Baby Updates: in their new homes

Jonah in his new home. You can see how much he's grown since he was newly born!




And this is Mason looking lovely in his new home. He's the spitting image of his mum Crumble, and has also grown so much since his first photo.





And this stunning big boy is Bodie now 2 1/2 months old in his new home. Look at that hair!!! This was him as a newborn - a few months have made an incredible difference to his appearance!





And Bear, also 2 1/2 months old now. He lives with Bodie and is almost unrecognisable from that fat little bub!





And last, but not least - Jethro. Now named 'Wicket' in his new home (with Bear and Bodie who are now named Kenai and Apache). And for comparison sake - here's Jethro as a newborn too!

Bear and Bodie - 6 weeks

I was sent these gorgeous photos of Bear and Bodie in their new homes today. They are 6 weeks old now and are looking incredible!

Their names are now 'Rui' and 'Vimka' - how perfect are the new names!

Bear and Bodie back up for adoption

Bear and Bodie are back up for adoption, but I'm not expecting them to be available for long!

These two were the boys destined for Sydney, and were only weeks away from travelling. Their adoptive family have let me know that they are facing some unexpected time away from home in the near future, and didn't think it was fair to the boys to be left without the interaction of the family, so will adopt again when they can be home to get to know the piggies when they first arrive.

(Bodie at 1.5weeks old)


This means that if you're looking for a guinea pig pal or two, you're in luck! You'll need to let me know asap though as there is only one 'Bear' and one 'Bodie'!

(Check out the Available page for more information on adopting the boys.)

(Bear at 1.5 weeks old)

Piggy Updates and weights

Here's this weeks weigh in, for Sunday the 4th September 2011:
(this week everyone (except the little babies) were treated with ivermectin as a preventative worming/lice method, especially with the weather warming up, and with the addition of newbies!)

*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 890g (gained 5g) - 22wks (5.5m)
Ruby is 985g (gained 70g) - 24wks (6m)


*** Sprout's Pad ***
Sprout is 765g (gained 25g) - 21wks (5m)
Kobe is 835g (gained 35g) - 27wks (6.5m)


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alba is 835g (gained 30g) - 27wks (6.5m)
Alice is 965g (gained 100g) - 29wks (7m) (pregnant, due approx 1/10/11)
Beeno is 890g (gained 70g) - 27wks (6.5m)
Bonnie is 860g (gained 70g) - 14wks (3.5m)
Custard is 955g (gained 5g) - 4.5yrs
Galaxy is 1030g (gained 80g) - 35wks (8.5m) (pregnant, due approx 23/9/11)
Ginger is 935g (gained 10g) - 24wks (6m)
Sparrow is 905g (gained 45g) - 21wks (5m)
Subi is 1180g (gained 65g) - 2.5yrs
Yeti is 580g (gained 60g) - 14wks (3.5m)

Crumble is 880g (gained 30g) - 40wks (10m)(nursing)
Molly is 255g (gained 60g) - 3 weeks
Mason is 280g (gained 70g) - 3 weeks
Mika is 270g (gained 70g) - 3 weeks

Sheba is 790g (loss 30g) - 32wks (8m)(nursing)
Bear is 165g (gained 40g) - 1 week
Bodie is 155g (gained 55g) - 1 week
Ben is 145g (gained 35g) - 1 week

(and the newbies!)
Malakai is 310g (first weigh in here) - 5 weeks
Millicent is 270g (first weigh in) - 5 weeks
Eloide is 275g (first weigh in) - 5 weeks


Wow... weighing everyone is quite a job now! I love seeing how well they're all doing though. We've had some pretty big gains this week! Our current pregnant girls, Alice and Galaxy are doing really well and putting on a nice amount of weight. I have felt movement from Galaxy's tummy, but not Alice yet. There is no doubt in my mind that Alice is carrying bubs though. She most likely just has a little bit longer to go than Galaxy.





Sheba and her boys are doing really well. Sheba is the most relaxed little mummy I've had in a long time. Her little men are so gorgeous too!

Sheba and her boys meet the gang

Sheba finally delivered!

My 6month old woke me for a feed at about 5am this morning. I sat there half asleep while he fed just wanting to crawl back under the warm blankets, when I remembered about Sheba. The last time I'd checked her was 11:30pm. No babies then - but she was looking a little restless.

So once my little man was safely tucked back into his cot, I snuck in to check on Miss Sheba. And sure enough there was a cute little face snuggled in next to her.



I didn't want to wake the kids, so I tried to stifle my excitement while I checked Sheba was ok and lifted out the babies. Three BIG boys! My hubby came in while I was checking them over (he knew they must have been born when I hadn't come back to bed!). They were dry and so so clean, so must have been born in the early hours of this morning, Sunday the 28th August 2011. (It always astounds me how clean the mumma guinea pigs keep themselves and the bubs during birth.)


I tried to go back to sleep, but just lay awake thinking of names for them. When it got light enough I got a better chance to check them over and get some photos (see posts below). We've called them 'Bear', 'Ben' and 'Bodie'. These are just their name's while they stay here with us though, and their new families are totally welcome to change them!

First impressions suggest that these guys will be more Sheltie-like than anything, no curls unfortunately. I shouldn't really be surprised though as the curly gene in guinea pigs is recessive, so unless Sheba had texel/alpaca in her genetic history the bubs were never going to have curls. They will carry the curly gene though, which means that if they were mated to another curly carrier, or a curly pig, the resulting babies would be a mix of smooth and curly (and/or maybe even tufted like the peruvian!).

(The happy parents are shown below, Sheba is the peruvian and Liam the texel.)

Sheba's Baby Boy - Bear

This is Bear, he's the biggest of the three babies weighing in at 125g. He has a big cream face like his daddy, white and cream patches down one side and cream agouti patches down the other side.



Bear's fur is extra thick. And just that little bit longer than you'd expect on a newborn. I don't know if this is because he's bigger/fatter than his brothers, or if he'll end up with a thicker coat as an adult.



Bear will most likely end up looking a lot like a Sheltie, but is genetically a cross between a Peruvian and a Texel. (genetics are weird!). With his slightly longer/thicker/fluffier fur though, he may end up with a little more unusual coat than a regular Sheltie would have.



If I'm allowed to choose a favourite baby it would be Bear. He's so quiet, calm and chunky. Just my kind of pig. That could all change in a few weeks though as the babies come out of their shell a bit more!