3 week old babies

Question
Hi. I have 5 guinea pigs. (we purchased two male guinea pigs at petco and
one turned out to be a girl..a pregnant girl.)

I have 3 baby pigs now, they are about 2 days away from being 3 weeks old.

We're pretty sure one is a girl, and two are boys. One of the boys is making
the low noise in his throat and swaying his back half around, then trying to
mount the other pigs. (be it boy or girl..)

The mother has all her babies with her. They still nurse.

The father (sadly) is in his own cage since we found out the mother was a
very pregnant girl.

these are my questions:

can the babies impregnate the mother or a sister at 3 weeks of age?
can I put the male babies with the father?
(we tried this last night, but one baby fights for dominance over the father. he
calms down a little bit after a while..but if we introduce the other baby boy
it's pandemonium.)
Also, will the boys hurt/kill each other if put together in one cage?


thanks for any advice you have. :)

Answer
Lindsay,

Answer to your first question, yes the boys can impregnate mom and sister at just three weeks of age. That is the most important reason why they need to be separated from mom and sister at 3 weeks of age, as mom can't take another pregnancy right now and sister is far to young to be having her first litter of babies.

Yes, you can put the boys in with dad, just make sure to rub the boys down with litter from dad's cage first. That way they smell like him and not mom, because if they smell like mom your going to have problems. The males will all go through the regular dominance behavior but it won't last long as dad will win out over the two boys and so they'll all get along after that, it is just natural Guinea Pig behavior to decide who is the boss.

The likely hood of the boys hurting each other is slim, when you put them in dad's cage allow them to go through the dominance motions but watch them for any serious fighting like bitting, and of course blood. Don't interfer unless it gets serious or you see blood, also don't worry about little nips here and there it isn't hurting them at all and is normal. But serious fighting is rare in about any Guinea Pig group. Just let the boys go through the normal motions and everything will settle down as dad will take lead and the boys will fallow.

Make sure you have the 3 babies sex and that your sure of who is who. It is difficult for some to sex them so young so if your unsure take them to the vet and have the vet do it for you. It is better to be safe now then end up with more babies.

I hope this helps,
Take care now and good luck,
              Jules