Guinea pig pregnancy

The first step is identify whether or not your guinea pig is pregnant or just needs to go on a diet!

A pregnant guinea pig will display a pear/dinner plate shape as picture below.

Guinea pigs have two sacks each side in which the babies grow in. When your guinea pig reaches 42 days you can cup your hands gently around her sides and you should be able to feel the babies moving.

A sows gestation period is 68-70 days (10 weeks). During this time she needs to be kept quiet and handled as little as possible so their is no risk of you harming the babies.

Your sow will need more vitamins during this time, which she will get from lots of extra vegetables. You will notice she will be eating and drinking more which is completely normal.

A sow on average can have 1-6 babies and will usually deliever when no one is around. At this point no boar should be present as she can become pregnant straight after giving birth which is extremly bad for her health. Guinea pig babies are born ready to go, like mini versions of Mum!

The mother will allow her babies to feed for three weeks at which point any boars from the litter will need to be removed and either put with an older boar or a male sibling. Do not worry if mum does not take to the babies at first, she may just need time to get used to them. If she does reject the babies then you will need to step in- either by finding another nursing sow that may adopt them or hand rearing them.

Most of all, enjoy your baby days!