Rafia's Babies

Somewhere between 10-11pm last night, Rafia (our rescue baby from September's intake) successfully delivered two beautiful big babies of her own! She only weighed in at just under 800g yesterday afternoon, and the two babies together were 215g... that's more than 1/4 of her body mass! She was tiny, and they were big! She did so well. It never ceases to amaze me how resilient guinea pigs can be. This poor little baby would have been impregnated only DAYS before we found her at 4-5weeks old, living with adult males...


This is the little girl, Juji. She weighed in at 110g and is a gorgeous rich red/ginger and white mix.


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And this is the little boy, Jairo. His name means 'he shines', and seemed most appropriate because we have a stunning satin throwback here! Also in the red and white.

Both babies and Rafia will be available for adoption in early Jan 2012.

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!

Grass Time!

I sat with the girls while they had some time on the grass yesterday. I find that the more grass time I can give them, the less messy they make the mansion! Win-win situation really. We haven't had to mow in months either!


This was little Rafia saying hello. She was one of the foster girls I got in last month. Her hair is growing back beautifully, and her skin is all cleared up - but now her belly is starting to swell. If she is pregnant, she must have only gotten pregnant in the last few days before we collected her. The father will either be one of her siblings, or her own dad - all who were housed together. We should know in a week or two if the swelling is babies - or just a bit of overindulgence!



And this was Galaxy, now baby-free and enjoying her time back in the adult girls-pen, rather than being constantly hassled for milk. It's amazing to see her behaviour chance now that the responsibility of motherhood has passed. When the boys were still around she never went upstairs, even though she could have if she wanted some time away from them. Now, she spends nearly all day up there lazing about on the cushions!



And Violet is just looking more and more 'cotton ball' like every day. The good thing about this shot is that you can't see her rear end... super soft, super long white curls do not mix well with an animal that is cms from the ground at all times! She's due for another trim soon, as she'll be hopefully having a rendezvous with a pedigree texel stud I'm bring in specifically for her. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan!



And here we have Alba caught 'popcorning' - usually a behaviour the babies do when they're excited and have too much energy: they pop around the cage like they're walking on hot coals. Very cute, and very funny. It's nice to see the adults do it occasionally as well. Alba has just come back from a visit with Liam. She is now past her window of opportunity to get pregnant, so if this visit didn't work there will be no babies for Miss Alba. As much as guinea pigs can breed quite profusely if allowed to co-mingle, sometimes they can be really difficult to get to pair up when you want them too!


And lastly - Miss Molly. Good golly Miss Molly. She's only 10 weeks old, and is already a super star! She leaves me speechless!

Ripley and Rafia

Last week I took in two more rehoming pigs. Pigs that can't stay with their previous owners for a variety of reasons, that come here, get health checked, treated, go on preg watch if they've been living with a male, and then eventually rehomed when 100% healthy, where they will be a much loved pet.

The latest two girls are a mum and daughter duo. Mum was stated as being 3 months old. But to have had a 2 month pregnancy, and now a 1 month old bub, means she would have to be 4 months at the very least. She weighed in at 600g. Not bad for such a little lady really.


This is Rafia - the daughter. Approx 4 weeks old and 300g.


Ripley is a buff and white smooth coat, while Rafia is ginger and white, and has slightly longer hair. Both girls are on preg watch as they were still living with Rafia's daddy when I collected them.


Rafia's a bit skittish still, and really hard to capture for her treatments, but Ripley is quickly becoming my cheekiest, funniest and most bold piggy. It's going to be hard to let this girl go...