Can guinea pig eat their own babies?

Question

I have 2 female guinea pigs which i purchased late december. i came home from work today and 1 of the guinea pigs had all blood in her mouth i checked on the guinea pig and inside the sleeping area i noticed a baby guinea pig which had been half eaten im not to sure which 1 has given birth?

i didnt get a chance to touch the baby as i was in work when i came home from work it was already dead i did not even know the piggy was pregnant ive only had her less than a month and as i have 2 females i am not sure which 1 has given birth.

Answer 1

Guinea pigs can eat their own young, but it is extremely uncommon. Unlike other rodents, guinea pigs do not cannibalize their dead. In their natural habitat, they range and graze, so there is no imperative for them to dispose of the body, since they will be leaving the area the body is in.

Touching baby guinea pigs does not cause the mother to cannibalize them. We handle every baby in our rescue from the day they are born, and we have never had a mother cannibalize her babies, no matter how deformed or sick they were.

I have only heard of one case of a guinea pig cannibalizing any other guinea pig, and that pig was starving to death.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Can guinea pig eat their own babies?
I have 2 female guinea pigs which i purchased late december. i came home from work today and 1 of the guinea pigs had all blood in her mouth i checked on the guinea pig and inside the sleeping area i noticed a baby guinea pig which had been half eaten im not to sure which 1 has given birth?

Answer 3

you dont say if they have been bred?


nothing to do with babies though,cant seem to find anything, dont think they eat their own?

The single most important breeding consideration is that female guinea pigs should be first bred before 7 months of age. If the first breeding is delayed beyond this time, serious (sometimes life-threatening) problems with delivery are encountered. Females should be first bred between 3 and 7 months of age. Males should be 34 months old at their first breeding.
The guinea pig's heat cycle lasts 16 days. 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!
Pregnancy lasts an average of 63 days. The larger the litter, the shorter the term of pregnancy .and vice versa. The duration of pregnancy for guinea pigs is unusually long when compared with that of other rodents.

Pregnant sows (females) exhibit a grossly enlarged abdomen during the latter stages of pregnancy. It is not uncommon for their body weight to double during pregnancy. The time of delivery may be difficult to determine because of the relatively long gestation period and because pregnant sows do not build nests. However, the week before a sow is about to deliver a litter, a slowly widening separation of the pelvis develops just in front of the external genitalia. This separation reaches slightly more than 1 inch in the hours just before delivery.

This separation of the pelvis does not develop in females that are bred for the first time after 7 months of age, creating an impossible and tragic situation. Delivery of the young is not possible and a cesarean section must usually be performed to save the life of the sow and her babies.
An uncomplicated delivery usually requires about 1/2 hour, with an average of 5 minutes between delivery of each baby. Litter sizes range from 1 to 6 young, with an average of 34. Litters resulting from the first breeding are usually very small. Abortions and stillbirths are common with guinea pigs throughout their breeding lives.

The young are born relatively mature. They are unusually large and fully furred, and can walk about. They also have teeth and open eyes at this time. Even though newborn guinea pigs can eat solid food and drink water from a container, they should be allowed to nurse their mother for at least 2 weeks.

Answer 4

Yes they certainly do. My guinea pigs were used to being free in the backyard even going over to the neighbours. I knew they were about to have babies and so as the cats in the neighbourhood wouldn't eat the babies I put them in a rather large confined area with three different bedding areas. The older mother ate the baby that was left of the first mother and then ate her own. I think they didn't like being confined and maybe they were stressed with it. They had plenty of food and water. I've let them out and in future they can take their chances with their babies and cats. The cats don't get the adults as they have plenty of places to hide and are skittish so they run off easily.

Answer 5

I raise Guinea pigs. I think that you cannot have another female guinea pig with a pregnant or a female guinea pig that has had babies. I think she will get real protective and kill their young so the other female won't hurt them. But she will not hurt them if you touch the babies. I have alot of guinea pigs and babies, so I know. Just take real care of them. I'm sorry about your baby guinea pig.

Answer 6

If the baby is still born or has a defect of some sort then yes they do eat them - my sister used to breed guineas pigs and this happened once or twice with them.

Answer 7

Yes, they will sometimes eat their young; they may also eat each others young. This is more likely if the piggies are crowded or otherwise stressed. Make sure your setup allows each one to have her own little hidey-hole away from the other, with plenty of common space in between.

Then go slap the pet store dude for selling you a pregnant piggy.

Answer 8

yes. It happens when they are hungry. guinea pigs need more food after birth because they breastfeed and it makes them more hungry. So they resort to eating their babies .

Answer 9

Its probable that the other female is also pregnant, you need to prepare her an area to give birth in just in case.
Both could do with a vet check up, you can also get their sex checked while you're there.

Answer 10

Many mammals will do this--pigs, cats, guineapigs, hamsters...it may be that there was something wrong with the baby. I doubt the other female would eat a baby that wasn't hers, as the mother would defend it.