|
|
Post by ohiogoatgirl on Nov 28, 2012 6:42:53 GMT
so, i'm curious...
i have rabbits and i know with them if a momma has alot of babies that i can take them to another momma who has plenty of milk and hold her and let the babies nurse.
wondering if it would be worth trying that with guinea pigs if a sow had alot? to take a few of the babies to nurse from a rabbit? i read somewhere that usually its best that when the sow doesnt have enough milk/dies/etc to just get the babies eating solid foods, that milk replacement usually isnt helpful really. but since guinea pigs and rabbits are fairly similar i was curious...
|
|
|
|
Post by Kayleigh on Nov 28, 2012 7:07:01 GMT
To be honest im not sure. Iv never bred rabbits, i would be worried the doe may hurt the pup, even if accidentally. The feeding regime between the two species os very different also.
I personally feed the pups if mum needs a hand, usually by adding bottle to the cage. If a pups loosing weight ill syringe/spoon feed until its gained weight. Guinea pigs usually start munching on food, hay etc as early as 24 hours old.
Hope that helps
Sent from mGT-I9300 using proards
|
|
|
|
Post by Orlaith on Nov 28, 2012 10:32:26 GMT
I don't know how similar the milk of a guinea pig and rabbit are, so I can't really say whether it would work or not. As Kayleigh said, it is possible to supplement the pigs yourself, or even hand-rear them if you have the time to put into them.
If you have two guinea pigs who have given birth close together and live together then they usually happily share feeding duties between them.
|
|
|
|
Post by ohiogoatgirl on Nov 28, 2012 17:22:45 GMT
thanks. with the rabbit you hold the mom on her back and set the baby you want to nurse on her belly. that way you can make sure the baby is nursing and can hold mom still. this way the mom rabbit wouldnt really know who was nursing i would think. i've never had any problems with doing this with the rabbits. i found some info on rabbit milk... www.2ndchance.info/bunnies-coates.pdfcant find the one page i thought i had saved with better info /: |
|
|
|
Post by Kayleigh on Nov 28, 2012 18:34:48 GMT
Iv asked a couple of people who breed/exhibit both cavies and rabbits, they wouldnt risk the guinea pigs by sub feeding. Rabbits and guinea pigs shouldnt be housed togeather full stop. so the overall impression was not to do it.
The pups should be given a bottle of evap milk/water or something similar to keep weight on. They should start nibbling food at a couple of days old. The sow would drink from the bottle too, so the pups would copy her.
Kayleigh
|
|
|
|
Post by cordane on Nov 28, 2012 20:15:38 GMT
Personally I wouldn't say rabbits and guineas should be housed together - I have a little nethie in with a few guineas who has been with them since she was weaned. Of course if she gets temperamental like most do around 6 months, I will remove her.
But as for the subject at hand, I wouldn't put baby guineas with a rabbit and her babies. There is a huge chance she will reject it because it looks nothing like her babies and also when bunnies are young and starting to hop around, the can be a bit dangerous to a young guinea.
|
|
|
|
Post by ohiogoatgirl on Nov 28, 2012 22:53:43 GMT
thanks
i wasnt thinking to put it in the nest with the rabbit babies. just to hold the mom rabbit on her back and put the baby guinea pig on her belly to nurse. as is common practice with nursing runt baby rabbits or with an orphaned rabbit litter. i wouldnt keep the piggie with the buns.
|
|
|
|
Post by cordane on Nov 28, 2012 23:11:48 GMT
In which case.. I would say it would all depend on the similarities in the milk between a rabbit and guinea pig.
I would assume that since guinea pigs grow at a more rapid rate (being born ready to go) while rabbits at a slower rate, the rabbit milk would not provide enough nutrients to support a faster growing body.
I could be so very wrong about that though.
|
|
dee11
Baby Piggy
Posts: 48
|
Post by dee11 on Dec 1, 2012 11:37:04 GMT
i think rabbit milk is very rich dont know about guinea pig milk though xx
|
|
|
|
Post by ohiogoatgirl on Dec 4, 2012 3:19:13 GMT
from what i've read guinea pig milk is... well its almost not even milk... there is hardly anything to it as far as content compared to any other mammal.
so i'm thinking if it were to be attempted that either the babies wouldnt be able to handle the rich milk OR the babies would grow really fast from the rich milk...
|
|
|
|
Post by Orlaith on Dec 4, 2012 10:07:44 GMT
According to Guinea Lynx, the basic composition of guinea pig milk is 3.9% fat, 8.1% protein, and 3.0% lactose. According to this paper (bearing in mind that different rabbit breeds might be different), rabbit milk is 14.4% fat, 15.8% protein and 2.67% lactose. It seems significantly richer than guinea pig milk, so the amount it would take to sate a baby pig's hunger might be overloading them with nutrients. |
|
