guinea pig breeding again

Question
HI again,
i wrote to you a little while ago wanting some advice on breeding guinea pigs. I have had guinea pigs for nearly two years now so i am not a first time owner. Like i said i want to breed my piggies and yes i am more than willing to home them if the ppl that say they want them decide not to!
Anyway need some advice, I have a male and female both aged about 6 months, i have put them together and they seem to be getting one fine, please can you tell me when they need to be seperated? Can i leave them together for a while? if not the male is going to have to live on his own and i dont like that idea?
ALso if i have to seperate them can i put the female in with two others who are not pregnant? oooh the logistics of it all lol
Thanks again  

Answer
I'm very happy you're prepared to be a responsible breeder :) I always say that anymore due to the fact that I got a huge complaint from a woman on here because she thought I encouraged breeding to just anyone. You picked a perfect time to breed them. They're at there ideal breeding ages. A guinea pig heat cycle is approximately every 18 days. I reccommend leaving them together at least 36 days, but I haven't had a problem leaving two pigs together until my female started to show. The damage is done LOL, there's no point to rip the male out immediately. The only thing I reccommend is once you know for a fact she is pregnant, seperate them. She'll be at least 35 days into her pregnancy (it only takes 60-75) and you don't want her to have a miscarriage. A pig goes into heat with an hour after giving birth, meaning if the male is in there he'll try to mate her and he may end up killing the babies by trying to hump her. You'll notice her showing about 5 weeks after conception. The best way I know how to describe it, is she looks like she swallowed a football sideways. Her belly width will increase A LOT! The male pig, like I said needs to be seperated before the birth, and I really reccommend not waiting until the last minute, as you never really know when an animal or a human for that matter will give birth. Also, unless you'll be wanting more pigs, he needs to be neutered or kept isolated from this particular female at least 4-5 months after the birth. Professional breeders are known to breed up to 6 times a year, but I find this cruel for obvious reasons, and the pigs don't live as long from what I've heard. If you have any love or respect for a pig you'll only breed her a couple times of year max. and you'll stop by the time she is 3. It is possible to put a female in a cage with others that aren't pregnant, but it's unknown how they'll react to the babies, so I always make sure to have an extra cage on hand so the pregnant female has lots of space to give birth in. Also, unless this cage is gigantic, you'll have at least 1 other baby pig I hope running about (hopefully more). I'd say it's fine to house her with other females up until a couple of days of her being due. Other than that, my pregnant/nursing females are kept away from the other pigs. She doesn't need any competition or headaches from another female. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask :) That's what I'm here for :) Good luck on your breeding. I wish you and your pigs a lifetime of health, happiness, and love :)