Posted by Sarah, Guinea Pig Supplies Editor | Posted in buying your first guinea pig , food for guinea pigs , guinea pig giving birth video , guinea pig pregnant
One way to tell if your Sow (a female Guinea Pig) is in heat, is that she'll mount they other Guinea Pigs around her, even if they are female! She'll also curve her spine downwards.
When a Sow is Pregnant she be drinking, eating and sleeping a whole lot more than normal. So make sure your children know they have to let her own rest.
A Guinea Pig can get Pregnant when she is having her 16 day Heat Cycle. But she herself will only be interested in the lucky man, for about 8 of those days.
A Sow may have a litter of between 1 and 8 puppies. A first time mum usually has around 1 to 3, later litters have up to 6 or 8 sometimes – so make sure you can find a home for them all! Remember they are able to have unprotected sex and become pregnant at aroud 2 weeks old. So separate your Guinea Pigs around then, if not well before.
When a Guinea Pig Sow is about (in the next 2 days) to give birth her pelvis will start to slowly widen, to over 2.5cms when she is in the hours before they are due. To see this yourself have a look at the genitals & you should see this just in front of them.
There are many different opinions on how long until the birth of the little ones. Some 68 days and others say 75 days. Mostly the confusion is because its not known when she unprotected sex in the first place!
Some Sows eat less than she has been just before delivery, but are fine otherwise. She may also have a show of blood, but if it re occurs please see your exotic Vet immeditely and monitor your Guinea Pig continuously.
There's a grunt when she is about to give birth, and she opens her back legs wide. The Sow will pull the pups out by their teeth with her own teeth. There will be a gap of approx 5 minutes between each Guinea Pig. The pups are in a sac which will get broken by the Sow as the teeth go through it and the Sow will eat the afterbirth – which is a normal part of it all.
The whole process will take from 10 minutes to an hour approximately if all goes well. The baby Guinea Pigs are little copies of their mum & dad, and can walk in a few hours. They are also weaned from their mum from 2-4 weeks on to the solid food – at this point they will weigh roughly 150-200gms. They will still have the Sows milk though for up to 4 weeks approx.
Have a look at this video of a Sow giving birth
Have great fun with your Guinea Pigs... Sarah