Weigh in

[Bonnie and her BIG 2 week old baby girls!]

The weigh in for Saturday the 10th Dec 2011:


*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 950g (gain 25g) - 35wks (8m)
Crumble is 1085g (gain 5g) - 1yr
Elodie is 750g (gain 20g) - 19wks (4.5m)


*** Romeo's Roost ***
Romeo is 525g (gain 55g) - 10wks (2m)
Lavender Mist is 705g (gain 35g) - 17wks (4m)


*** Malakai's Quarters ***
Malakai is 800g (gain 70g) - 18wks (4m)
Molly is 665g (gain 50g) - 17wks (4m)


*** Violet's Arrangement ***
Violet is 720g (gained 55g) - 21wks (4.5m)
Pooh Bear is 1040g (same) - on loan


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alba is 940g (loss 15g) - 41wks (9.5m)
Alice is 890g (loss 10g) - 44wks (10m)
Chloe is 470g (gain 20g) - 10wks (2m)
Custard is 925g (loss 70g) - 4.5yrs
Delilah is 790g (gained 35g) - approx 1yr
Galaxy is 995g (gain 15g)- 48wks (11m)
Ivy is 590g (gained 25g) - 11wks (2.5m)
Jasmine is 480g (gain 30g) - 12wks (2.5m)
Leilani is 1125g (gained 95g) - 25wks (5.5m) -(Pregnant, due approx 30/12/11)
Lotus is 575g (gained 40g) - 11wks (2.5m)
Millicent is 785g (gain 75g) - 19wks (4.5m)
Nixie is 305g (gained 70g) - 4wks (1m)
Peppa is 1180g (gained 65g) - 1yr -(Pregnant, due approx 6/1/12)
Phoebe is now 750g (gain 25g) - 34wks (8m)
Ruby is 1020g (same) - 38wks (8.5m)
Sparrow is 1005g (gain 25g) - 36wks (8m)
Subi is 1160g (loss 10g) - 2.5yrs
Tabitha is 345g (gain 30g) - 6wks (1.2m)
Tigerlily is 525g (gain 65g) - 10wks (2m)
Twizzle is 600g (gain 15g) - 11wks (2.5m)
Xeraphina is 480g (gain 35g) 9wks (2m)
Yeti is 870g (loss 20g) - 27wks (6m)
Zinnia is 560g (gain 5g) - 11wks (2.5m)


***New Mums***

Rafia is 580g (lost 215g giving birth) - 14wks (3m) - (nursing)
Juji is 120g (gain 10g) - 1wk
Jairo is 130g (gain 25g - 1wk

Ginger is 935g (gained 90g)- 38wks (9m) - (nursing)
Gypsy is 115g (gain 35g) - 1wk
Grace is 120g (gain 40g) - 1wk

Lulu is 600g (gain 25g) - 15wks (3.5m) - (nursing)
Anthea is 175g (gain 50g) - 2wks
Amity is 160g (gain 40g) - 2wks

Bonnie is 935g (lost 35g) - 28wks (6.5m) - (nursing)
Bella-Donna is 245g (gain 60g) - 2wks
Bethanie is 235g (gain 50g) - 2wks


Another good week. Nearly everyone gained - and most importantly the babies gained. This is Ginger and her girls at 1 week old. I rarely actually see Ginger feeding them herself (which might explain why she gained so much even as a nursing mum this week!?), but it looks like Gypsy and Grace are finding other nipples nonetheless!

No new pregnancy confirmations yet. Millicent has been with Malakai for about 7 weeks now, and there's just the hint of a belly swelling at the moment, so I thought I'd pop her back in the mansion cage as I know she prefers it there. She climbed straight up the ramp and took over the upstairs section. I should know in a fortnight or so if that swelling is baby-related or food-related!




