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Post by randy on Apr 3, 2012 22:58:51 GMT
My daughters guinea pig has been gaining alot of weight in the past few days, known she was pregnant but she is showing alot more just in the past week. The babies can certainly be felt when feeling at the side of her tummy. Just wanted to know if there is an aprox. time table to help us prepare for the delivery time (days?, week, weeks?), also is there any foods that would be best at this time to help her out along more for her delivery? Thanks
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Post by dkwannabe on Apr 3, 2012 23:07:11 GMT
Make sure she has lots of fresh food, hay, and veggies. Are the babies kicking any or can you just feel the outline of their bodies? We can never exactly pinpoint, but this can give you an estimate.
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Post by randy on Apr 3, 2012 23:16:33 GMT
Make sure she has lots of fresh food, hay, and veggies. Are the babies kicking any or can you just feel the outline of their bodies? We can never exactly pinpoint, but this can give you an estimate. When I hold her and put my finger on the outside of her swollen belly I can feel movement in her after holding it there for a moment or two. Like I said she is getting quite large, this is my 4th time at having pregnant sows give birth, it's just been a long time. My first one when I was a teenager had 9 babies which all lived (1970's), one female had 1, the last one had 5----4 normal and one had the hind legs fuzed together so we had the baby put down by a vet, don't know if it was necessary but didn't know if it would be O.K. |
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Post by dkwannabe on Apr 4, 2012 2:20:11 GMT
If you feel movement she could be 7 weeks or more. So you should have pups soon.
9 pups from one litter! Yikes! It's amazing that they all survived. As for the pup you had put down, I would say that was best. The pup would have never had a good quality of life, in my opinion.
Good luck with everything!
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Post by randy on Apr 4, 2012 4:23:01 GMT
If you feel movement she could be 7 weeks or more. So you should have pups soon. 9 pups from one litter! Yikes! It's amazing that they all survived. As for the pup you had put down, I would say that was best. The pup would have never had a good quality of life, in my opinion. Good luck with everything! Ya, that's what I was thinking, the last female only went a week or two before she downloaded her pups but it's really hard to remember exactly. Ya the 9 pups were awesome, her name was Charlotte, she was a brown and white color short hair and whoever had her before I bought her must have babied her cause she loved being held and fought against my dog at the time for attention, never saw anything like it, I think she must have been part dog. Never had one that tame since. Funny thing is my 9 yr. old named the female she has Charlotte, and the last female we had was Charlotte also, so the name Charlotte has been used up alot. I got it originally from Charlottes web movie back in the 70's, great kids movie. |
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 4, 2012 17:05:16 GMT
If you can feel movement, kicks ect and clear outlines of limbs she could be as above at least 7 weeks gone, so i would say give yourself 4 weeks. I wouldnt handle her too often as this could stress her and the pups. Make sure she has plenty hay, fresh veg (spring greens, cucumber, peppers ect) and a good pellet food or muesli. I also feed all my pigs readi grass or just grass as an added extra.
Kayleigh
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Post by randy on Apr 4, 2012 17:24:22 GMT
If you can feel movement, kicks ect and clear outlines of limbs she could be as above at least 7 weeks gone, so i would say give yourself 4 weeks. I wouldnt handle her too often as this could stress her and the pups. Make sure she has plenty hay, fresh veg (spring greens, cucumber, peppers ect) and a good pellet food or muesli. I also feed all my pigs readi grass or just grass as an added extra. Kayleigh I heard that I should be feeding her alfalfa hay for the calcium is this correct? Also here in Texas we have alot of dandelion and clover growing abundantly in the yard, I feed my sulcata tortoise from the yard alot, would this be good. |
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 4, 2012 17:29:04 GMT
Alfafa is good, the same as readi grass ect it contains calcuim. Dandelion and clover is also very good. natural food. Just make sure you wash it through water.
And just sit back relax and wait!!
Kayleigh
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Post by randy on Apr 5, 2012 18:02:13 GMT
Today I was figuring if I could come up with a possible time table for when Charlotte could have possibly gotten pregnant. The C & C cage I built for Charlotte was finished on 2/9/12 and was put into the cage at that time. She was in there away from Dillon our boy at that time and then a few weeks later Dillon was put back into there by one of my daughters. So I'm really thinking that as much as the babies are kicking and visually moving they may be around 8-10 weeks old, maybe the time he was accidently put in my daughter but I'm not thinking so. So I am thinking that there will be a good possibility that we will have the pups either next week or the week after.
