How to determine the sex of a guinea pig?

The guinea pig is a small and shy animal. Sometimes determining her gender is difficult even for a specialist.

However, knowing the gender of your pet is very important.

• Firstly, his name will depend on this - it is difficult to come up with a nickname for an animal if you do not know if it is a boy or a girl.
• Secondly, it is important not to be mistaken with the gender if you already have a guinea pig and want to choose a pair for it.
• Thirdly, the temperament of males and females is different - this can also play a significant role when choosing a pet.

In order to determine the sex of a guinea pig by external signs, it is necessary to examine it. To do this, you need to choose the right time when the animal is active and not intimidated by anything. The peak activity of guinea pigs occurs during the daytime, which means that it is better not to disturb them in the late evening, but to postpone the examination until the morning. It is important that the animal is not too scared during the inspection. Otherwise, it will dodge and may accidentally slip out of your hands.

And so, below are a few basic rules for examining a guinea pig.

• Disposable rubber gloves must be worn before inspection. This hygiene rule is especially true if you are going to examine several individuals at once. A large number of bacteria can accumulate on the genitals of guinea pigs.In order not to transfer them from one individual to another, it is recommended to use a new pair for each pig. And you can also use special disinfectant gels after examining each animal.
• To study the genitals, it is necessary to turn the guinea pig belly up, holding it firmly in the chest area. To protect the animal in case of a fall, it is better to carry out the procedure over a soft pillow or bedding.
• The next step is to slightly push the fur in the crotch area and carefully examine it. To better see the genitals of a miniature animal, it is better to carry out the procedure in a well-lit room.
• When you finish the inspection, do not forget to reward your baby for patience with a delicious treat.

The genitals are formed in rodents even in the prenatal period. However, sex determination in breastfed babies should be postponed until they reach the age of one month. A pig mother can reject and even kill babies that have been touched by people because she smells a foreign smell from them.

The easiest way to determine the sex of a guinea pig is the shape of the genitals. In girls, the genital slit is V-shaped and narrows towards the anus, and the skin around it has a large number of folds. The distance between the anus and the vagina in females, as a rule, does not exceed two millimeters. Boys have a small tubercle in this area. - this is the penis.

In nature, male guinea pigs mark their territory with the help of an odorous enzyme that is secreted from a special gland. This gland surrounds the anal area - it is called the anal sac or anal pocket. Thanks to this feature, boys will have a more pronounced anus. Whereas the girl's anus is much smaller - it is almost invisible and is only a small hole.

Thus, having learned to determine the presence of an anal sac, you can easily distinguish the female from the male. In addition, in the cage of the male you will be able to notice a much more pronounced smell, while in the house of the female it will be practically absent.

You can distinguish a boy from a girl by carefully examining their tummy, namely the size and color of the nipples. The female has pronounced pink nipples, they are clearly distinguishable upon examination and are well felt. The male's nipples are usually gray-brown in color. They are almost invisible and do not stand out to the touch.

When examining the mammary glands of guinea pigs, you can slightly blow on the tummy - so the wool will not interfere. In boys, you will see faint small dots, and in girls, you will see distinct and large nipples.

You can also determine gender by the size and weight of your guinea pig. Males are larger than females, their weight varies from one to one and a half kilograms, and their body length is 30–35 centimeters. Females weigh approximately 800–1200 grams and are 20–25 centimeters long. The size of a guinea pig depends on age and breed, so this method cannot be considered 100 percent correct. You can use it only as an additional indicator to verify your conclusion.

One way to find out the sex of your guinea pig at home is to look at the shape of the feces. For this, it is necessary that only one individual live in one cell - this way the method will be more reliable. Since the size of the anus in the female and the male is different, the shape of the feces will also differ.

In females, the droppings are of the correct oval shape, while in males it is more elongated and slightly curved in the shape of an arc. In addition, the boy's droppings have a small groove resembling a longitudinal groove - like a wheat grain.

Observing the behavior of animals, you can also understand what sex an individual belongs to. In the wild, the male's task is to fertilize as many females as possible during the mating season.

Here are the main criteria by which to evaluate the sex of a guinea pig:

• if there are several different-sex individuals in one cage, boys demonstrate more aggressive behavior, expressing a dominant position;
• boys behave more noisily - they often enter into skirmishes over females, food, territory, but since guinea pigs live in groups in the wild, they are not able to inflict too serious injuries on each other;
• girls are much more friendly in everyday life - they do not fight among themselves and are able to show aggression only as a last resort, for example, if their offspring are in danger;
• females practically do not make sounds, while males, on the contrary, can express dissatisfaction or defend their interests with a loud hoot;
• boys are much more active and nimble, they like to explore everything around, while girls prefer to sleep in the house or clean the skin.

If you are not going to breed guinea pigs, but still want your pet to not get bored alone, you should seriously approach the issue of sex determination. By the way, boys, despite being hyperactive, can easily coexist in the absence of females. If a guinea pig lives in a single cage, knowing its gender is only necessary in order to find a suitable nickname.

How to determine the sex of a guinea pig, see below.