Hi GBov,Akane & others with cuy experience.

I found GBov your post regarding guinea pig meat. I don't see any new post on the subject, so I assume that your are not doing cuy any more. I see that you are still active on this forum. I would however like to exchange knowledge with you. If you have answered these questions before please link me to the post.

I also noticed Akane talking about guinea pigs as meat animals. The only post I see, are about feeding them to non-humans. Usually feeder is non-human consumption and meat means human consumption.

I can't be the only person here who has eaten a guinea pig, or at least the only person who admits to it, can I? :blush:

I do have the advantage that I have access to a working feeder guinea pig herd. It has been running for many years, but I don't have full knowledge how long it has been going. I don't know how many GPs David has to spare, but I did eat one and I found it to be one of the most flavorful meats I had.

Right now I am interested in dispatching and processing info. I don't have the space to setup my own herd, but when I move to a new location there could be possibilities.

First question do you prepare them traditionally by scolding and removing the hair, or do you skin them?

Edit: added Akane and expanded text a bit.

I don't have guinea pig experience, but I just wanted to say welcome! I'm looking forward to reading more about this topic.

We don't eat much of the small meat animals we raise ourselves and while I had a friend prepare a few rabbits I never did try guinea pig because I had no one to cook it. I'm a horrible cook to the point I am not allowed in kitchens by people who know me. :lol: I was given a water boiling pitcher for pouring in oatmeal, canned soup, hot chocolate, and tea so I would not touch cooking appliances and still lightly burn myself periodically. My husband is a bit squeamish about self raised meat and using whole animals as well as not being experienced in lots of cooking methods from scratch. I've expanded him to large game meats like venison and elk that has been processed into cuts by other people and that's the best I can get him to attempt cooking. It took the first couple years for him to just see the broken down rabbit bodies in the fridge. I had to keep convincing him the rabbit legs looked like chicken wings for him to touch them for cat and dog food. He's finally gotten over seeing things that he recognizes as once being alive.

If you are good with a knife slitting the throat directly is the ideal for bleeding out but they have thick necks of fat and I suck with a knife. To help remove blood any other method may be hurried to slitting the throat for as much blood as possible instead of waiting. For co2 you only really need them unconscious rather than fully sitting dead if you can then quickly cut the throat but they can revive fast depending how far gone they are and it may be very uncomfortable and inhumane for the animal to risk that so if you really want to get rid of the blood while butchering other methods are superior but I found none that were easy for me on the big cuy.

Standard guinea pigs are pretty easily cervical dislocated despite the short neck. With practice anything close to 1lb or less can be done by hand just holding their firm shoulders in one hand and placing the other over their head in the best position to twist opposite directions. They are solid enough the spine cleanly gives behind the head before anything else breaks. Failure is nearly always just not having the right range to fully bend beyond how far the joints can so turn your hand around another way if you find you ran out of motion. You can use the rabbit "broomsticking" method if you get something a bit narrower like reebar or other metal poles that won't bend and they are a bit wiggly compared to rabbits so you have to be smooth to quickly do it. You place the bar behind the head with one foot on it to help hold them in place but not enough they get so uncomfortable they really try to escape and then step on it with the other foot on the other side while instantly pulling up and toward you on the hindlegs or hips depending where you can get a good grip to separate the spine before anything else. Some have gotten very small bolt guns for rabbits, they are expensive but effective, but regular bullets are very hard to aim into their tiny heads as they constantly move and resulted in disaster I never repeated.

You can also build various co2 chamber designs, which is what I had to do when I got the bigger meat cuy due to them reaching 2lbs in the time the regular americans reached 1lb and they are more solid from thicker meat for their body size so they are very hard to fit your hands around and then counter the muscle to get the spine to snap quickly and humanely by hand. Also, they bite sometimes when the american guinea pigs never did as I covered their heads with my hand. While the regulated co2 cannister is most suggested I did give in to uncontrolled co2 methods being humane if you use the right size containers and amount of co2 source. I built one for dry ice that they just promptly passed out with no distress. I'd leave one set in while butchering the previous set to be sure they were dead and then swap for about another 3 at a time. You get a slightly taller than guinea pig plastic storage container that will fit the number of guinea pigs you want at once in half of it and then another container that mostly fills the other half. You don't want them getting up on top of the other container, crammed around it, or able to pile on each other too much instead of sitting side by side. With a drill or soldering iron to melt it you can make holes without cracking the plastic but don't use too large of drill bit unless you drill a smaller hole first to then widen and a soldering iron is useless for other purposes after you melt plastic on it. You want holes 2/3rds of the way down (co2 sinks) around the smaller container only. Line the bottom of the big container with something a bit absorbent because they tend to pee when losing consciousness, place the small container in half, fill that with dry ice, add guinea pigs to the other half, and quickly stick the lid on. It may need weighted down if it doesn't latch to avoid escape but they are usually laying down in less than a minute. Like I said I left one set while butchering the other and just did about 3 at once to be sure they were out but if they get cold or start rigor mortis they are harder to work with.