Malakai has proven himself with Peppa's pregnancy confirmed last week, so at least I know he's figured out what to do with his little 'weapon'. Having the girls pregnant during summer is definitely not ideal though, but when there is only a limited window of opportunity for a female to have her first litter, and that's when it falls, you have to weigh the risks of too early/too late first pregnancy versus the season. I choose to provide extra comforts/additional TLC - ie. have them live inside in aircon/constant access to cool water/trimming any excess coat as I personally feel the risk of pregnancy too early/late is greater than the risk of the weather. (Please keep in mind that this is just MY opinion though, and there are many who would disagree and prefer to breed later in the animals life).


And just for good measure - I thought I'd add an updated pic of Elodie (Malakai's sister), now 4 months old. She's growing up so beautifully!

Ginger's Bitter-sweet Birth

I was holding Ginger at about 11am this morning. She was huge, but her pelvic bone wasn't anywhere near full dilation yet. So I left her hanging out with Ripley, and took the kids out to the shops for an hour.

When we got home I just happened to glance over and see something brown and fluffy lying down next to Ginger. At first I thought it was Ripley - then it occurred to me that it must be babies. Babies that weren't moving.

I left all the shopping on the floor and quickly checked what had happened. It looked like the scene of a massacre: dead guinea pigs and blood and placentas everywhere. And a very bewildered looking Ginger sitting in the middle of it all. I quickly checked some of the still babies - they had the sacks over their faces and back, broken away around their tummy/paws, probably from struggling for air.

Two babies were moving. One was still partially in her sack, but her face was clear - probably a stroke of luck that saved her life. The other was already sitting up, and mostly clean. And was probably the first born. Two of the three dead babies were still warm. I had JUST missed it.

*** If you'd rather not see dead guinea pig babies, it's probably best to stop scrolling now ***




These three were perfect. The first was a little boy, looked like he was a gold and gold agouti Abyssinian (85g). The middle one was a little girl, ginger and white smooth coat (70g). And the third one was a big tri-colour girl (100g). All really good sized babies, and a beautiful mix of colours too.

There really is nothing more devastating than watching a mumma pig's tummy grow, and feeling the babies alive and well, kicking away over the long 9-10 weeks of a guinea pig gestation. Then loosing perfectly healthy babies simply due to bad timing!

If nothing else, this litter has just reiterated that even though I've been doing this for a LONG time, it doesn't mean I can prevent unnecessary deaths - even when they are preventable!



The two surviving girls have been named Gypsy and Grace. They're still not out of the woods yet, and Grace in particular is still looking quite fragile.


Grace:

This is little Grace, she's a white Abyssinian coat with cream/cream agouti eye patches. She weighed in at 90g. She was also the only baby cleaned properly, so I think she was firstborn.





Gypsy:

This is Gypsy. She's a mix of ginger, golden agouti and white. She has a stunning Abyssinian coat as well. She weighed in at 100g. All babies were really good sizes, and were almost half a kg in total.




And when I was taking photos of the girls this afternoon, I noticed that they both have a little patch of colour on the backsides as well! Too cute!

Weigh in

[Custard, enjoying the cooler afternoon today]


The weigh in for Saturday the 19th November 2011:

*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 950g (gain 20g) - 32wks (7.5m)
Sparrow is 1010g (loss 15g) - 33wks (7.5m)
Crumble is 1100g (same) - 51wks (11.5m)


*** Sprout's Pad ***
Sprout is 910g (same) - 33wks (7.5m)
Romeo is 375g (loss 25g) - 7wks (1.5m)


*** Malakai's Quarters ***
Malakai is 720g (loss 10g) - 16wks (3.5m)
Millicent is 650g (same) - 16wks (3.5m)
Peppa is 1020g (lost 70g) - 1yr
Molly is 590g (lost 25g) - 14wks (3m)


