fear of too young piggie being pregnant

Question
QUESTION: I recently acquired 2 more female piggies. They are approx. 3 months old. I seperated them from my males and put them in with my eldest male.  He has had a growth on his penis (it kind looked like harden pine shavings stuck to it) He had it for a long time and was unable to "suck in" his penis. It kinda just hung there. He was in with other females for several months, and none ever got pregnant, an the growth was the cause of that. So, I thought my little girls were safe with him. Well, I was cleaning out their cage, I flipped him over and his penis was back to normal, like the growth was never there in the first place. I inspected further, and the growth is completely gone. So, now I am scared about my little girls. They have been in with him for a week. He was always purring alot at them, but i never actually saw mounting. But, Ive never seen mounting and I have had several litters before. Do you think it is possible for the little ones to have gone into season in that week and gotten pregnant? What are your thoughts?

ANSWER: Hi Rachael,

Did you try to remove the growth at all? It sounds as though it was probably just some of his bedding stuck there! It's important to check all the nooks and crannies of your piggies daily to make sure nothing unusual is happening. I often have to remove wood shavings that have got caught near my boars' penises.

It's definitely possible that the girls are pregnant but don't worry - whilst you may be overrun with piggy babies, there's no such thing as "too young" for guinea pigs to have a litter, and 3 months of age is actually the perfect time for them to have their first litter. It would have been possible for them to fall pregnant when they were as young as 4 weeks. You should not breed a female for the first time if she is older than 6 months.

You will need to put the females somewhere separate now - as if they are pregnant, the constant mating from the male could cause complications in their pregnancies as a result of stress. As you've had litters before you will know that piggies are usually pregnant for 68-72 days - so watch out for the signs!

If you have any other questions, just ask.

Jenny.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I did try to remove the growth, and he would squeal. It had hardened and was really stuck on there! There was absolutely no removing it. So, I wonder how its off now. I did notice around his rump that the little girls had been chewing his fur. (which i read that it is normal for guinea pigs to do this.) i wonder maybe that the girls slowly removed it? Because only the fur around his rump has been chewed on.

Answer
Maybe they did! Which sounds as though it was very helpful of them :o) And yes, their chewing is completely normal - it's called barbering. The dominant guinea pig in a pair or group is groomed by the others. So the ladies are just looking after their man! It is however unlikely that he returns the favour - so make sure you give your girls a brush once a week. And him too, as chewing can often make the hair matted in places.