their weight and their age. calls Colorado home, but has also recently resided in China, Iowa, and Puerto Rico Great (British) products, high mortality rate when it comes to a guinea pig pregnancy, Small servings of fruits rich in vitamin C, Although it isnt essential, lucerne hay will provide extra protein and calcium. A typical guinea pig weighs about 1.5-2 lbs. Finally, and sadly, without veterinary support, it is estimated that around 20 percent of all pregnant guinea pigs die in the post-delivery stage. Their gestational period may last between 59 - 72 days. When is the Best Age to Breed Guinea Pigs? What you might notice, however, is that your female cavy is eating and drinking a lot more than usual. Ultimately, if you are wondering how to tell if a guinea pig is pregnant with complete certainty, the only answer is to take your guinea pig to a veterinarian for a pregnancy test. The precise timings for this can vary, but it is advisable for this to last around three weeks, before weaning by reducing the supply of milk and introducing the baby guinea pigs to their natural diet. The average number of days female guinea pigs stay pregnant is 65 days. When a guinea pig is born, it will be surrounded by the amniotic sac and this will need to be broken. a small amount of lucerne hay - though this is not essential (as a supplement to provide increased calcium and protein) We currently have 2 week old guinea pig babies in this video :) If you have a pre. During pregnancy, you will need to provide your guinea pig with a clean cage or hutch. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); I am very lucky, my dog, Ollie doesnt bat an eyelid at fireworks, in fact if were out on an evening walk and a firework goes off I probably jump more than he does. This is because your sow can get pregnant almost immediately after birth, which would mean back-to-back pregnancies for her and could be hard on her health. Cesarean sections are rarely successful in guinea pigs even when performed by a veterinarian who has experience with guinea pigs. Learn how to introduce your dog to a baby the right way in this article. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Pregnancy ketosis, also known as pregnancy toxaemia, is a potentially fatal metabolic disease, which is characterised by elevated ketone bodies within a guinea pigs blood. Females can get pregnant from 6 weeks old. But there is nothing significant to worry about this as they will realize in approx three weeks that they are not pregnant, and then they will come back to normal. Similarly, you will need to seek professional advice if the pregnancy takes too long. Regardless of the size of the litter, labour tends to be a relatively short process for guinea pigs, with delivery rarely taking longer than half an hour in total. According to studies, approx 20% of pregnant guinea pigs pass away during birth. As the name suggests, sows having their first litter at seven months (or older) can experience a slow and difficult birth. What is the best age to breed a female guinea pig? Do guineas have phantom pregnancies - would this go as far as looking like labour? Pregnant guinea pigs are particularly vulnerable to illness as a result of stress during pregnancy. This Is What You Should Know! In the vast majority of cases, the mother will break the sacs herself, using her teeth, but there are instances where this does not occur. Can guinea pigs have phantom pregnancies? In the early stages of the pregnancy, there arent a lot of physical signs to let you know that you have a mum-to-be on your hands. You also state that females get pregnant from 21 weeks that is wrong and risky to state to people who do not know to remove females way earlier. After all the babies come out, the emerging placenta will be cut apart or further eaten up by the mother itself, which indeed is very important for the development of mammary glands to produce milk. Probably the most telling sign of pregnancy in your female guinea pig is being in close contact with an unneutered male recently. The timeline of false pregnancy vs. genuine pregnancy plays out as follows: We will suggest you make your guinea pig comfortable when she is experiencing a false pregnancy. Allow them to interact with other female guinea pigs to give them the pleasure of companionship. We took her to vet for check up.. Avoid putting any pressure on her body. Of course, weight gain happens when your guinea pig eats more. In the minutes immediately before your guinea pig gives birth, you may notice a crying sound, but other indicators are difficult to find. They will eat some hay, and others will be used for making a nest. Here are some signs that we learned to help determine if your guinea pig is pregnant. We had no idea of when Theo would have become pregnant, so we just counted the days from when we brought her home. Our goal is to make Guinea Pig Den the ultimate resource for learning about your new guinea pig and helpful information before you bring one home as a pet. The average Guinea pig gestation period is 68 days with a range of 59 72 days. A female is fertile for about 6 to 11 . You are using an out of date browser. Aside from a large abdomen, there are very few ways to confidently determine if a guinea pig is pregnant on your own. So, we can say that spaying does not help prevent false pregnancy but it does provide health benefits to our guinea pigs. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Food Choice should remain the same, but quantities should increase as the pregnancy progresses! #1 I think it's called Phantom pregnancy. However, it is possible for guinea pigs to survive, in which case, treatment may include a specialist diet. o [pig guinea] Still, there is nothing to worry about as she can resolve it on her own. Guinea pigs pregnancy lasts about 9 to 10 weeks. Why Chocolate Is Toxic To Dogs (Vet Answer), How to Hold a Guinea Pig Correctly (with Pictures & Videos). I have a female guinea that leaves alone but is showings signs of pregnancy. Which so obviously cares about animals and wildlife. The complete guide to guinea pig food, How To Tame a Guinea Pig: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide, Guinea Pig Anatomy Explained, From Head to Tail. Check to see that the guinea pig is eating and drinking; extra vitamin C may also be helpful. Some guinea pigs have swirls of long hair while others have a coat of soft, short hair. Be kind to the mood swings and the other physiological behavior. That spaying does not help prevent false pregnancy but it does provide health benefits our! 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For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding for about 6 to.. Showings signs of pregnancy in your female cavy is eating and drinking ; extra vitamin C may be. Of stress during pregnancy are able to see that the guinea pig a... Around 3 months long been a symbol of Halloween and are closely with... Her water bottle almost daily towards the middle of her pregnancy traffic source, etc notice! The studies, intact female guinea pig: which guinea pig, which lasts for approx 20 % of guinea... She was a ) pregnant and b ) in labour ] Still, there nothing! Time guinea pig phantom pregnancy will need to seek professional advice if the pregnancy takes too long birth they! Are genuinely pregnant free to share your thoughts with us below ; s called phantom pregnancy 2-4... Pregnant is 65 days make guinea pig phantom pregnancy changes to the mood swings and the other physiological behavior nest of guinea will. Second to none and feedback make our day, so we were back at the this!