Elodie's Babies

Elodie delivered four big gold agouti babies somewhere between 1-1:30pm this afternoon. I walked in just after 1:30 and found them. One little girl hadn't survived birth. We do have two surviving boys and another little girl; Taye, Tallulah and Theo:


'Taye'

My scales are still broken at the moment, so I couldn't weigh the babies, but it is obvious that little Taye is the runt of this litter. He is significantly smaller than his siblings, but looking well otherwise. Liam is the father of these babies, so with Taye's crest, he will grow up to look just like a coronet with his gorgeous gold ticked face and long black hair that will grow to the ground.




'Tallulah'

Little Tallulah has the same colouring as the rest of her siblings, but with some patches of plain gold mingled with the agouti. She has her mum's rosettes and will end up looking quite sheba-mini-yak as an adult. At this stage I'm thinking she will stay here. She's just won me over!






'Theo'


And Mr Theo - also a coronet (with the crest on his head), and also the gold agouti. He has the gold band down one shoulder though, which will probably grow much like a streak of gold when his coat reaches full length.

So far everyone looks healthy and strong. Fingers crossed we've seen the last of the deaths for a while.

Weigh in

The last weigh in for 2011, Saturday the 31st Dec 2011:


*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 925g (gain 45g) - 38wks (8.5m)
Ivy is 685g (gain 15g) - 14wks (3m)
Elodie is 865g (gain 40g) - 22wks (5m)


*** Romeo's Roost ***
Romeo is 620g (gain 20g) - 13wks (3m)
Lavender Mist is 725g (gain 10g) - 20wks (5m)
Zinnia is 605g (loss 35g) - 14wks (3m)


*** Malakai's Quarters ***
Malakai is 840g (gain 20g) - 21wks (5m)
Galaxy is 1065g (same)- 50wks (11.5m)- (Pregnant, due approx 27/1/12)


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alice is 1035g (gain 40g) - 47wks (11m)- (Pregnant, due approx 27/1/12)
Bella-Donna is 405g (gain 55g) - 5wks (1m)
Chloe is 580g (gain 50g) - 13wks (3m)
Crumble is 1235g (gain 115g) - 1yr - (pregnant, due approx 4th Feb 2012)
Custard is 960g (loss 15g) - 4.5yrs
Delilah is 865g (gained 15g) - approx 1yr
Ginger is 940g (gain 5g)- 41wks (9.5m)
Jasmine is 565g (gain 30g) - 15wks (3.5m)
Lotus is 655g (gained 20g) - 14wks (3m)
Millicent is 980g (gain 100g) - 21wks (5m)- (Pregnant, due approx 15/1/12)
Molly is 745g (gain 25g) - 20wks (4.5m)
Nixie is 405g (gained 25g) - 7wks (1.5m)
Phoebe is now 815g (same) - 37wks (8.5m)
Pollyanna is now 445g (gained 35g) - 8wks (1.5m)
Ruby is 1065g (lost 25g) - 41wks (9.5m)
Sparrow is 1085g (gain 35g) - 38wks (8.5m) - (Pregnant, due 22/1/12)
Subi is 1145g (lost 25g) - 2.5yrs - (Possibly miscarried, not sure at this stage)
Tabitha is 455g (gain 20g) - 9wks (2m)
Tigerlily is 610g (gain 15g) - 14wks (3m)
Twizzle is 690g (gain 15g) - 14wks (3m)
Violet is 810g (gained 50g) - 24wks (5m) - (Pregnant, due approx 15/1/12)
Xeraphina is 590g (gain 10g) 12wks (2.5m)
Yeti is 995g (gain 45g) - 30wks (6.5m) - (Pregnant, due approx 22/1/12)


***On Hold/Adoptable***

Lulu is 640g (gain 15g) - 17wks (4m)
Amity is 310g (gain 95g) - 4wks


***New Mums***

Peppa is 1265g (lost 305g (of which 180g was baby)) - 1yr - (nursing Leilani's bubs)
Leilani is 775g (lost 475g (of which 435g was baby!)) - 28wks (6.5m)- (nursing)
Pudding is 85g (lost 15g) - 3days old
Puddles is 90g (same) - 3 days old
Promise is 95g (gained 5g) - 3 days old
Peanut is 50g (lost 5g) - 3 days old
Panda is 100g (same) - 3 days old