Skinning seems hard at first but it can be learned and is popular for some people who don't like the fatter, greasier skin. I think it's also most appealing when crisped specifically and a lot of people slow roast them instead so it probably depends what you are preparing. Don't try to do it like a rabbit where you work down. Try not to go through the muscle of the belly cutting the skin and then work around the guinea pig until the skin is left stuck to the spine before separating it down the spine. The increased fat and connective fibers make it not peel down like rabbits so you have to cut the connections up each side and legs to the highest fat area on the spine where it gets the most stuck. More like deer than rabbit. Scalding works but takes really really hot water. I found hotter than they say for regular hogs to get the easiest removal, which is difficult to boil that high plus a bit dangerous, and scrape a lot. I'm not allowed giant pots of very hot boiling water. :roll: Usually instead many burn it off with a kitchen torch because it's so dense. Everything will smell like burnt hair but it's the fastest and also sometimes used to crisp the skin that is often desired by people. After that it's much the same as anything else. Carefully slit into the belly and remove the organs you want to without breaking the digestive tract. I can't help too much with preparing for humans after that because that's the point I throw them in plastic and in the freezer for animal food. I know a few basic ways are to fridge rest meat with no prior cooking of even the skin if left on until rigor mortis has passed before cooking or packing to freeze. Otherwise you immediately cook it before rigor mortis. Sometimes it is soaked in saltwater while resting to help remove blood and add some flavor. That might be useful for co2 dispatched animals since they will not bleed the same.

akane":rdlyjxny said:

We don't eat much of the small meat animals we raise ourselves and while I had a friend prepare a few rabbits I never did try guinea pig because I had no one to cook it. I'm a horrible cook to the point I am not allowed in kitchens by people who know me. :lol: I was given a water boiling pitcher for pouring in oatmeal, canned soup, hot chocolate, and tea so I would not touch cooking appliances and still lightly burn myself periodically.

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I think I can help you here. I once told some one that the only thing I can really cook is rabbit. One of my tricks is only using simple recipes. If you want to know how simple look at my post http://rabbittalk.com/cuy-recipe-t32307.html, where I posted my recipe "Steamed Cuy in Flour Tortilla". If you give me a chunk of raw meat (mammal, fish, bird) and a knife, you are headed for disaster. So my technique is cook-the-whole-damn-thing in a big pot. Once the meat is cooked on the bone it is much easier to pull the meat off the bone with a fork and a not-so-sharp knife. You are then left with a pile of meat some broth and some bones. To cook just use a little water, don't submerge the rabbit. Only cover %20-%25 of the rabbit (other critter) with water. Bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer.

akane":rdlyjxny said:

My husband is a bit squeamish about self raised meat and using whole animals as well as not being experienced in lots of cooking methods from scratch.

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You might be able to tag-team this one with your hubby. You can add the water and the rabbit, then cover it with a lid so that hubby does not have to look at the poor critter. Then hubby can operate the stove top. Once the raw meat is cooked you can peel the meat from the bone. Once it is just a pile of cooked meat, hubby can follow the rest of the recipe. This is why crock pot rabbit is so popular, the crock pot has a dail that you just have to set once. Just get a crock pot big enogh to hold a whole rabbit. <br /><br /> __________ Sun Oct 15, 2017 3:32 pm __________ <br /><br /> As far as a CO2 chamber goes, I will reply to your old thread on the subject.

akane":rdlyjxny said:

Standard guinea pigs are pretty easily cervical dislocated despite the short neck. With practice anything close to 1lb or less can be done by hand just holding their firm shoulders in one hand and placing the other over their head in the best position to twist opposite directions. They are solid enough the spine cleanly gives behind the head before anything else breaks. Failure is nearly always just not having the right range to fully bend beyond how far the joints can so turn your hand around another way if you find you ran out of motion. You can use the rabbit "broomsticking" method if you get something a bit narrower like reebar or other metal poles that won't bend and they are a bit wiggly compared to rabbits so you have to be smooth to quickly do it. ...

