Kobe and her babies

I managed to capture some lovely photos of Kobe and her babies yesterday as well. I just love the contrast of the silver agouti of her babies against the crisp golden agouti of her coat...





Oscar:

The babies are just over 2 weeks old now, and growing fatter every day! Little Oscar is such a pretty boy! I still struggle to tell him and Olivia apart!




Olivia:



Onyx:

Onyx is officially the hardest guinea pig to photograph! But look how stunning his coat is getting!




Otis:

And Otis is actually quite fluffy at the moment - you can see how windswept he looks (he was trying to hide under his siblings before I scooped him up for a photo).

Monday weight in, now with 15 residents!

Today's Weigh in:

Sprout is 465g (gained 60g) - 9wks
Sparrow is 500g (gained 70g) - 9wks
Liam is 535g (gained 45g) - 10wks
Ruby is 670g (gained 75g) - 12wks
Ginger is 660g (gained 50g) - 12wks
Kobe is 640g (gained 40g) - 15wks
Alice is 570g (gained 5g) - 17wks
Beeno is 575g (gained 25g) - 15wks
Alba is 615g (gained 15g) - 15wks
Custard is 875g (gained 15g) - 4.5yrs
Subi is 1.070g (gained 30g) - 2yrs (Nursing Bonnie)
Bonnie is 270g (gained 75g) - 12days old
Galaxy is 600g (first weigh in) - 24wks
Sheba is 490g (first weigh in) - 20wks
Crumble is 795g (first weigh in) - 28wks (?)


Total piggy weight 9.330kg (total gain 2.430kg!)

The total gain this week isn't very accurate though, as that includes the addition of three new faces!

Nearly everyone gained really well this week though. The mansion girls are doing a lot better. I am a little concerned about Alice and Alba though. Quite small gains for them, and I had hoped that they might be pregnant - so would assume we'd see a gain if that was the case. Maybe guinea pigs go through a morning sickness stage at the very start as well though! :P Either that or they just had a not-so-hungry week this week.

Ruby and Bonnie are in form again though. Those two are going to be my porkers each week I think (must be something about the Rex gene! :P). And even poor old Sprout did well this week too. His fungal treatment is coming along beautifully - you can see a recent photo of him above. His hair has nearly all grown back. I ended up buying him some betadine spray (which he hates), but it is really helping. (I actually purchased one bottle, used it twice, then stupidly left it on the patio table where our puppy Oliver found it and chewed it up. So I had to purchase another... and they're not cheap! :P The new bottle is kept out of reach this time. I really can't imagine what Oliver would have wanted with a bottle of betadine... and a can't imagine it tasted very nice either! :P). I've also ordered some Malaseb shampoo to combat the fungal issue from another angle as well! I'm determined to get his coat back to it's former glory. Or at least free from bugs!

The Piggy Castle

With it getting colder and colder at night here now, I decided to buy the pigs another house/igloo thing to hide in. I found this massive 'small animal castle' at our local pet store. I figured at least 3 or 4 of them could snuggle up in here together.

Alice had other ideas.

She moved in. Claimed it as her space. Had a bit of a lye down and wouldn't let anyone else in! This girl will be challenging Subi for top spot before we know it!



I thought this was a cute photo too. I've been so worried about Oliver (our Beagalier) getting to the guinea pigs that I've been tying him up when I have them on the grass. The last few days I've had the time to watch him though, so I let him be free. He knows not to pounce and run at them. So he's taken to lying down next to the pen and sticking his tongue through the bars. (I have no doubts that he's trying to taste them!). What I find bizzare though, is that the guinea pigs really don't seem worried by him at all. Alba even came right up to him and had a good old sniff before scampering away.



Meanwhile, if I was to even walk near the pen they all scatter in different directions!

The BIG cage is Finished!

This is the finished cage first thing this morning. We still had a fair bit of work to do though - building a perimeter fence to keep Chelsea and Oliver away, levelling the ground so it wasn't on such a huge lean, fixing the ramp in place, sealing up the many gaps in the closed in section so the rain wouldn't come in etc...



First step was the get the fence up. We're not that good at handyman stuff, so it doesn't have a gate. This is fine for Mark and I as we're both quite tall. But regular sized people will need a step ladder to get in if they want to see the pigs!




It worked perfectly! Excitable toddler and dangerous dog are kept out of harms way!




This is Mark fixing up a few weak spots Chelsea and Oliver managed to find for us!




Sitting back and enjoying the cage. You can probably see the two chairs we bought for inside the cage too - a big one for us, and a little one for Chels. She loves it!



This is a view from inside the cage. We've since added some extra grip to the ramp as the girls were having a bit of trouble getting up and down.



The enclosed section is really roomy and secure. If I was a guinea pig, this is exactly where I would want to live!