*** Violet's Arrangement ***
Violet is 630g (gained 25g) - 18wks (4m)
Pooh Bear is 1030g (gained 300g) - on loan


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alba is 930g (lost 20g) - 38wks (8.5m)
Alice is 875g (gain 25g) - 41wks (9.5m)
Bonnie is 1310g (gained 60g) - 25wks (5.5m) - (Heavily Pregnant, due end Nov)
Chloe is 340g (gain 20g) - 7wks (1.5m)
*Custard is 1010g (gained 20g) - 4.5yrs
*Demi is 420g (gained 50g) - 8wks (1.5m)
Elodie is 725g (gained 10g) - 16wks (3.5m)
Galaxy was 980g (gain 30g)- 45wks (10.5m)
Ginger is 1375g (gained 20g) - 35wks (8m) - (pregnant, due approx 2/12)
*Ivy is 465g (gained 75g) - 8wks (1.5m)
Jasmine is 385g (gain 20g) - 9wks (2m)
Lavender Mist is 680g (gained 15g) - 14wks (3m)
Leilani is 890g (gained 15g) - 22wks (5m)
Lotus is 460g (gained 5g) - 8wks (1.5m)
Ruby is 975g (gained 5g) - 35wks (8m)
Sheba is 1030g (gain 20g) - 43wks (10m)
Subi is 1180g (lost 15g) - 2.5yrs
Tigerlily is 470g (gain 50g) - 8wks (1.5m)
Twizzle is 490g (gain 25g) - 8wks (1.5m)
Yeti is 880g (gain 10g) - 24wks (5.5m)
Zinnia is 470g (gain 30g) - 8wks (1.5m)


***Re-homing/Foster Pigs***
Rafia is 720g (gained 45g) - 11wks (2.5m) - (pregnant, due approx 8/12)
Lulu is 780g (gained 40) - 12wks (2.5m) - (pregnant, due approx 5/12)
Olivia is 350g (gain 45g) - 6wks (1.5m) - (On Hold)
Tabitha is 235g (gain 30g) - 3wks - (treating for mites)
Xeraphina is 390g (gain 50g) 6wks - (treating for mites)


***New Mums***
Phoebe is now 725g (same) - 31wks (7m) - (nursing)
Noah is 150g (gained 60g) - 1wk
Nixie is 150g (gained 55g) - 1wk

Delilah is 705g (lost 30g) - approx 1yr - (nursing)
Sadie is 235g (gained 60g) - 3wks
Suri is 250g (gained 60g) - 3wks

A bit of a so-so week of gains this week. The new girls being treated for mites are doing well though, and so are Phoebe's bubs - HUGE gains for such tiny creatures!


We had a bit of an incident with our free-ranging this afternoon too. I thought I'd latched Malakai's cage properly after topping up their grain (especially now that he sits inside the perimeter area of the mansion cage), but I hadn't! And yes, he did what any male guinea pig would do - he realised he could get out, and he found himself some willing partners! Thankfully I was there, filling up water bottles and grain bowls when I heard the ruckus, but after checking the nether-regions of the lady's in question (Alice and Galaxy), I do believe he may have hit his target! Cheeky little bugger. We still don't know if he's actually 'live' yet though, so it may have just been a test-run, so to speak. But I do know that I'll be doubled checking those latches from now on!

Not such a problem when everyone's safely locked away in their cages - all he would have done is go for a bit of a walk in the safety of the perimeter area. It was just one of those moments where everything just worked out for Mr Malakai! :P

To be honest, my main concern was more about Alice and Galaxy only just having had their litters a few months ago. I like to give my girls a bit more of a break then that usually! I have been reading a very informative document - 'Advanced Guide to Keeping Cavies' by another Brisbane Cavy Breeder though, and he explains how a female shouldn't be in show condition (ie. nice and fat) before falling pregnant due to the possible complications from carrying the extra weight. He explains that he actually gets his girls to loose a bit of condition before they're put in for breeding. And here I was trying to get my girls back into full-fatness between litters!