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All the rabbits I killed, I used broomstick. I've dispatched a few standard guinea pigs and though the clinical name for what I did was called "cervical dislocation". A more accurate and down-home description might be called "almost twisting the damn thing's head off with my bare hands". When it comes to feeding kitties and reptiles the "almost twisting it off" is fast and humane. However when I used that dispatch method for my meat, I noticed that a lot of the meat in the neck was bruised and torn up.

There is a major difference in body type between rabbits and Cavia porcellus. The rabbit has most meat at the rear end and GP has meat spread out from the front to the back. I noticed that holding a dead GP did not feel like holding a dead rabbit. It was not until I skinned a GP that I could figure out what the difference was. When cooked it, I found myself pulling lots of meat from the shoulder blades compared to a rabbit.

Having so much meat up-front, I would prefer to avoid bruising a lot of meat in the neck. I could try a more precise cervical dislocation. I thought about tools that I can use to preform a pinpoint accurate dislocation. One idea is that I can "broomstick" with a small rod that I hold in my hand. I would use my thumb instead of the ground, then twist and pull. I also thought about making a small hopper popper tool. I was also thinking something that looked like a church key https://cdn0.rubylane.com/shops/979679/P-6-389.1L.jpg. but instead of popping the top off a beer it would pop the top off a guinea pig. (ugg, I know bad joke)

One issue I have with dispatching Davids GPs are that they are colony/herd raised, they are not used to being handled. If I sit quietly on the ground and offer them food, they will come close to get it. But, if I am culling, I have to net/grab them. The one I grab then tries to get away. I will often need to sex prior to making the final decision of whether or not to cull. I remember almost culling the wrong one because there were two with similar color pattern (in that case not too big of a deal but not great). I thought an air gun with a laser sight, but I would have to sex prior to pulling the trigger, and I really don't think David would go for that.

I once tried tracing (tonic immobility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_death) with a GP, but I was not able to trance them. It was sort of a dry-run at culling without actually culling, but I did not get anywhere with that little experiment. Tonic immobility is very easy to do with peacocks (they were sold, not killed, even though feeling them, they seamed to have a meaty breast :smile

I am now thinking about holding the GP upside down by the hind legs and whacking it on the head to knock it out. Then, I can use a tool to break it's neck then cut the head of with my EMT shears. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=emt+scissors&atb=v34-5__&iax=images&ia=images

Ps. Did you ever notice that when you dispatch a rabbit they kick like crazy when they are dying, but guinea pigs just give a little twitch when they go.

my method of dispatch with guinea pigs is to hold them solidly by the hind end and whack them hard upside the corner of a brick building, or the edge of cinder block, you need to hit with follow through. (if you know what I mean).

skinning... NEVER AGAIN...That's all I'll say. Wow...what a misery to try to skin.

I found the meat not worth the effort of skinning, and have simply not tried it again.

I believe I remember reading somewhere they they often do cuy skin on like a hog. Either put in scalding water and scrape or singe the hair off with flame.

I've heard people complain of bruising the meat broomsticking rabbits too. I did not really see that when I skinned them even if I wasn't cooking human food. The shoulders and neck looked perfectly fine where I applied pressure both when butchering and after thawing again. It could be how I held them but I also did frequently immediately remove heads unlike how they are often roasted or fried whole for people and the meat around the base of the head even eaten. They would still bleed out in the bathtub when doing it that way.

Guinea pigs do tend to just go flop. I can grab them out of a cage, twist their neck, and just let them lay on the floor without moving until I get done deciding what to cull and have several. Rabbits I have to contain or flip into an open area to kick out. Annoying when they bleed from the nose or mouth while spinning around. There is a ton more muscle and leg length to a rabbit though. Guinea pigs don't have much to kick so if you immobilize the spine itself there is little muscle left to react to death on it's own. Their legs are mostly designed for bracing as they use their wedge head and body muscling to tunnel in thick plant matter. They are basically an above ground burrower. I don't believe south america has a lagomorph species and only one species of the squirrel genus so all their equivalents are cavy related rodents. It was argued to make Caviomorpha a separate order instead of placing them under rodents like the lagomorphs were separated for their uniquely evolved existing and extinct species. Right now the solution was to make it a "parvorder" so it's higher than family classification but still within the overall order of rodent.

