Breeding Your Cavies

Sows come into heat about every 14-16 days on average, so to ensure your sow will be pregnant, leave the boar with the sow for 32 days, in case he didn't do his job the first time she came in heat.

After 32 days, the boar can stay with the sow until she delivers her litter. Just be sure to take the boar out when she gets ready to give birth, because the sow comes into heat a couple of hours after giving birth, and the boar can trample the pups in his efforts to reach the sow. Also I don't recommend breeding a sow right after she gives birth, because you want to give her a 30 day rest between litters. In other words, it is cruel to breed a sow after she gives birth without giving her rest.

The average litter is 2-4 pigs. When they are born, they are fully-furred, with their eyes open, and they look like minatures of their parents. They start eating food as early as 2 days, but they are not weaned until they are 4 weeks old.

The minimum age for breeding for boars is three months or over; they can be bred as early as one month, but they should not be bred then.

The minimum age for breeding a sow is 11-16 weeks, even though they can conceive at one month, it's best to wait. If sows are not bred before they are one year old, they will surely die, as well as the pups. The sow's pelvic bones fuse together, and she cannot deliver.

The average breeding age for boars and sows is four years old.

You will get the best number of pups if you breed 1 boar to 3 or 4 sows.

It is VERY important that the mother sow gets the right amount of Vitamin C while she is pregnant. She will need more Vit. C than normal, since she is carrying pups.

Sexing your cavies can be done as soon as they are born: If the genitals look like a Y, then it is a female, if they look like an i, it is a male.

This is what a pregnant cavy looks like: ( Getting it soon!) : )

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