How and What to Do in Breeding Guinea Pigs
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
by Peter Dranitsin
Petes Original Art Inc.
Breeding guinea pigs is quite a simple task. Selective breeding may not be. Like other mammals, guinea pigs can be bred to get your desired coat and tail length, color and other traits. Just a mindful reminder though, coat color is governed by quite complex genetics. It does not mean that when you bred a white and a brown guinea pig, you will get litters that are each half brown and half white. Most of them will most likely be brown with some patches of white, or even some other color! It will also take time to selectively breed a specific color until that gene is purified. However, for most other traits and genetic behavior, Mendelian genetics will be applicable. That is, the dominant gene will pummel the recessive. Recessive genes may appear (with luck) only if both parents have it.
Before breeding your guinea pigs, you should make sure they are in good health. They also need a good diet. Aside from that no special preparation is needed to make them mate. They can manage to do the rest.
Their diet should be a healthy one. You could give them regular food keeping in mind that guinea pigs do not manufacture their own vitamin C. They will also need greens. Lack in both greens and vitamin C may result to infertility, higher probability of early abortion, reduced litter sizes, and stunted litter growth. Giving each of your cavies a quarter of an orange a day or the equivalent will suffice.
One male (boar) will usually be happy with one to six females (sows) around. The best proportion is four sows for every boar. Give your guinea pig adequate room to roam. The best cage for a single boar would be 4 square feet. With 4 sows around, you may need somewhere between 8 and 12. This will make them more comfortable thus encouraging chances of mating.
It is never a good idea to put two boars in the same cage. As a matter of fact, it is a disastrous idea to put two boars in a cage with sows around. The boars will fight over territory and sows. This will most likely result to serious injury or even death.
To check for the sex of your guinea pigs, press down gently on the area slightly above where the sex organ should be. If something pops out then you've got a male. If you see an orifice then your guinea pig is a female. If you don't see anything, the guinea pig may not be sexually mature yet.
Sexual maturity of guinea pigs is reached in about five to six weeks of age. They will be able to mate after this but the sow may not be able to bring up the litter properly. It is best to let the sow breed only when they are at least five months old. This will ensure a strong, healthy and more robust litter.
The female guinea pig's estrous cycle or the mating cycle runs for about 16 days on average. She will want to mate only for one day early on this cycle, about the second day of the cycle.
Cedric James is a lifelong guinea pig lover. For more great guinea pig breeding information, visit http://www.guineapigsguides.com.
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