First Things First. What are you going to do with the Babies? Make sure you have an outlet for your babies before you breed. I am not judging you. I have just seen too many people not think breeding animals through.

Be aware that while 'rubbing two GP together', male x female, SHOULD produce baby GPs, Breeding, Feeding, Housing, Handling, CARING for the animals, Breeding Within The Breed (same breed bred together), is the Start of Breeding Correctly. There is a FAR bigger Market for Well Bred GPs than just someone who threw the Sow in with the Boar and babies appeared.

WE ARE NOT THERE TO SEE WHAT YOU MAY OR MAY NOT BE DOING RIGHT OR WRONG. WE ARE NOT THERE TO SEE HOW YOU HANDLE YOUR OWN GUINEA PIG. WE DO NOT KNOW HOW OLD THE GUINEA PIG IS YOU ARE WORKING WITH OR THE CARE YOU HAVE GIVEN TO IT. WE WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ACCIDENTS OR MISINTERPRETATION OF THESE IDEAS WE HAVE GIVEN HERE.

I say this over and over and over; WHAT WORKS IN ONE CAVEIRY MAY OR MAY NOT WORK FOR ANOTHER PERSON. (Cavairy = Group of Cavies ie. Guinea Pigs, kept by a person. Usually someone that is Breeding for Show Animals or Meat or the Pet Market).

There are many ways to set up to Breed GP. One way is to choose your GP based on the Standard of the Breed. I want to stop here and explain just what is a 'Standard of the Breed'.

There are several Breeds within the Cavie, ie GP, species. Long Hair, Short Hair, Curly Hair, No Hair....on and on. How were Breeds developed? Oh Gosh. I am not going to go too deep into this question, but the short answer is Colony Breeding. Each Breed has a written "Standard of Perfection", or, "Standard for the Breed". It is a Blue Print, if you will, of how the perfect specimen of this Breed should look. The weight, the length, the colors, how long or short the coats should be, how the eyes are set and the color of the eyes...

No animal is perfect. But to breed to the Standard also means their bodies are correctly portioned, their teeth are set right, their eyes and ears are of the right size, right color, and work correct, so that these animals are started off to a Healthy Life.

For the average or beginner Breeder, starting with a PAIR of GP of the same Breed is the way to go. In fact, the average person should probably NOT Breed.

Why Breed? If you do not have a purpose to breed, why would you? If you do Not know what a 'Standard for the Breed' is, or what the Standard is for the Breed of GP you have, why would you breed? And there are reasons. Meat being the number one reason. However. The average breeder is NOT breeding for meat.

Reasons to Breed: Show Stock. These GP are bred to Standard, that is Standard for the Breed, to better the GP lines not only for Showing, but also the Pet Market. Pet Market. There is a Demand for Pet GP and there should be a much HIGHER Demand. GP are smart, can be taught to come when called, do tricks and agility, walk on a leash, wonderful, easy to house and love, pets. Meat. Yes, Meat. GP Meat is very nutritious and I hear very good tasting, I have never had it. GPs were brought World Wide FOR their meat. They were small animals to carry on ships to feed the crew, very nutritional for the crew, bred relatively quickly (as compared to goats, cattle, pigs). GPs required small amounts of food as compared and were easier to keep than even chickens on board. GP is a common meat in many Counties today.

99.9% OF ALL GP, OR ANY ANIMAL BREEDER, ARE TAKING VERY GOOD CARE OF THEIR ANIMALS! IF NOT FOR ANY OTHER REASON THAN THEY WANT THE BEST FOR THE BABIES COMING. TO HAVE TO BEST BABIES COMING YOU CAN BET YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR BREEDERS ARE FEEDING, HOUSING AND SUPPLEMENTING CORRECTLY!

So BEFORE you 'pick up your torch' and shout: "BREEDER BAD!" Learn the facts. Talk to people that Breed. Remember, without GP Breeders, there will be NO GPs!

The foundation of Heath starts with nutrition. Your GP should each and all be getting Fresh, proper diet, and DAILY Vitamin C. FRESH Fruits and Veggies are a MUST. Fresh GP Pellets are a MUST. Fresh Hay is a MUST. You can not expect Healthy Litters if you do not feed your animals right, RIGHT FROM THE START.

I cover Feeding Right on the Guinea Pig Care and Information page on this website. And I will be adding more on that subject as this website grows.

I would HOPE I should not have to say this; But you MUST start with Healthy, Happy Guinea Pigs. Breed as close to the Standard of Perfection per the Breed you have chosen to breed together. Do not breed any GP with problems or serious faults. Check teeth, personality (these are bred in, and there is such a thing as a 'shy gene'), check conformation, size, coats, all these things matter.

Most people in Today's World do not even know about the Shy Gene. The Shy Gene is a real thing. A lot of so called 'Rescues' take advantage of the behavior caused by the Shy Gene and will make up stories of abuse. Or tell you, "It must have been abused because it is so afraid of.... fill in the blank with, people, loud noises, men, women, children, other animals, ext.". The TRUTH is that there is a place in the brain where behavior of fear can cross wired and we call that the Shy Gene. It is not as uncommon as a person might think. In GP the Shy Gene can be seen by an especially skiddish GP. Guinea Pigs shy from hands coming down into the cage for them, THIS IS NORMAL. That is a trait of a GP, the reason is that in the wild, birds are their number one predator. Also, any predator that is after a GP, is going to be larger and to a GP will come from above. But if you know GP you have also seen GP with excessive shyness/nervousness, those that never really settle in. THOSE GP should not be bred.

Do Not Breed GP with teeth problems such as Malocclusion, this is where the teeth are not aligned properly. It causes health problems and you will notice most animals with this problem are too thin. Overgrown teeth are also a problem. This is usually because of lack of hay, or other foods that keep their teeth ground down to the proper size.

more to come

Breeding Age. THIS is another area where people want to fight. <rolls eyes> Keep in mind, again I say, What works for one person may or may not work for another.

Guinea Pigs are sexually available, is boars 10 to 14 weeks, sows 11 to 16 weeks. Is this when you should breed them? Not in my opinion. Let them grow up, reach full size. Find out how they will LOOK as adults. Personally, I do not have a problem with breeding GP at 6 months, but 3 months, to me, far to young.

If you are breeding Long Haired Breeds of GP, your Breeding Stock might need a hair cute or trim or at least a roll up (curler in the back). It will depend on how long and how thick the hair is.

Hair Cutting is the best solution. Curlers can not only become a mess, they can actually get the hair pulled out that is in and around the curler.

Hair cutting is not just for the breeding process, but also the birthing and nursing process.

I will come back and write more on this part of the Breeding process, but I want to be sure to have this down now. Always take your Sow to your Boar's cage, not the other way around. If your sow's cage is larger than your boar's cage, next time you clean cages, switch them. Then wait for a couple of weeks before adding the sow back into that larger cage with the boar.

Baby Guinea Pigs are called Pups and are born, eyes open and walking around within a VERY short time. They are alert, they see and hear, and are absolutely adorable! They wean in approx 3 weeks and will start nibbling food almost as soon ass they are born.

From time to time I do offer Guinea Pigs for Sale. Right now I have Americans in several different coat patterns, and colors, Abyssinians, some with Ruby Eyes, and Teddies in Tortoiseshell & White and Cali colors. I also have Ridgebacks.

The contents of this page for Breeding Guinea Pigs is still under construction. Please check back often.

-- The Guinea Pig Agility Team
Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:01:48 +0000