Skinning was horrid at first because I was used to rabbits but you get used to it if you practice. Older breeders were still difficult because the fat builds up after the first couple years even if you keep them active and fed on a lot of low calorie, low fat fresh foods so there's a lot more tissue to seperate. The young ones though at 1lbs for American bred and around 2lbs for Peruvian imports or crosses I was eventually doing cleanly in minutes. They are just extremely different from rabbits and do require a knife for slicing up between the hide and meat. You have to use "open skinning" instead of "case skinning" or any variation that usually works to peel a skin on small animals. Their similarity more to large meat animals and hogs is why they are often scalded or torched and the skin crisped but they do skin like heavier hided game animals. It just seems like so much more work for a small thing when you normally can quickly peel the skin and they often case skins even on things like beaver and coon.

I've never had Guinea pig meat, and I don't plan on raising them for meat any time soon. But I was thinking about raising for show. And I have to admit this topic interests me. If I was to raise for meat only I would definitely want to try the meat before investing in breeding stock and going through the hassle of raising and butchering first though! Not sure if anyone would have an answer to this question, but do show pepole eat their culls? Or is that something you don't want to bring up when talking to show people? Like will they not sell to you if they think you might eat the culls? I just wouldn't want to make the show people think I was a "cruel pet eater" or anything like that. :lol:

A few think of them as pets but most probably wouldn't freak about it like pet only keepers since they often do still produce far too many to keep or home them all and sell culls as pet food but few actually eat any extras from show lines. There are reptile and raw dog food companies that take them to ship out frozen or one I'd like to order from does many odd food sources whole ground for annoying, picky pets like mine. It's not a popular concept in the US as human food despite several attempts to put imports in restaurants. The bigger problem is even those that would think to eat them we just don't have efficient guinea pigs and raising methods spread across the country yet. Partially time consuming raising methods on bedding indoors have been promoted so heavily by the people here that most lines aren't hardy enough to simply swap over to outdoor setups in much of the US anyway and they don't make open floors that work for guinea pig feet specifically. Then compared to the overseas imports that have double the growth rate and 2-4x the size. Some have bred American guinea pigs to a better size and after a few generations you can recover hardiness for even southern summers and northern snow if you give them the right shelter and cooling areas but I found the growth rate is still hard to get into the lines without adding at least one import. Some are spreading established meat herds with moderate success but it makes a huge difference instantly and for generations of adding 1 South American import boar or someone's already crossed sows that are cheaper to acquire. It's a bigger downside than their size. You get as much meat as off a quail or similar but they are ready in weeks on a basic gamebird crumble and standard American guinea pigs on pellets and hay may not reach their more adult 2lbs for 6 months no matter how big of final size you breed into them. The careful cage raised show guinea pigs that are often separated more to keep clean and sorted in an at least partially temp controlled building while fed on higher protein pellets like rabbits with all the maintenance of feed and bedding just aren't efficient for the time it takes.

Now if you throw them out in an outdoor pen or free range pasture where they can graze and bugs can turn their waste to fertilizer since it won't burn the plants off you can just let them grow out with no effort and provided you don't cull too heavy into an age group or gender ratio you have consistent meat for a bit of supplemental feed (they will graze all but a large pasture to nothing) no matter that it takes months. They really don't need those high protein pellets or high calorie grains. They won't lose condition usually even with back to back pregnancy on just regular weeds and grass, which is their benefit in areas of the world that are less developed, poorer, or lack land conditions for growing "richer" livestock feed. Even the large cuy are raised more that style with low energy local forage either gathered or released to eat it. The only problem is predators since they are like walking neon signs squeaking "eat me". :lol:

So basically one should choose show or meat. Because show pigs aren't efficient to raise for meat, and if you cross them they won't do well at shows? So if I got White Crested show cavies it probably wouldn't be worth it to butcher the culls. Akane is it pretty easy to sell pets? Or do you have to sell them for really cheap? I hope you don't feel like I'm hijacking your thread Ghost.

