newborn guinea pigs

Question
I am an owner of 6 adopted piggies. The latest two i was given (as someone else had purchased and didn t want them anymore)were supposedly 2 girls. Imagine my suprise when 2 days ago I found 5 babies in the cage! I feel like an idiot for not sexing them. Babies are doing fine and Mom (Nilla). But Dad was there for the whole thing and about 12 hrs after.We have since removed him to aseperate cage, as we read this was the corrrect thing to do.

Questions:
Is it the right thing to move dad, because I don't want her to become pregnant again?

At 3-4 weeks of age can the boy babies ( after we sex them), and remove them from mom, go in with their dad or is that not advisable? we feel sorry for him because he was being a very good daddy.

Answer
A sow comes into estrus about three to four hours after delivery, so removing him now is like shutting the barn door after the horse is out. She's already pregnant. Cavy boars are excellent dads. They will cuddle the babies and help with 'diaper duty',even allow the babies to crawl all over him. He will not hurt them. Cavies are very good parents.

If you have other sows in the cage they will also take on the role of aunties and help cuddle the babies. I've had sows that started lactating when their cage mate had a litter just so they could help out. One of them had never had a litter of her own, so nursing another sow's babies was a bit of a surprise.

The best way to wean baby boars is to put them in with a senior boar, in this case their dad. Having been separated from them he will make a few advances toward the boys but will quickly learn that's useless. They will live together happily and the baby boys won't suffer the stress of being taken from mom as they sometimes do.  

If mom is looking healthy and not down in weight I would leave the babies with her for at least four weeks. If you think she's looking a little stressed pull a couple of the boys at three weeks. Pulling the babies too soon can easily lead to mastitis in the mom. She will wean the babies altogether at about six or seven weeks.

I leave the baby sows with mom until she makes the decision as to when they can go. But they don't need to be put in a separate cage just to wean the girls. Mom will do that on her own. In the meantime you'll have lots of fun just watching them grow. They grow very quickly. So enjoy their baby antics and take lots of pictures.