What I've taken away from that piece of information is that perhaps having a blanket-rule of '4 month break between litters' isn't going to work every time. Some mum's might need the full 4 months to recover, while others might get too conditioned/fat over that time. That's what I'm telling myself right now anyways - until I know if Malakai's misadventures have amounted to anything in a few weeks time! :P

Still, there was a lot of VERY interesting reading in the e-book. I'd recommend it if you're interested in the finer points of genetics: coat types, dominant/recessive genes/ colour inheritance etc. You do have to remember that it is one person's opinion though, and I don't agree with everything written, but it certainly gave me some information/guidance that I wasn't aware of already. There's always something to learn, no matter how long you've been in the game! :P


And after that rather long-winded ramble, I'll keep my next few captions short! These are just some shots of captured of Ginger this afternoon - showing off that incredible belly! I'm actually thinking we might have 5 babies... at least! This will definitely be a birth I'll need to be present for!






And Bonnie has surprised me by starting to open her pelvic bone this week too. I first noticed it earlier in the week, and decided to bring her inside for monitoring last night. She's continuing to open, and may possibly have her babies in the next few days. OR - she might do a 'Ruby' on me, and hold onto her litter for the next two weeks before her estimated due date! :P

(I had to include this pic too - it looks like Phoebe is telling Bonnie what to expect from birth... Bonnie looks a bit shocked!)


creatures!

Weigh in and some confirmed pregnancies

The weigh in for Sunday the 30th October 2011:

*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 920g (same) - 29wks (7m)
Sparrow is 980g (gain 5g) - 30wks (7m)
Yeti is 825g (gained 15g) - 21wks (4.5m)


*** Sprout's Pad ***
Sprout is 950g (gain 35g) - 30wks (7m)
Subi is 1190g (same) - 2.5yrs


*** Malakai's Quarters ***
Malakai is 710g (gained 75g) - 13wks (3m)
Millicent is 605g (gained 45g) - 13wks (3m)
Peppa is 1010g (gained 75g) - 1yr
(Leilani has been taken out, as I discovered that her background is more suited to breeding with Liam (she has a pedigree texel father!), and Milli has taken her place. She's reached the 600g mark early).


*** Violet's Arrangement ***
Violet is 595g (gained 25g) - 15wks (3.5m)
Pooh Bear is 1020g (first weigh in) - on loan


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alba is 875g (gain 10g) - 35wks (8m)
Beeno is 970g (gained 15g) - 35wks (8m)
Bonnie is 1060g (gained 55g) - 22wks (5m) - (Pregnant, due approx 2nd Dec)
Crumble is 1040g (gained 15g) - 48wks (11m)
Custard is 950g (lost 15g) - 4.5yrs
Demi is 285g (gained 30g) - 5wks (1m)
Elodie is 630g (gained 55g) - 13wks (3m)
Galaxy was 855g (gain 30g)- 43wks (10m)
Ginger is 1095g (gained 70g) - 32wks (7.5m) - (pregnant, due approx 2nd Dec)
Ivy is 345g (gained 50g) - 5wks (1m)
Jasmine is 280g (gain 15g) - 6wks (1m)
Lavender Mist is 580g (gained 50g) - 11wks (2.5m)
Leilani is 835g (gained 15g) - 19wks (4.5m)
Lotus is 325g (first weigh in) - 5wks (1m)
Molly is 550g (gained 20g) - 11wks (2.5m)
Phoebe is 1005g (gained 45g) - 28wks (6.5m)- (pregnant, due approx 17th Nov)
Sheba is 945g (gain 35g) - 40wks (9.5m)
Tigerlily is 330g (gain 30g) - 5wks (1m)
Twizzle is 365g (gain 40g) - 5wks (1m)
Zinnia is 330g (gain 55g) - 5wks (1m)


***Re-homing/Foster Pigs***
Rafia is 505g (gained 55g) - 8wks (1.5m) - (pregnant, due approx 8th Dec)
Ripley is 650g (lost 15g) - 19wks (4.5m) - (possibly pregnant)


