Guinea pigs

[StumpyDave]

This thread has been been prompted by other pet related questions (and a quantity of Australian Shiraz).
We looked after a friend's Guinea Pigs a while ago.  They'd just had babies and we had to determine the sex of the little ones.  This was an entertaining task. 
1.  Young guinea pigs get quite nervous when separated from their mother.  They can squeak quite a lot.  The mother will squeak in response, which causes the rest of the litter to start squeaking.
2.  Once you have an agitated, wriggly, squeaking furball in you hand, you have to turn it upside down and examine its "parts".  They don't seem to like this much, and it makes them squeak louder.  See 1 above.
3.  Young guinea pigs have very small "parts".
4.  Agitated guinea pigs wiggle their legs around a lot which makes it difficlut to see their "parts" in any detail (see 3 above).
5.  There isn't a very obvious difference between boy and girl guinea pigs. (except to other boy or girl guinea pigs that don't seem to have any problem at all).
6.  All black young guinea pigs look the same.  It is imperative that you mark them in some way (that the mother doesn't wash off immediately) so you don't have to go through the exercise several times.
7.  It is quite important to get this right as guinea pigs are sexually mature at around 5 weeks old (and they make no distinction between mum, sister, girl next door etc).

Anyway, after much wiggling, squeaking an giggling on our part we determined that there were 2 boys and 1 girl.  The girl went to live with her mum and went back to the original owner.  The boys went to live with another friend of ours and were duly named Fred and George.
A couple of weeks ago George had 5 babies (it's a miracle I tell you!).
The owner has now gone on holiday for a fortnight and left us in charge of their little furry bundles of joy.  Somtime in the next 2 weeks we are going to have to determine the gender of these things.  I don't really rate my chances.

[MagmaBabe]

Dave, in all honesty... do you really give a sh*t?!!
after all.. when ya neighbours come back, they're gone!
Sayonara!!

the problem wasn't yours to begin with 

[slyinglide]

Dave, in all honesty... do you really give a sh*t?!!
after all.. when ya neighbours come back, they're gone!
Sayonara!!

the problem wasn't yours to begin with 

You hit it in the head....OUCH   MagmaBabe  Why would you care?  And I think that molesting young Guinea Pigs is against the law here in the US.  Ha 

[StumpyDave]

Trouble is, if they produce anymore I see an increase in the pet population at Stumpy Towers.
My wife and youngest are already cooing over them.

[dog20]

mine

[Timmay]

Just remember if you store them out in the garage in their cages...make sure you turn the heater on when it gets cold.  I made the big mistake of forgetting....and God forgive me...but needless to say we do not have them any longer.

[StumpyDave]

I've been informed that we are keeping 2 of the furry little suckers.  I will shortly be purchasing an exhorbitantly expensive hutch for them.
*sigh*
I know they used to be kept for food, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of meat on a guinea pig.

I don't think winters in the English midlands are harsh enough to see off a guinea pig if it is in the garage.  Besides, my wife is a pottery teacher so we often have a kiln going in there which keeps it toasty warm.

[Mikekoz13]

Dave.... they taste real gooood cooked up in a skillet with some olive oil, onions and a little green pepper. Some people like them with gravy too.

[Mikekoz13]

One caution though.... don't eat them when they're too young..... the little bones get stuck between your teeth..... Burp!

[StumpyDave]

MMmmmmmmm.
Should I go for male and female so that they can keep us supplied for the future?

[Mikekoz13]

MMmmmmmmm.
Should I go for male and female so that they can keep us supplied for the future?

INDEED!!! I like to wash mine down with a nice pint of Guinness........

[MagmaBabe]

like I said before... fur coats! 

[tomgallagher]

I like mine with some fayva beans and a nice chianti...(muhahaha)