How to Handle Guinea Pig Pregnancy
Pregnant guinea pigs have to be taken care with special attention. The pregnancy duration is usually between 60 to 75 days. Guinea pigs should start breeding before 7 months of age else guinea pig pregnancy would turn dangerous. Female should start breeding before 3 and 7 months and the male breeding age should be 34 months.
Guinea pig pregnancy usually lasts for 63 days. The pregnancy period is short when the litters are larger. Guinea pigs gestation is longer when compared to the rodents. Female guinea abdomen gets bigger grossly when nearing the pregnancy; nothing to worry about. It's quite common that they become double of their size in latter stages of pregnancy. It is hard to find the delivery date due to the prolonged pregnancy and in the absence of nesting behaviour in them.
Shortly, a week before the delivery, separation of the pelvis starts. It stretches more than an inch within an hour close to the delivery. This kind of symptom is not found in the females which breed after 7 months leading to tragic and life threatening situation. Mum giving birth after 7 months have difficult in pregnancy owing to the growth of the hip bones. At this stage, natural delivery of the litter becomes impossible and in order to save the sow and babies, caesarean have to be performed. Usually, in every 5 minutes interval the babies would come out and the delivery would get over within 30 minutes. If the labor exceeds this time, hurry and visit the vet else she would get tired and die.
Normally, a mum would deliver three babies, but in rare cases they might even deliver 8 babies. Though most the female undergo a normal delivery, stillbirth and abortion are inevitable during their pregnancy. When the babies emerge, the mum cleans all the little ones and with the help of her teeth and take away the amniotic sac. Once all have born, the remaining placenta and blood expelled are eaten by her. Now she would start creating a nesting place for her little ones. During this time, you should leave the family to stay alone from other guinea pigs.
The new born are very mature; it is big in size and can move around. You can even see teeth, little open eyes and they are well furred. These small ones can eat solid foods and drink water from container at this time. But, ensure that they are fed by their mum for minimum 2 weeks. Guinea pig pregnancy becomes easy, when you learn to handle things. However, your vet is the right person to help in difficulties.
Guinea pig pregnancy usually lasts for 63 days. The pregnancy period is short when the litters are larger. Guinea pigs gestation is longer when compared to the rodents. Female guinea abdomen gets bigger grossly when nearing the pregnancy; nothing to worry about. It's quite common that they become double of their size in latter stages of pregnancy. It is hard to find the delivery date due to the prolonged pregnancy and in the absence of nesting behaviour in them.
Shortly, a week before the delivery, separation of the pelvis starts. It stretches more than an inch within an hour close to the delivery. This kind of symptom is not found in the females which breed after 7 months leading to tragic and life threatening situation. Mum giving birth after 7 months have difficult in pregnancy owing to the growth of the hip bones. At this stage, natural delivery of the litter becomes impossible and in order to save the sow and babies, caesarean have to be performed. Usually, in every 5 minutes interval the babies would come out and the delivery would get over within 30 minutes. If the labor exceeds this time, hurry and visit the vet else she would get tired and die.
Normally, a mum would deliver three babies, but in rare cases they might even deliver 8 babies. Though most the female undergo a normal delivery, stillbirth and abortion are inevitable during their pregnancy. When the babies emerge, the mum cleans all the little ones and with the help of her teeth and take away the amniotic sac. Once all have born, the remaining placenta and blood expelled are eaten by her. Now she would start creating a nesting place for her little ones. During this time, you should leave the family to stay alone from other guinea pigs.
The new born are very mature; it is big in size and can move around. You can even see teeth, little open eyes and they are well furred. These small ones can eat solid foods and drink water from container at this time. But, ensure that they are fed by their mum for minimum 2 weeks. Guinea pig pregnancy becomes easy, when you learn to handle things. However, your vet is the right person to help in difficulties.
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