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 5, 2012 18:10:45 GMT
How long was the boar housed with the sow on both occasions?
I would give her 2 - 4 weeks as you can feel movement ect for a good couple of weeks prior to delivery. My rex sow has been due for a week or two and everytime i go and see her shes still holding onto those babies!
Do you have a picture of your sow?
Kayleigh
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Katie
Special Piggy
Posts: 321
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Post by Katie on Apr 5, 2012 18:52:15 GMT
I think it's the 9th of February 2012 Kayleigh... It's confusing cause different places write the date differently.
Katie
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 5, 2012 18:58:53 GMT
Ahhh so it is (doh) i can never grasp the date thing! So going on she took on that exact date (which is unlikely) she is 8 weeks gone or there about, so could have from 2 - 4 weeks left. As we cannot guarentee when she took its more of a guesstimate.
Kayleigh
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Post by randy on Apr 6, 2012 15:06:03 GMT
Sorry for the date thing, when I got out of the Air Force we used date as 06 April 2012, then went to 4/6/12 took a while for me to get used to it. In reply of how long Dillon was with her, well.....up to the 9th of February they were housed for 2 months together, when he was accidentally put into Charlottes cage he was in there for a few hours. I am going to let my girls sell a few of the babies after they are ready, may keep one for myself since he/she will be a part of the family from birth and I will have a good chance to bind with him/her, I usually like my pets being female, sounds weird being the only male in the house except for a male guinea pig and he don't count.
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Post by madmommy on Apr 6, 2012 16:36:15 GMT
I was Army, so I understand the date thing. My husband is still Army National Guard, and he still writes dates the military way. I've since switched as well, but I forgot about the reversal in Europe (I was an exchange student in France in the early 90's).
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Post by randy on Apr 8, 2012 1:44:31 GMT
Charlotte has begun to get a little irritable when gettting picked up, she has even nipped at my children when they try to pick her up. However she is doing great and she seems to be more restless than ever at times.
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Post by lindakandrews58 on Apr 9, 2012 8:26:58 GMT
 :)Hope it goes well for mum and babies Randy,i have an idea what you feel like because my second girl Abby,is pregnant and getting bigger but the only thing is i got her from a breeder that had a family of cavies with her and at the time I didn't think about it because i was to excited to get her.I didn't intend on babies that's for sure but i will handle it because i absolutely love the darlings. Abby,is abbysinian and sheltie,a gorgeous girl so i hope all goes well for her and her babies too. P.S if want to share the excitment you can gmail me at anytime. Thankyou all for this forum and all the information.
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Post by randy on Apr 17, 2012 16:53:55 GMT
Charlotte is now staying in her igloo, bought largest one they had or should say my 9 year old did and picked out the color, the large one is more than big enough for her and the babies. She hardly comes out anymore and if I'm not mistaken is getting larger every time I see her. Haven't picked her up in the last 4-5 days was hoping that I could wait to change the fleece out before she had the babies but it looks like I'll have to move her one more time. She's getting plenty of alfalfa hay made by oxbow, green bell pepper, carrot, celatro and her hard food, she also gets spring mix packaged from the walmart here and some grapes and apple every now and then. She just seems like she's not really interested in eating and messing around anymore. She may not have them in a day or so but if she doesn't there may be more growing in her than I thought, the way she has been looking in the past 4-5 days she may have 4-5 pups, don't know, just by experience from my last guinea pig who was around the same size. The kids are on edge and constantly asking me after school is Charlotte has had her babies, heard some screatching this morning but must have been dillon. Will let everyone know when she has the wee little ones, being 50 years old and a man it still excites me to see an animal give birth and to watch the babies grow up.
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 17, 2012 18:13:39 GMT
Sounds like she is getting close. I will however suggest removing all pigloos, Although it may be big enough if she delivers in the pigloo she may accidently squash a pup against it or suffocate it. I never allow pigs to pup with hideys as i like to be able to watch if im lucky enough to catch her in labour. It also means pups dont get lost if they wonder out.
Id love to see a picture of her if possible.
Kayleigh
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Post by randy on Apr 17, 2012 18:35:33 GMT
Sounds like she is getting close. I will however suggest removing all pigloos, Although it may be big enough if she delivers in the pigloo she may accidently squash a pup against it or suffocate it. I never allow pigs to pup with hideys as i like to be able to watch if im lucky enough to catch her in labour. It also means pups dont get lost if they wonder out. Id love to see a picture of her if possible. Kayleigh Thanks for letting me know about that I'll take the igloo out immediately. When she does have them how soon can I replace the igloo back into her pen? Also doen't have a digital camera, may see if my wifes phone can take a good enough picture to put on here. |
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 17, 2012 18:40:54 GMT
You can put the pigloo back once the pups are older, When you have seperated the sexes and then the sows can stay with mum and they should be fine in the pigloo.