***New Mumma's***

Kobe is 790g (gain 20g) - 35wks (8m) (nursing)
Otis is 210g (gain 60g) - 3wks
Onyx is 200g (gain 50g) - 3wks
Olivia is 190g (gain 50g) - 3wks
Oscar is 200g (gain 55g) - 3wks

Ruby is 910g (gain 60g) - 32wks (7.5m) - (weaning)
Romeo is 290g (gain 65g) - 4wks


Alice is 735g (gain 35g) - 37wks (8.5m) - (weaning)
Cricket is 225g (gain 55g) - 4wks
Chloe is 200g (gain 50g) - 4wks

[Chloe, 4 week update pic]


The babies are slowly heading off to their new homes... Cleo left with her lovely new family on Saturday. Oscar will be going home with his family tomorrow, Olivia will be leaving on wednesday and Onyx and Cricket will be flying down to Sydney on Friday! I will admit that it can be a bit hard to say goodbye to the babies, but meeting such incredible people in the process of finding them wonderful new homes makes it totally worthwhile.

[Ginger]


[Bonnie]


We have some exciting pregnancy news as well. I was starting to get a little concerned that Liam was taking an extended holiday from his position as main stud here at the caviary, especially as we hadn't had a confirmed pregnancy sired by him since Ruby's! But he has come through after all, and I can confirm that both Ginger and Bonnie are approx 5 weeks pregnant, due somewhere around about the 2nd Dec 2011.


[Rafia and her mum Ripley]

On a slightly less positive note, it also appears that tiny little Rafia (the foster/rehoming baby that came in with her mum about a month ago) is pregnant to her father. If she is (swollen belly, enlarged nipples), then she'll be due approx 8th Dec, and this will only just make her 3 months old herself. I'm hoping for a nice small litter, 1-2 babies of an average size - or we may face some complications come delivery day.



[Galaxy and Eloide in a brief moment of calm this afternoon. Galaxy took a particular liking to Elodie actually, and the two of them spent a lot of time doing laps of the cage!]

Another interesting thing I thought I might mention today is that of 'odd' female guinea pig behaviour. I noticed a persistent 'horny dance' rumble coming from the ladies mansion this afternoon, and quickly spotted Galaxy chasing around her cage-mates. If I didn't know without a doubt that she was female, it would be easy to assume she was a male trying to mate. She made the same rumble noise, did the same wiggly-bottom strut, and had the same perseverance as any love-starved male!


[Custard - still 'Rumble-Struts' when on heat, and she's nearly 5yrs old!]

In my observations I've noticed that some females become very demonstrative when they come on heat - chasing their friends, and for all intensive purposes behaving like a male. Most girls will come on heat without you even noticing, but Galaxy is one of the special ones who lets you know. (Actually, out of all of my girls only she and Custard act out like this when on heat). Females will come on heat approximately every 16-17 days. So I'm curious to see if that will be the case for Galaxy again come mid november! I thought it was also worth mentioning if you have noticed similar behaviour amongst your group of girls - it may also be where the 'guinea pigs changing sex' wives tail might have originated from too!

Piggy updates and a new bale of hay

The bubs are doing so well. I wasn't sure if they'd be a bit daunted by all the big girls in the mansion cage, but they love it! The popcorn around the place, darting in and out of all the soft hidey houses and tunnels. For the most part the other girls ignore them, but Custard and Yeti have taken a particular interest in them. I knew about Custard's affinity for babies, but Yeti surprised me. She kind of treats them like a bossy older sister - ordering them around to different locations in the cage.




I took a couple of pics of Molly at 4 days old too. You can see the little ginger spot right on her bottom! So cute (and practical!). Ginger joined in for some of the photos, as a fellow 'ginger' coloured piggy. I don't think she was particularly impressed at being taken away from the feast in the cage though and didn't cooperate for long.





