Pets

Five Little Fluff Balls

I had been suspecting it for a couple of weeks now. A quick search confirmed that Speedy did indeed look like a pregnant guinea pig, but I couldn’t successfully tell if Gingerbread was male or female. Supposedly, we had two girls. Brandon thought that Speedy was just getting fat, and maybe she was getting more food because she was the dominant one.

They’re a family of five now. Just like us.

BABIES!!!

Guinea Pig Babies

Eleanor is SO excited. “They’re in love! They got married!” The babies have names already. Butterscotch (everyone’s favorite), Noisy (because it was making noise, obviously), and Cute-Cute (he/she is cute).

Speedy, Butterscotch, Cute-Cute, and Noisy

Their papa is in his own cage now. ↓

Gingerbread the Guinea Pig

I’ve heard stories about people bringing home an already-pregnant pet, but ours are definitely the proud parents. We’ve had them for longer than the gestation period. And here’s a fun fact that I did not know before: guinea pigs will mate and can conceive again immediately after birth! So we’ve got that going for us. We woke up to discover the babies, and I had Gingerbread in his own cage a couple of hours after that, but I hope I’m not too late. Giving birth is hard on their little bodies (look at how big the babies are compared to their mom), and back-to-back pregnancies don’t always end well.

Guinea Pig Mom and Babies

I’ll check and recheck and make my best call as to which ones are boys and which are girls, but I’m planning to take them to the vet for verification. I’m hoping that Speedy can live with her daughter(s) and Gingerbread can live with his son(s). Guinea pigs are social creatures and they’re much happier in pairs.

Guinea Pig Family

SO CUTE.

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  • Laura J
    July 28, 2015 at 7:41 am

    so cute! Be careful though. Sons will mate sooner than you’d think after they’re born. With mom &/or sister as is available. Maybe get to the vet soon!

    • Making it Lovely
      July 29, 2015 at 1:13 pm

      3-4 weeks, I’ve read! I’m separating them at 3 weeks — that’s enough time to wean them.

  • Carol
    July 28, 2015 at 7:57 am

    So cute! “Noisy” made me laugh out loud – it reminds me of when our neighbors’ dog had puppies and we tried to name them all. In the middle of a naming discussion, my baby brother announced that his should be named “Wet”…because it had just peed on him. Hahaha!

    • Making it Lovely
      July 29, 2015 at 1:14 pm

      Haha, oh no! That’s so much worse!

  • Kirstin
    July 28, 2015 at 8:40 am

    I have a 5.5 and 3.5 year old. I have been considering guinea pigs as a pet for them. Are you happy with them for the kids, Nicole? Can they do a lot of the care? We had fish and my son was always upset that he couldn’t do a lot to help clean out the tank, etc. I would love to hear what you think since our kids are close in age.

    • Making it Lovely
      July 29, 2015 at 1:17 pm

      They are Eleanor’s pets, officially, and she is in charge of feeding them (hay, pellets, fruits and veggies) and making sure they have water. She does need some help though — she can’t close the hay and she has a hard time with the water bottle sometimes. I clean the cage, but Eleanor is on hand to “help” (more so that she’s aware of the responsibility and the cage isn’t just magically cleaned without her seeing the work). Guinea pigs live for years, so as E gets older, she should be able to handle more on her own. She LOVES them and talks about them all the time though, and she’s very proud of having pets to care for.

  • Corrin
    July 28, 2015 at 8:50 am

    I’m glad they’re all healthy and happy! We had an “incident” with my guinea pig Shelby and her stillborn babies when I was about 5 that still haunts me.

    • Making it Lovely
      July 29, 2015 at 1:19 pm

      Sorry to hear that. I’ve read that it happens all too often with guinea pigs that either the mom or babies (or both) don’t make it because the babies are carried to such a large size.

  • Katy
    July 28, 2015 at 9:12 am

    We had this happen when I was a kid when we had gerbils and within a few months, we had almost 50! We tried to tell the gender, but even the vet struggled with it because they were so small.

    Katy
    http://www.alittledailyhappiness.com

  • Marsha Kern
    July 28, 2015 at 9:59 am

    They are so cute!!!!!

  • Suzanne
    July 28, 2015 at 10:15 am

    BRB, just going to go buy some guinea pigs right now! Squeeeeeee

  • Rebecca
    July 28, 2015 at 10:36 am

    I give your children an A+ for adorable pet names. “Cute-cute” takes the cake!

  • Cynthia
    July 28, 2015 at 10:49 am

    Pigs sound like rabbits then. Many years ago, I awoke to a litter of five baby bunnies and the buck humping the new mom. I did separate them but with the babies growing and wanting to reproduce it was pure bedlam. We too had many, many bunnies to give away and finally went back to keeping only our original rabbit, Rootbeer. It was fun for two little boys and their friends but quite terrifying for me as the mom and one in charge of finding homes for all these furry creatures! Good Luck!

  • Sarah
    July 28, 2015 at 11:51 am

    I think you can get them spayed/neutered.

    Then you could create a giant, walk in guinea pig corral in your basement for all 5. It would be the dickens to clean up but the kids would have so much fun.

    • Making it Lovely
      July 29, 2015 at 1:20 pm

      I think that if we did that, we would soon have many more than five!

      • Kathy
        July 29, 2015 at 10:14 pm

        I was also going to suggest neutering the males which is much less expensive and invasive than spaying the females. So cute though!

  • judy
    July 28, 2015 at 1:44 pm

    I was still struggling with what to do with 40! I repeat 40! Gerbils when something called Wet Tail l swept through and eliminated the population. It has been 40 plus years since this happened so I don’t remember why we couldn’t do anything for them, remember we took several to the Vet but I don’t recall anymore what he recommended-just that they were all gone within days. We stuck with dogs from then on. Spay/Neuter immediately and no problems.

  • Amber Marlow
    July 28, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    Mazel! The best part is that your blog recommended a post of you when you were pregnant with Eleanor.

  • barbara
    July 29, 2015 at 10:11 am

    Ha ha – this is awesome! My kids had one guinea pig growing up, she was noisy all by herself! Good luck with your newest brood!

  • Crystal
    July 29, 2015 at 1:00 pm

    We ‘adopted’ a guinea pig for my daughter around Christmas, it’s pooping machine! How are you keeping up with the poop??!!

    • Making it Lovely
      July 29, 2015 at 1:06 pm

      We call them poop machines too! And they go all over the place, not just in one corner. We just change all of the bedding as needed. The wood shavings are awful, I’ve found. The paper bedding is much better for ease of cleaning and odor control.

  • Chrystal
    July 30, 2015 at 9:06 pm

    They are too cute for words.

  • Laura
    August 10, 2015 at 12:41 am

    it’s pretty easy to just get the boys fixed.

  • Kaylee
    August 11, 2015 at 12:48 pm

    Aww, love these! I had one when I was growing up that looked a lot like Butterscotch. Her name was Petunia and I still remember her funny squeals. She was so fun but really stinky – not sure I want my future kids to have one just because of the smell! I was using the wood bedding though so maybe paper helps.