The Guinea Pig Cage Site

Information for C&C Guinea Pig Cage Aficionados
Monday, May 17th, 2010

If you’re a


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owner you might have given some consideration to breeding cavies for a hobby. This is very exciting and educational. In the event you decide to take on this serious hobby then you certainly need to make sure that you’ve got plenty of time, the space, the cash, and above all, the knowledge to make it happen the right way.

There are Two Breeding Methods

The two common methods for mating


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are the “Monogamous Pairs” method, and the “Polygamous Group” method.When using the monogamous pairs approach you are going to put only one male guinea pig, called a boar, with a single female guinea pig, called a sow. Using this type of breeding

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arrangement it is extremely common for the sow to mated with again during what is called the “postpartum estrus”. A monogamous pair will be able to produce as many as five litters each year if the sow is bred following every litter during her postpartum estrus cycle. She’ll only produce 3 litters per year when she is not mated with at the time of her postpartum estrous.With the polygamous group breeding method a single boar is placed together with a group of females, usually four to six of them. If you are planning to breed your cavies using this process you must make sure that the guinea pigs are housed in a really big cage in order to prevent overcrowding, which could cause the sows to become stressed. Under no circumstances put more than one boar with a group of females. Doing so will result in violent fighting that will definitely lead to injury if not death.Anytime one of the sows in the group becomes pregnant there are two possibilities which may be considered: 1. The pregnant sow can be moved to a cage of her very own to give birth and then returned immediately after her litter of pups have been weaned. If this option is selected then the sow won’t be bred again on her postpartum estrous. 2. The pregnant sow can remain in the same cage with the group and the whole group may take part in raising the pups. If this option is chosen then the sow will more often than not be bred immediately in the course of her postpartum estrous.When this group is established it should ideally never be changed by adding new animals to the herd. This is because guinea pigs really don’t deal well with change and it will cause them great stress and anxiety. If you make changes and the guinea pigs get excessively stressed they will often stop eating and drinking and rather quickly develop medical complications. If you do decide to replace any of the animals make sure you observe all of them with care after they have been introduced and keep an eye out for any problems.OutcrossingOutcrossing is the term used to describe the breeding of two unrelated animals. Outcrossing would have unpredictable results because you are not informed about the genetic makeup of one or both of the cavies being bred. This type of breeding is generally reserved for when a breeder wants to introduce new blood to his breeding stockLinebreedingLinebreeding is the term used to describe the method wherein you will be frequently breeding your very best animal(s) in order to take advantage of those animals best characteristic. A typical scenario of this approach typically will involve breeding your best boar with a sow, and then breeding him again with one of those female offspring (his daughter), and after that breeding him yet again with a female offspring of his daughter (his grand-daughter). Linebreeding can certainly be done through either a males or a females lineage, not only a boar’s. The decision is made dependant on the quality of the animal rather than on the gender of the animal.InbreedingInbreeding is the term utilized to describe the method of breeding guinea pigs that are very closely related, like a brother and sister. Offspring from this type of brother-sister union may then be bred back to the parents. Again, the reason for using this arrangement for breeding cavies would be to establish and reproduce a desired genetic characteristic that is common to both parents.Weaning the Cavy PupsGuinea pig pups are born very well developed, with teeth and eyes wide open, which enables it to actually eat solid food within days of being born. Nevertheless they still need their mothers milk until they are a minimum of 2 weeks old, and if at all possible 3 weeks old.Now that you’ve got a litter of weaned pups it is your responsibility to make certain that you locate a caring and loving home that hopefully will provide extremely good care of each and every one of them.SummaryBefore you decide to plunge into

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breeding be sure that you will have enough time, plenty of room and large enough cages, the financial resources, and above all the knowledge to be able to breed and raise happy and healthy guinea pigs. If you are breeding guinea pigs because you want to make money please realize that it is extremely unlikely that you will make a profit, in fact you will be lucky if you actually break even.

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