Can I keep two male and one female Guinea Pig together and basic care?

Question

Hey,

My sister & I want some Guinea Pigs. We want to breed them but don't want too many babies at once! We wouldn't mind having a boy and girl but would like two boys and one girl. Will the boys fight etc.? If not then that's great. If you could some basic care it would be greatly appriciated too!

Answer 1

Do not breed them!  There are too many unwanted guinea pigs in shelters (try to get those ones not ones bred for sale in a pet shop).  What would you do with the babies?  If you gave them to somebody else or a shelter or a store them you would be taking the place of some shelter guinea pigs that desperatelyt need homes.  

You can keep two males together if they have known each other from babies (from the same litter is best).  It is possible to introduce adult males to each other but it is difficult.  two males cannot live with a female because even if they are neutered they will fight over her.  

A male and a female could live together but one or both of then would need to be neutered.  This operation cast money (not too much though) and the animal would have to go through the stress of the surgery.  They may get on the best though.  

Two females are the easiest to keep together.

Answer 2

Yes, the males will fight over the female plus you may kill your female by breeding her.

http://www.cavyspirit.com/breeding.htm

http://www.guinealynx.info/breeding.html

Answer 3

dont breed them it gives the female guinea pig a higher chance of dieing during birth of the piggies but if she does live and has a boy guinea pig you would have to get a total different cage because the mom will get pregnant again with the boy baby trust me that will happen

Answer 4

Watch out! Guinea pigs breed extremely fast. Years ago, my brother and I started out with one male and one female and were up to our eyeballs in guinea pigs in half a summer.

Answer 5

You should definitely consider this carefully. Just as the others said, the vet bill will be large because you may need an emergency vet for birthing problems.

Also, if you just want to breed, you can, but don't forget how guilty you will feel when a guinea pig may be destroyed because one of your babies is sold in it's place.

If you REALLYx100 want to breed a litter, I recommend breeding ONE litter but allocating homes for them as soon as, or even before, they are born. You could then keep one female from the litter and she could stay with her mum, and then keep the two boys in a different hutch.

Voila, you get to breed a litter, you aren't producing hundreds of babies in place of hundreds in shelters, your males can live happily together(Please rememeber that if the males fight you may have to get them neutered.) in one hutch, and your females will be happy together in a seperate one. Everybody (near enough) wins!

Don't forget to research breeding and litters before you breed, should you decide to go through with it. You have to breed a female BEFORE she is 8 months old, or like rats, her hips will fuse into place and then they won't move when it's time for the babies to come out. And that means she and the babies could die and there would be a very high chance of that happening.

Anyhow, whatever you decide to do, make sure the health and happiness of all the guinea pigs involved are your first priority, not your mortal(and natural!) desire to raise and nurse the less fortunate/able.

Take care of them an ddon't get greedy enough to want to breed too much!

Good luck. xoxoxoxo TheRattieFuzzbutts.

Answer 6

Okay, before anything else you really should reconsider your decision to breed.  There are many homeless guinea pigs in shelters and they need homes, you producing more guinea pigs is simply taking a home away from a shelter pig.

Furthermore, breeding is very dangerous.  There is a 20% chance that the female will die.  If she has difficulty with labour you will need to rush her to the vet right away, even if this means the emergency vet.  She will likely need a c-section and the vet bill will be quite large.

Before you even consider breeding please read these:

http://www.guinealynx.info/breeding.html

http://www.cavyspirit.com/breeding.htm

Two male guinea pigs can live together quite well given enough space and careful introductions.  It requires a large cage, multiples of everything (food dish, hay rack, water bottle), and some patience.  You can build a huge, and cheap, cage like this:

http://www.guineapigcages.com

For basic care of guinea pigs take a look at the Guinea Lynx care guide.  It has tons of fantastic information and will teach you how to have happy and healthy guinea pigs.

http://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.h...

Answer 7

Please do not breed. Breeding guinea pigs is a very risky thing, not to mention they are already very overpopulated (tons are in shelters and rescues right now).

Why are you breeding? Think about it. Breeding is not a game... it's not a matter of just putting a male and female animal together. Mess with the wrong genes and breed the wrong animals and you could end up with some very sick babies. Do you know the mom and dad's genetic/health history at least three generations back? Pet store animals should never be bred, you know nothing about their health background. It doesn't matter if they seem healthy now or the vet gave them a clean bill of health... it's what's in their genes. There are more than enough small animals in shelters and rescues without more poorly bred ones being added to the overpopulation. There's a lot more to breeding responsibly than you might think. Please read and make a responsible decision:

http://www.petinfopackets.com/aboutbreed...

Answer 8

I wouldn't keep two males together especially if there is a female because they will fight.  Please DON'T breed your guinea pigs.  First of all you have no experience in doing so.  There are too many pets in this world.  If you go to an animal shelter there are always guinea pigs there.  If you have all these babies you are going to have a hard time finding them homes.  If you want a lot of guinea pigs just buy a lot.  Purchase your guinea pigs from an animal shelter.  For guinea pig care just go on google and put in guinea pig care.