Not having the pigloo in the cage means you can watch the pups feed and keep an extra eye on them too.
best of luck
Kayleigh
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Post by randy on Apr 17, 2012 19:33:35 GMT
You can put the pigloo back once the pups are older, When you have seperated the sexes and then the sows can stay with mum and they should be fine in the pigloo. Not having the pigloo in the cage means you can watch the pups feed and keep an extra eye on them too. best of luck Kayleigh honestly I understand and it really does make alot of since to doing it that way |
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Post by randy on Apr 17, 2012 20:28:15 GMT
O.K. here's the B..I..G.. question, if I gently pick Charlotte up supporting her body and belly will this harm the babies, I did this just a few minutes ago and was able to feel them kick but she is getting tighter in that area. Just didn't want to harm her or the babies, she is very skittish and is not very pleasant about being held, she just wants to be left alone---which I'm sure is like all females when they are getting ready to have babies. Felt her hips in the back and they are or seem to be the same, can't fit a finger in between yet but it does seem that they are not as close together as before but not real far apart.
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Post by madmommy on Apr 18, 2012 0:00:25 GMT
Yup, females get pretty grumpy really close to birth (and I mean us human types)... LOL!  |
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Post by fudgeandsmudge on Apr 18, 2012 10:05:13 GMT
I noticed on the day mine had her pups that she kept circling round in one corner almost like she was nesting. She was still eating the same and would still run around so was so hard to tell! Then just walked in on the evening to hear little noises from the pups and she's had them!!
It is very exciting isn't it!!! I've loved every moment and have spent so much time by the cage watching them grow! I've had to keep all three of them cause i love them so much!!!
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 18, 2012 17:41:52 GMT
If her pelvis isnt open yet you could have a few days or even a week or two left. Sows like to keep us waiting!
Best of luck and keep us posted.
Kayleigh
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Post by randy on Apr 20, 2012 1:54:22 GMT
Charlotte is in the girls room, I check her right before we all go to bed--again maybe once during the night if I get up and again immediately in the morning when I wake up. She's still holding on us, getting where she won't get up much now--today should be aprox. the day that she should have them but ya, she may have a few more days to a week left. I think I am becoming more nervous than my daughters about the whole ordeal. I'll keep you all informed of what's going on.
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Post by fudgeandsmudge on Apr 20, 2012 10:56:13 GMT
Ha ha i know exactly how you feel!!! I even used to dream about baby Guinea pigs i was so anxious! You begin to think it's never gonna happen!!! Can't wait to hear how many she has!
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Post by randy on Apr 20, 2012 14:36:17 GMT
O.K. have a small question for you all, SORRY (feels like I'm asking alot of questions)----today is the 71st day if I calculated everything right since she was put into the C & C Cage on February the 9th, now since they are both in my daughters room this may not be as accurate as I suspect, and I may suspect some fowl play by my two so....innocent daughters of mine. I have seen Dillon in Charlottes cage at times, so I just throw my hands up and say what they heck if she doesn't pop soon. Now is it normal for sows to go longer than expected, again if she got pregnant on the last day of being with Dillon before being put into her cage then it should be a day or so, but that would be the perfect thought. So ya, we may have another week or so to wait on the wee ones.
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Post by randy on Apr 20, 2012 15:17:45 GMT
Ha ha i know exactly how you feel!!! I even used to dream about baby Guinea pigs i was so anxious! You begin to think it's never gonna happen!!! Can't wait to hear how many she has! To let you know Charlotte is very close to the same color as fudge, she is brown however she has a white collar that goes around her neck and she has a brown stripe from the tip of her nose to between her ears. Dillon is Calico in color his face is completely black, left ear is black with some dark brown tent, his right ear is mainly light brown to dark brown in color, his neck is white on left and goes to brown then black. On the right side it goes from brown to black. I'm thinking the babies will be who knows any color. |
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Post by Kayleigh on Apr 21, 2012 13:25:06 GMT
We can never guarentee when exactly the sow has taken. We can only guesstimate. My rex sow is well over her "due" date yet her companion sow delivered 2 weeks ago on sunday. So you could have a week, a day or even 2 weeks.
When her pelvis opens its usually within 24 - 48 hours.
Kayleigh
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