ing. It is not inbreeding in the true sense of the
word.

In line breeding you breed the father to his daughter and the son to his
mother. This arrangement is all right and gets splendid results. You
must avoid, however, breeding full brothers and sisters. It is also well
to breed pigs that are similar in color and marking. For instance: Breed
whites with whites and blacks with blacks, etc. By line breeding you can
get almost any color you want. If you wanted to get solid red, say, out
of a mixed lot, you should breed your reddest male to your reddest
female. Then breed the father to his reddest daughter and the reddest
son to his mother. Continue in this way and eventually you will get
solid reds.

For commercial purposes, however, we think it is best to get new males
every now and then. If you have only one male at the start, you should
get a new one when the young ones of your first litter are old enough to
breed. This will permit you to get stock not closely related and that
you can sell for breeding and pet purposes.

It is best to breed males and females of different ages. Have one older
than the other. The females should not be handled too much when they are
with young, as it is apt to injure them, and, of course, no animal
thrives as well when fondled. Always keep your strongest and best males
for breeders.

Too frequent littering tends to weaken both the mother and the little
ones. If you have a female that gives weak young that are dead at birth
or die soon after, give her a rest of several months before breeding her
again. It is best to have fewer litters and stronger stock.

The old males will sometimes fight when in the pen together, but it is
seldom that the females do not get along well together. If you have a
fighting male keep him in a place to himself, as he is apt to injure the
other males.

Good young breeding stock is to be preferred by one beginning to raise
Cavies, because they have a longer life before them and if you get old
stock you cannot tell how old they are. Guinea Pigs live to be about
seven or eight years old and if you buy young stock you have them for
their entire breeding age.

CHAPTER VII

EXHIBITING CAVIES.

The showing or exhibiting of Guinea Pigs is rapidly becoming more
popular and in nearly all pet stock and poultry shows you will find
several pens of Guinea Pigs. There are many fanciers in the country who
make a specialty of show animals and fancy stock.