If you can find already improved meat lines adjusted to the outdoors that is best but usually you can't because it's still a bit of a closet hobby so most start with just the largest craigslist freebies or show culls they can find and spend a couple years getting them year round outdoors. Sometimes you have to bring them in at the worst weather for a few month the first year or raise them with at least some temperature control. Technically you could raise for show too since maintaining size is actually something show breeder strive for but guinea pig genetics are so complex that it makes it difficult to bring in outside blood so any attempts at improving on existing varieties is a minefield unless you stick to very well established breeders working with similar projects. You can't throw a bunch of random guinea pigs into a big colony and make show colors. You need pure, quality colors to combine to pure, quality colors for a show quality result and refine the depth with lines known to have the same type of background because most of the genes have a range of expression and partial interaction creating all sorts of shades that don't meet standard the second you mix them. Gene combinations can be hard to sort out after they are mixed due to the overlap of various combinations resulting in constant offspring of improper color depth or mismarkings. I had one I really couldn't tell if it was just an extremely light red or if it had one of the 2 possible dilutions genes that could be slightly too dark for the first yellow dilution. You also get huge debates on what base genetics should be behind a color in cases that can have complete overlap such as a black and a chocolate can both be made the same red. I took red culls that were simply too light for show from someone's black based project and having some chocolates that were so dark they looked black without good light instead I darkened the reds with them. I got great reds but they were now a mix of chocolate and black based reds. I could not have sold them to most show breeders even if they did well on the table due to no idea what result they'd get breeding out. A red is not just a red, a cream is not just a cream, I got something that might have been a "sable" from my chocolates and creams combination but it's unrecognized and the genes somewhat a guess if the occasional result is the same in the US as the variety breeding consistently and recognized in the UK. I could not replicate the "sable" when the sow failed to produce a litter and only made dark chocolates from her cream sister because I was missing that last gene or modifier to create the shading for any points and you can't just go buy sables too easily in the US. Really you have to buy all one color or a pair of colors known to work together established already by someone if you want to show and only add something if you really know what you are doing. Otherwise you throw up your hands, let whatever cute things pop out, and don't plan any show breeders to want them. Pet breeding varies but while a few places with the right colors and certain coat types (the other coat types will interfere with meat production except maybe teddies) you can get $20-$30 most areas are overrun with random mixes or show failures. People selling with supplies ask crazy prices but those selling just animals often simply say meet for x price and immediately start offering discounts and freebies after you make it worth their time in the first place.

alforddm":j82to2c3 said:

I believe I remember reading somewhere they they often do cuy skin on like a hog. Either put in scalding water and scrape or singe the hair off with flame.

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Yes in traditional cuy preparation the skin is left on. The carcass is scolded then hair is plucked out. YouTube has many videos on traditional cuy preparation. The traditional preparation also leaves the head, feet and claws on the animal when it is cooked. I don't want to denigrate other cultures, but preparation in that way is disturbing to my western sensibilities. I would much rather eat something that looks closer to a processed rabbit. As a short hand I invented the term "Yankee cuy" to mean cuy that is prepared similarly to the way rabbit is prepared in western cultures. That is to say that the skin, head and feet are completely removed prior to cooking.

Sorry to be late only just saw this!

I used long handled loppers to kill my ones. In fact, I use loppers on LOTS of things and have even started using them on rabbits, they work great! MUCH less blood staining in the neck and shoulders which I use to get LOTS of when using a wringer.

I scalded (not scolded ) the g piggies, just dunk into boiling water and the hair rubs off, they are super easy to do, about 5 min total from live to ready to cook.

And yes, I took the head and feet off before cooking.

Taste very like pork, very nice rich fatty meat. The skin tends to stick to the pan when frying unless floured I found. While there is not as much meat on one as on a rabbit, it makes up for it in richness. Rabbit is just so danged lean!

The best way I found to raise them was in a large wire sided shed where I could cut armfulls of fodder for them and just toss it into a pile. I did top up with rabbit pellets and, as they shared space with the quail, they ate quail food and the quail ate rabbit pellets. Odd but it worked.

My herd came with several genetic defects and if I do them again I will know better how to spot and cull for them but yes, they are really fun livestock. The cuteness factor can get in the way though as most of them will come crowding up to the front of the pen squeeking and chirping when they see food on the way. I got round the problem by only eating males and the ones that ran. :lol:

Oh, they are slow to start but once they get going, blimey they can make LOTS of little piggies. :shock:

GBov":n86cp6ga said:

My herd came with several genetic defects and if I do them again I will know better how to spot and cull for them but yes, they are really fun livestock.

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How long ago did you stop with the pigs? Did you give away your herd or did you just eat 'em all?