It was piggy-food-shopping-day today too, so I headed off to the produce place to buy some more hay. I learnt my lesson about hay-buying earlier in the year, so now I always inspect the hay out in the hay shed before going to the cash register. They didn't have any prime Lucerne available (my personal preference because most of my girls are still young/suckling young/possibly preg etc. and Lucerne has higher calcium content. And it's just so nice and soft with no sharp bits for damaging eyes!), so the next best thing was Barley Hay. I'd never used this before, but the girls love it! It's like sweet-smelling, soft, green straw. Hopefully there aren't any sharp shards hiding in the strands. But so far so good. I pulled a chunk from the middle of the bale to check it out, and the girls LOVE it! I suppose it's nice for them to have something a bit different to munch on too.

Another weigh in and an update on Sprout

(Little Ginger all tucked up in her cuddle sack!)


Today's Weigh in:

Sprout is 370g (gained 55g) - 7wks
Sparrow is 420g (gained 65g) - 7wks
Liam is 460g (gained 65g) - 8wks
Ruby is 585g (gained 65g) - 10wks
Ginger is 590g (gained 60g) - 10wks
Kobe is 600g (gained 70g) - 13wks
Alice is 525g (gained 40g) - 15wks
Beeno is 515g (gained 50g) - 13wks
Alba is 565g (gained 45g) - 13wks
Custard is 905g (gained 10g) - 4yrs
and Subi is 1.235g (gained 50g) - 1-2yrs (Pregnant)

Total piggy weight 6.770kg (total gained 575g!!)

Another pretty good week for my piggy pals. It seems that putting on 60-70g in a week has become pretty standard now! I can feel the weight when I pick them up now too. I plan to do an overview on the weight gain since we adopted them all. But that will be in a future post.

Subi is getting fatter and fatter as you can see by her weigh in result for today. Still, she only gained 50g, yet some of the younger girls gained more than that and they're not growing babies! :P Subi's estimated delivery date has been brought forward as well. Her pelvic bone started opening during the week and is at full width today. I'll bring her inside tonight as she could deliver any time from now. Very exciting stuff!

And my Quarantine Pigs are doing better. I'm still slathering Beeno's ear in anti-fungal cream. I stopped for a few days and it started to come back. So I might just keep it up for another week to make sure. Sprout's hair is growing back, but he's still got crusty spots. So I gave him a fourth mite treatment today. That boys has cost me a fortune in treatments! It's a good thing he's so damn cute!

You can see in these photos his original hair when we first got him:



Then how his hair started to get scruffy and patchy and fall out with the mites about a month ago:



Then this is him today. It's still an uneven coat, but it's thickening up again:



You can see where the hair has grown back in one of the crusty bald spots too:



It's a bit of a shame though. He started out with such gorgeous thick curls. And now it's kind of just a fuzzy mess!!!

Adventures outside the cage!

I thought I'd see if the girls wanted to venture outside of their cage yesterday morning. The grass between the cage and the perimeter fence is getting a little long. The thinking when we set up the cage was to let them eat it down when it got too long, cause getting a mower in there would be rather tricky!

However they weren't interested at all when I first opened the door!

After a while Custard led the way and half of them followed her.



They all went back inside and snuggled in the straw during snooze-time (middle of the day), so I shut the door again. (How cute does Ginger look in her little nest!)



Once the afternoon shadows had spread over the backyard, the girls were active again. This time ALL of them came out within minutes. It's almost like the ones that went out that morning had been bragging about how yummy the grass was!!:P





And yet again, it only took one day for them to cotton on to this new routine. Now all I have to do is open the door and stand back, and they all come running!

Video of Sprout and Sparrow

Thought you guys might like to see a quick video of Sprout and Sparrow having a little supplemental milk. I just love watching piggys eat, but watching babies drink from a spoon is infinitely cuter!




You can also watch them running around with Ginger as the babysitter in this video. Isn't all this new-fangled technology wonderful!