Well, the babies are yet to really gain much weight. But they are only 3 days old. I have noticed in other litters that there can be a little drop in the first few days. Peppa delivered a HUGE 180g, 15cm long baby girl this morning. But she was stillborn. I do not know if she died during labour, or if Peppa left her in the sack after her birth... she was a perfect replica of her mum, but wasn't cleaned at all. I think the shock of having to give birth to a newborn the size of a 2-3week old was too much for poor Peppa. She has however, taken some of Leilani's litter under her wing. I watched her this afternoon, and she's taken a particular liking to Promise and Peanut. You can see Peppa and Promise in the photo above. It is a tragedy to loose Peppa's baby girl, but a blessing to have her helping with the nursing of Leilani's bubs (none of them seemed terribly interested in my supplemental feeds).


[Little Peanut enjoying the mountain of grain!]


[Puddles and Pudding in the big cage]

We had a huge day today on top of this morning's sad find. All cages were cleaned, all piggies weighed, Bonnie, Jairo and Alba went to new homes and Panda and Puddles met their new family and were put on hold. I got some updated pics of the proud new daddy Malakai (shown at the very top of this post and below) and discovered that Violet's pelvis is already starting to dilate too. So we might have yet another litter within the week.



The last piggy left for adoption now is Lulu. She was due to meet her new family tomorrow, but they have had to let her go due to unforeseen circumstances. If you think you might have a forever home for little Lulu, let me know at eleb2000@hotmail.com.

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!

Phoebe's Babies - Noah and Nixie

I bought Phoebe inside last night. Mostly as a precaution. I didn't really think she'd deliver yet.

But she did! And it wasn't in the middle of the night either, it was approx 6:30am this morning. And I could have been there to help her out if I hadn't been making breakfasts and breastfeeding and mediating the morning squabbles between the kids!

By the time I'd gotten a chance to pop my head in, the birth was over and two gorgeous little babies had already passed. It just about broke my heart. The two stillborns were both female, and both cream and white. The smaller one had a big white stripe up her nose and weighed 60g (runt) and the larger one weighed 80g. Both good sizes, and otherwise perfect.

Once I snapped out of my distress, I thought I'd better check what else was bobbing around underneath Phoebe's curls - and found two very strong looking babies, both in black and cream. A little girl I've called 'Nixie' - who will be staying here. And a little boy I've called 'Noah' - who will be looking for a new home.


Noah:

Noah weighed in at 75g, and is a dark slate/grey (not quite black) and cream boar. He has just the tiniest hint of cream up his nose, a dot on his back and a dot on his toe.

He is a purebred Texel, but will not be papered. His adoption fee will be $40, and he will be available from the weekend of the 3rd Dec. I am anticipating that a lot of families will want to take him home, so for the next week I will be taking expressions of interest in him, then on the 17th I will randomly draw a new family. This seems like it will be the only fair way to go. Email me at eleb2000@hotmail.com if you'd like to be considered for his new family.




________________________


And this is our surviving girl - Nixie. She was the biggest in the litter, weighing in at 90g. She is a black and cream sow with little white socks! She will be staying here at the caviary, especially after I lost two of her sisters! She will be an important addition to diversifying our genetic pool in the texels.



And she's just too cute!!!

Alice has delivered

Alice has surprised me by delivering a day earlier than her estimated due date. I checked her at 1:30pm this afternoon and found 4 babies, a lot of mess and 4 uneaten placentas. One of the babies was dead, and the others didn't look as strong as I'd like to see.

We cleaned up the (bright pink) birth suite and settled them back in with some clean bedding, fresh veg and a big bottle of water. At a quick glance it appears that we have two girls and 1 surviving boy (the still born was also a boy). I'll leave them for a few hours now to settle in with mum, and to let Alice adjust to her new mother-role. And hopefully they'll be looking a lot better this evening.