GBov":n86cp6ga said:

I used long handled loppers to kill my ones. In fact, I use loppers on LOTS of things and have even started using them on rabbits, they work great! MUCH less blood staining in the neck and shoulders which I use to get LOTS of when using a wringer.

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I've been thinking about using that to dispatch my next GP. But, the mess factor might bother me. I'm sure with a neck as small as a US sized GP, it would be a humane dispatchment. When I used the broomstick to kill my rabbits 10 years ago, I never got bruising on the shoulder. Just bruising on the neck near the head. Like I stated elsewhere, the thing with GPs is there is so much meat up front, I really don't even want to bruise the neck meat near the shoulders. This is because, I windup picking so much meat from the shoulder blades.

GBov":n86cp6ga said:

Taste very like pork, very nice rich fatty meat. The skin tends to stick to the pan when frying unless floured I found. While there is not as much meat on one as on a rabbit, it makes up for it in richness. Rabbit is just so danged lean!

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Yes I loved the fatty richness of cuy even without the skin http://rabbittalk.com/cuy-recipe-t32307.html. It was funny it has been a few years since I had pork chop. I took my first tentative bite of cuy not knowing what to expect. I just chewed a little bit, I couldn't think of what it tasted like, but I knew it was good. I took another bigger bite and said, "holy crap this is good" I just could not think what it tasted like. Then as I was enjoying my meal, I thought this taste sort of like pork chop only better. Even the fat on my fingers as I was pulling the meat from the bone was sort of like the fat from a pork chop.

This makes me think that a rabbit and cuy stew would be the best eat'n in the world.

GBov":n86cp6ga said:

I scalded (not scolded)

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uuug, scalded vs scolded, don't get me started on there/thier/they're I have to have a text file so I can remember "there - location, They're - contraction, their -possessive, there - exist". Even the word "there" meaning to exist occupies a different location in my brain as "there" meaning a location. The statement, "There exist a real number when multiplied to itself is equal to two." Being different in my mind means that the square root of two is not over there.

There is almost no mess with loppers, a bit of blood but never more than from a cut adn the head doesnt come off or anything icky like that. As skin is so tough it seldom gets much damage but the bones inside are cut through so a clean kill.

I think if you attached one handle of the loppers to a post so the jaws can be opened and shut with one hand it would be easier with gpigs. Hold it by the head, place it in the jaws and then just shut the jaws. Or you could hold it by the feet but I always got scratched when I tried to hold them any way other than by the head. I saw it on a you tube video and tried it and it really did work good for carrying them. Unless I had several to move and then I used a box.

I gave my gpigs away a few years ago and havn't been stable enough since to get them again. Moving 8 times in two years is bound to be a bit of a problem. :lol: We shall see what this last move does for us, we might get them again but they do seem rather more expensive than I remember. When I can get a rabbit for $5 or a gpig for $25, well, I know what we will be eating for dinner.

English word usage and spelling? Insane! :evil:

Yesterday, I was looking over another GP that was killed to feed a reptile. Feeling around I could tell, just as a remembered, there is a large abound of meat not only around the shoulders, but also a sizable amount on meat at the base of the neck near the shoulder.

GBov":25wgox4r said:

There is almost no mess with loppers, a bit of blood but never more than from a cut adn the head doesnt come off or anything icky like that. As skin is so tough it seldom gets much damage but the bones inside are cut through so a clean kill.

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Ok, I was thinking you decapitated the GP, I misunderstood, hence I thought it would be messy. I have been thinking about your post and I will probably not use loppers for the dispatchment, but needle nose pliers

The guinea pigs that I will be dispatching for human consumption are colony raised GPs which are not used to being handled. When I grab them they struggle. If I hold them I while they do calm a bit. I will hold the animal in my hand and calm it, or hold the animal against the ground to calm it. I will then use needle nose pliers to grab a vertebra near the skull. From there, I will bend the neck back the wrong direction then give a pull. This should work with a guinea pig that is not used to being handled. I can deliver a quick humane death and all the damaged should be at one spot near the skull.

My hands are nimble but not large or strong so I need at least one side of my dispatching tool to be sharp, pruners for small things like quail and lopers for larger things like turkeys and geese.

If you have strong hands I cant see why needle nosed pliers wouldn't work for you but have something as back up when you give them a try. I was glad I had back up once when my trial method went awry. :roll:

_

Well I WAS thinking of skinning cuy if I ever get my hands on one, but after reading this incredibly informational post, I think I'd rather scald. (Hope they don't smell as bad as chickens, lol).

