Black Cavy Breeding and Reproduction Methods and Technical Key Points
The black guinea pig is also known as the guinea pig or Dutch pig. Because its whole body is black, it is called the black cavy. It originated in the Peru region of South America and is a herbivorous mammal with tender meat, a delicious flavor, and rich in various trace elements, making it a delicacy on people's dining tables.
Methods for Breeding and Reproducing Black Cavies
Black guinea pigs reach sexual maturity early. Generally, female cavies show sexual characteristics at 35-45 days of age and male cavies at 70 days of age, but female cavies are best bred after 70 days of age.
To identify sex, press the perineal area with your hand and check whether a penis appears and the shape of the external genitalia to confirm male or female. When catching and examining, hold the black guinea pig's back with your right hand, grip its left shoulder with your thumb, and grip the right shoulder and chest with the other 4 fingers. After lifting it gently in this way, support its body with your left hand.
For breeding stock selection, choose animals with a full body condition, sturdy bones, straight limb shape, bright eyes, good nutritional status and development, glossy coat color, and soft, elastic skin. Male cavies should have symmetrical testicles of the same size, and female cavies should have normally developed external genitalia.
Mating: The estrus duration of black guinea pigs is 1-18 hours, averaging 9 hours, and estrus mostly occurs between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m. the next day. After a female cavy mates during estrus, there is a gelatinous mixture at the vaginal opening. Based on the presence or absence of this plug, it can be judged whether the black guinea pig has mated successfully. Under normal circumstances, black guinea pigs kept for original-stock breeding are all mated using a one-male-one-female pairing method, that is, only 1 pair of breeding cavies is placed in each breeding pool, and female cavies should be allowed to live and breed together again after the young cavies are weaned. Within half a day after the female cavy gives birth, the male cavy can be placed in for postpartum mating. Both the mating rate and reproduction rate are high. In large-group raising, 3-4 female cavies are often placed with 1 male black guinea pig for mating. Never place 2 male cavies together, to prevent fighting from affecting mating.
Reproduction: The sexual cycle of female cavies is 16 days, and the estrus duration is 1-18 hours, averaging 9 hours. The gestation period of female cavies is 56-68 days, and the litter size is 3-5 young, with some reaching 6-9. Young cavies are weaned after 15 days and raised separately after weaning. Under normal circumstances, 60-80 days of raising is enough to meet commercial cavy requirements. During gestation, in addition to increasing the quantity and quality of feed, the site should be kept quiet and clean, and idle personnel should not enter and leave at will. The daily diet must be kept fresh, with small and frequent feedings. In late gestation, dry grass should be placed in the cage to let the female cavy build a nest and prepare for giving birth. The nursing period for young black guinea pigs is 15 days in summer and 20 days in winter. During the nursing period, the feed nutrition for the female cavy should be increased. Black guinea pigs have a high reproduction rate and strong immunity. The service life of breeding cavies is 3 years, and during the raising process no immunization or drug prevention is needed.
Living Habits of Black Cavies
Black cavies originated in the mountainous areas of Yunnan in our country and belong to the class Mammalia, order Rodentia. Their body size is moderate (0.75-1.25 kg), with thick, short limbs, a blunt rounded head, a relatively large snout, small eyes, short ears, and relatively long claws. Their notable features are black hair over the whole body, black eyes, black ears, and black feet, with no tail. They are not good at jumping and generally do not bite or scratch people. Black cavies are gentle in temperament, like living in groups, have keen hearing, are timid and easily frightened, and fear disturbance. Black cavies make different calls under different circumstances. For example, when a female cavy is in estrus, the male cavy makes a "gulu, gulu" courtship call, and when hungry, upon hearing footsteps, they make a "jiji" squeaking call.
Raising Methods for Black Cavies
1. Raising equipment: There are many ways to raise black cavies, adapting to local conditions. The commonly used methods are cage raising, flat-pool pen raising, and three-dimensional large-scale factory raising.
① Cage raising. This raising method can be used for small-scale raising. Its advantages are that it can control reproduction and feeding and maintain cleanliness and hygiene. The cage can be made of wooden strips, bamboo slices, or wire, with a suitable size of 60 cm × 50 cm × 40 cm.
② Flat-pool pen raising. It is suitable when using single-story houses and when the shed is wide. Inside the room, use bricks, wooden boards, and the like to partition pools with an area of 0.5-1 sq m. The pool height is 0.35 m. It is best to spread some wood shavings or dry grass inside the pool, which helps keep warm and absorb moisture. At present, this method is mostly used for raising.
③ Three-dimensional factory raising. It is relatively large in scale and relatively concentrated, convenient for management and operation, and allows raising large numbers. Use bricks or wood and iron strips to make 3-5 layers, with the bottom slightly sloped so that feces flow out, making management convenient. There are small doors in the pools and cages. For various raising methods, generally the density per sq m is 8-10 animals at low density and 10-20 animals at high density.
2. Feed supply: Black cavies have very omnivorous feeding habits, and normal growth, development, and reproduction all require sufficient nutrition. Because black cavies are herbivorous animals and have a relatively high digestion rate of crude fiber, if they are not supplied with green feed or dry grass and other plants for a long time, skin peeling will occur. Therefore, feed supply should be mainly green feed, with green feed and concentrate properly matched. Green feed includes fresh tender wild grass, pasture grass, corn leaves, sugarcane leaves, tree leaves, green vegetables, fruit peels, carrots, sweet potatoes, and so on. Concentrate feed is mainly cornmeal, wheat bran, rice bran, and the like. A commonly used feed formula: cornmeal 40%, rice grain powder 10%, wheat bran 29%, peanut shell powder 15%, fish meal and bone meal 2% each, salt and growth hormone 1% each. Piglet pellet feed can also be fed.
Economic Value of the Chinese Black Cavy
The Chinese black cavy is a precious herbivorous animal that combines game meat, tonic value, medicinal use, fur, and ornamental value. The success of its selective breeding has added a glorious page to the development of black foods in our country and even the world.
1. Game meat and tonic value: Thousands of years ago, the working people of ancient China had the habit of eating cavy meat. Black cavies are a high-protein, low-fat, low-cholesterol food. The melanin they contain can eliminate free radicals in the human body and prevent excess lipids, thereby playing a role in delaying aging; the iron they contain is 3 times that of soft-shelled turtle.
2. Medicinal use: Black cavy meat is sweet in flavor and neutral in nature, and has the effects of replenishing qi and blood and removing toxins. It is used to treat conditions such as physical weakness, kidney deficiency in the elderly, and postpartum anemia. Black cavy meat can be used to produce drugs for treating epilepsy, and cavy blood can be used to extract the drug raw material serotonin.
3. Fur: The black cavy is also a precious fur animal. Its hair is black and glossy, and its gloss can compare with that of mink. The hair length is 2 cm--3 cm, shorter than fox fur, in line with the new trend of modern clothing disinfection. The skin board is thin and soft and rich in collagen. Monitoring by relevant leather scientific research units has proved that black cavy fur can be used to produce high-grade fur coats and craft ornaments, and has very high economic value and utilization value.
4. Ornamental value: Black cavies are gentle in temperament, easy to raise and manage, and lively and cute. They are loved by people, especially children, and can be kept as pets.
Black cavies are rarely seen in our daily lives. Black cavies have many values. They not only have edible value but also certain ornamental value, and black cavies also have certain medicinal value. For some frail people, black cavies are a superior tonic.