What makes the best pet – male or female guinea pigs? Male guinea pigs (boars) have a tendency to live a little longer than females (sows), especially if the females are having young. Both have similar temperaments although males often have a bolder personality, making them easier to handle.
Under most circumstances, a pregnant guinea pig can coexist with other sows without difficulty.
What is lifespan of guinea pig?
The gene causing hairlessness in skinny pigs is a recessive gene, and breeding two skinny pigs together will always result in all offspring being skinny pigs. Breeding a skinny pig to a standard haired guinea pig will result in offspring that all carry one copy of the gene, but none will express hairlessness.
They are easy to mate, easy to rear and you'll be as happy as a pig in mud watching the new squeakers growing and developing. Just be sure you can find good homes for the resultant babies. As with real pigs, female guinea pigs are called sows and males are called boars.
Guinea pigs enjoy being handled - but not in all circumstances. If you have a pregnant guinea pig, it's best not to handle them unnecessarily during the month before they give birth. Baby guinea pigs should not be held at all for at least one week after birth, and must always be handled very gently.
The guinea pig gestation period is 59 to 72 days. The litter size ranges from 1 to 8 pups, but a litter of 2 to 4 is more common. A female can give birth to up to 5 litters per year.
The period during which the female is receptive to the male and will allow breeding lasts about 8 hours. Female guinea pigs can come back into heat 15 hours after giving birth. This is called a "postpartum estrus," which means that they can be nursing a litter and pregnant at the same time!
Guinea pigs are docile animals, and rarely bite without cause. They tend to 'mouth' their owners while being held, just to see if you're edible! These are not hard bites, though, and don't hurt. Guinea pigs only use their teeth aggressively if they feel under threat - they are their only means of defence.
Guinea pigs reach sexual maturity early. Females can reach sexual maturity as early as approximately 4-6 weeks of age and males as early as approximately 8-9 weeks of age so the different sexes should be separated before they are able to reproduce with each other.
If you touch her underbelly a couple of centimeters ahead of the anus, you will be able to feel that the pelvic bones have spread apart. Once they are one to two finger-widths apart, it won't be long until birth. You should also provide the sow with a stress-free environment.