There's not much demand for guinea pig fur, so far as I know, so there's another notch against skinning for me.

So for those of you who keep herds, I have to ask - what are the biggest health concerns you guys deal with, besides weather challenges? My region tends to be hot and humid for summers and winters generally cold, and I have little experience with GPs.

Scalding a gp doesn't smell but having tried it without much experience prior to that and finding I had to scrape a lot personally I'd get a kitchen torch and burn it off quick and easy despite increased smell if I was doing a lot of them that way. It's actually the more standard way in their native areas and apparently crisping the skin with it prior to frying or roasting is quite desirable too. Reduces the greasiness and many compare it to pork rinds.

I have rarely had a sick guinea pig, their stocky bodies don't injure easily, and the only weather related was heat stroke when their shade blew off and their water fell over with miscommunication about who was supposed to check on them. Granted Iowa is not the hottest place in the world even if we do a pretty good job of getting there for short periods and I brought them inside at first snow but for the most part if you give them an adjustment period and shelter or cooling off options they don't suffer too many illnesses.

I never had parasites appear on/in the guinea pigs once established at my place despite keeping them in stalls that had horses over the winter and grazing alongside pastures but I did occasionally treat with ivermectin. I had one get a skin infection scratching at mites that lived in the hay and not on the guinea pig with a vet behind the times then that used penicillin. They are very antibiotic sensitive so if you decide to treat the safer options are harder to get than just running to the feed store. If you are bringing in a lot of guinea pigs it's often good to have a bottle of ivermectin on hand (injectable or pour on doesn't matter so long as you account for the concentration) and dose each new one topically behind the ears as a preventative because the mites that do live on guinea pigs are hard to detect even with proper skin scrapings and they are very tolerant of ivermectin. I have never heard of a bad reaction even with the unmeasured dosing many use.

Otherwise I've only bought some already suffering a respiratory infection and vit c deficiency. Diet is probably the other big issue besides weather as they need a vit c source at all times and you have to watch calcium and oxalic acid levels because they are prone to bladder stones. If you simply dose some vit c crystals when they can't have tons of fresh food and don't overdo the calcium rich sources they can be taken on and off greens of all kinds without much of the risk rabbits have. I just add them to the herd and start dumping garbage bags of greens in or move them from winter cages straight on to overgrown grass without issue.

Pregnancy complications are unavoidable for the most part. Having such developed young they have a higher risk of stuck pups, runts, and premature litters than rodents or rabbits giving birth to pinkies. It's a problem across the south american rodents. Activity is the best preventative and getting overweight will doom them. I find the shoulder blades the easiest place to tell if they actually are gaining fat pads or just stretching out from pregnancies. The number of individuals is more important than the space but of course you want enough space for them all. A couple in a huge pen will pick a single one to follow and spend most of their time lounging quietly while waiting for that one to move or scattered in a smaller cage holding down one spot all day. They have more health complications all around when they are not mobile. The constant interaction of several will cause them to keep interacting to keep their individual spots or following the whims of multiple top pigs to travel between locations more often in large pens.

The trick with scalding is really REALLY hot water! Like, almost boiling. Then the fur just slips off a treat. The problem with burning it off, at least in real pigs, is the hair base is still IN the skin. I ruined all the crackling on a proper pig, trying the burn it off method.

My herd had slobbers in it - that's when the front teeth don't meet properly so after time they prop the mouth open, gpig drools all over itself and starves to death, not nice - but hard culling fixed that.

I also had pups born fully formed and dead, esp at the start of my experiment raising them. I was feeding pine for vit c which many told me was the problem but when I stopped feeding it, the dead pups still arrived.

That problem totally disappeared after I put all the gpigs into a wire sided shed, 15 by 10 ft. They lived with quail and I had feeders full of rabbit food AND quail food. Started feeding pine for vit c again as it was free, the quail ate the rabbit food and the gpigs ate the 21% protein game bird feed.

So I don't know if it was all the space and running the gpigs did or the game bird feed that fixed the late-term abortions but they ended. I was glad too, little dead babies are always sad.

Oh, as to the quail, they were the biggest I ever raised. It was so funny, they would dig little holes in the sand floor and sit in them, all you could see were the eyes. And the gpigs would stampede all around the pen edges so they were in constant motion, watched by the zen quail. :lol: