Reptile & Amphibian Forums

could somebody please answer my previous question. The lady that I get my mice from asked me if I would start breeding guinea pigs for her petshop. I was wondering whether it would be a viable project. I am also wondering if anyone here could give me any pointers.

Thank you
laughaha

laughaha,

I bred lab guinea pigs about 25 years ago. They are fun (to me at least) and relatively easy to raise. I'm sorry but I don't remember birth rates etc... a web search might work. The problem comes down to how much you can get for them and how much it will cost to raise them. They take much larger tubs. 3' X 5' ish for 1.4. as I remember. They eat more. They have an annoying habit of putting wood chips up the water bottles and flooding the tub, using up bedding, time and patience. We fed a purina(?) chow in clay saucers, thinking that they needed something to chew on. I'm not sure that is true. Oddly enough, we raised them without covers. They were perfectly happy not to jump down a foot to the floor, usually!

I'm sorry if this seems kinda iffy, but it was a long time ago. I don't think they are raised much as feeders because they don't gain weight as fast as rats or mice on the small end or rabbits and chicks on the large end.

A large cement tub (find satori's post about sizes) would be a good home. $8 or $9. 50# feed. $14 or $15. bedding $5 to $15. 1 Qt. water bottle $6?. screen top (yes I know what I said We did then, but it's probably a good idea) $8 to $10. Somewhere between $35 to $50 to set up per tub, without labor or animals. It might be a fun project. As a business, it could be good IF you can find an outlet for ALL the babies at a FAIR price.

Good Luck, let us know what you decide.

DeMak

while ill feed of MILLIONS of mice and THOUSANDS of rats without fail..

i cannot bring myself to harm 1 hair on a guinea pigs head Always had them as pets thru my entire childhood, and they are too damn cute to hurt! *puts his foot down*

i actually just bred my HUGE male with my sisters little female.. produced 3 babies, 2 of which were stillborn but 1 made it.. her name is "miracle"

ill post pics of mom, baby and daddy here when my new digi cam arrives Nikon 4300

>>could somebody please answer my previous question. The lady that I get my mice from asked me if I would start breeding guinea pigs for her petshop. I was wondering whether it would be a viable project. I am also wondering if anyone here could give me any pointers.
>>
>>Thank you
>>laughaha

As far as it being viable to breed guinea pigs for a profit, I don't know. But I had 1 guinea pig when I was young and had to get rid of it because it was so loud calling for affection in the middle of the night. Keep in mind unlike rats and mice, they are vocal...
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~ Juli ~
www.Polliwog-Design.com

Would you be breeding them as pets or as feeders?

I have kept guinea pigs as pets and they have pretty specific dietary requirements. They need access to Timothy hay on a daily basis, need supplemental vitamin C on a daily basis, fresh vegetables such as carrots or celery, and they are most definitely "eating/pooping" machines. In addition, like another poster mentioned, they are quite vocal with loud "wheep wheep" sounds among many others.

Although I've not bred them, they are unique (compared to the mammals we generally discuss here) in that their babies are born furred, open eyed, and ready to go. I am pretty sure I'm correct in the statement that they have litters of four or fewer.

They are definitely cute, although personally I don't know that I'd have one as a pet again.

Hope this helps.....

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Rebecca
TSBabe66@hotmail.com
Honored to moderate at Snakefeeders, a great place to buy/sell/trade feeder animals. Come check us out! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/snakefeeders/

Same thing here.. I had a GP when I was younger and had to relocate it due to the noise. 5 am every morning whether or not it needed it, it wanted to be fed. And if I didn't do it right then it'd take to pounding its water bottle against the side of the cage repeatedly. Never again.. I'll stick to rats thank you very much. As far as dietary needs, they probably wouldn't be advantageous to breed as feeders... you wouldn't come out ahead in the long run... It'd cost far more to raise, house and feed the GP's than you could actually get for them.
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Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)
2.1 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzard and 1 het Blizzard)
0.1 Savannah Monitor
13 rats
12 Gerbils
2 Dogs
3 cats
1 Albino Corey (fish)

Unless you had alot of them breeding its not worth it. In their first litter 1 or 2 is average. After that 2-6 with 3 or4 being ave. The need hay, alfafa when breeding alot of water (they drink like crazy) lots of food (they also poop like crazy)and a good vit. C supplument. They are larger animals so they take up more room then say rats and are more strict on food requirments. They are noisy and messy and they can smell bad too. I have kept them as pet and they are great. But they are alot of work. What ever you deside good luck.

I also wouldn't have one for a pet again. And for some odd reason years later I became allergic to them and rabbits (which made it possible for me to give someone else the chore of cleaning their cage when I used to work at a pet shop). Mice, to me, are too stinky. The hamsters I had were...suicidal and crazy. I love my rats.

If you already don't want guinea pig pets, getting into breeding them for profit would probably be disasterous. Rats are nicer. Maybe they would want a breeder of fancy (dumbo, blues, etc) rats they can sell as pets? Just a suggestion.
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~ Juli ~
www.Polliwog-Design.com

A Huge THANK YOU to everyone who replied to my questions. I have had gp's before, so I'm used to their requirements and noise. I have just never bred them. They will be sold mostly as pets, as they are not cheap at the petstore. She told me that I would get $7.50 a gp. I have mice that I am breeding now and I am just getting into rats (I had 2 male pet rats that I raised, but they started mating w/ each other so I just separated them and got them both girlfriends who are now prego). I think I am going to go and get some gp's tonight, when I take some mice to the petstore.

Again, thank you to everyone who responded.
Jasmine