Ivy's gorgeous baby girl - 'Posy'

I had been expecting Ivy to deliver her baby all day yesterday, following Xeraphina's birth yesterday morning in the cage above her (the smell/pheromones/something about the birth of one guinea pig mum often sets of any other pregnant mums in the area), but she held on to that bub all day. I said goodnight at about 10pm last night, expecting to find a new addition this morning.

And we did! One gorgeous little lady we've called 'Posy'.



Posy weighed in at at very reasonable 95g. I had been a little concerned that she was getting too big in there, being an only baby!

She's a lemon agouti (black base, lemony ticking and a lemony belly) with the classic thicky curly coat that could either go the way of the texel or end up more like a fluffy rex. She is technically 3/4 texel though, and my last litter of 3/4 texels all ended up with long curly texel coats, so I'd say this is what we can expect.




This is Posy posed next to Verity from Xeraphina's litter born yesterday morning. You can see just how similar these two half-sisters look! Same colouring, same curls. Only Verity has the merino crest.



And this is Velvet (also from yesterday's litter) next to Posy. These two girls are both texel-coated, but Velvet has the darker 'cream agouti' colouring.

Xeraphina's babies and the arrival of Cherub

Xeraphina FINALLY had her babies yesterday morning. I'd sprung out of bed at 6am to check her - but there was nothing to see. So I went about our morning routine of breakfast and nappy changes, when at approx 8am I noticed some 'licking' movements coming from her cage... I popped my head out of the door, and sure enough, she'd delivered 3 gorgeous agouti bubs who were alive, alert and well, and was just doing the final cleaning.

Liam is the dad of this litter, and I actually got to see the conception. Her pregnancy was exactly 69 days long. So not over the expected time, but I was just impatient!





Here we have the little man of the litter - 'Venice'. He was the biggest weighing in at 85g. He's a dilute cream agouti (black base, cream ticking) - a 'real' cream agouti has a chocolate base, cream ticking. And he will end up looking like a merino when he's all grown up. He's inherited Xeraphina's rosettes in the form of a crest. This was surprising for me actually. I know rosettes are dominant, so I was expecting to see them in the bubs... but was thinking they'd be across the body like Xera, not on the forehead! But at the end of the day, a crest/rosette is there. And these guys are going to be super cute!




This is Verity, the little lady I very, almost decided to keep! She's a Lemon agouti (black base, lemon ticking). And she weighed in at 75g. She is also a merino, with the forehead crest.


And lastly, little Velvet. She has her brother'c cream agouti colouring, but no crest - so will grow up to look just like her daddy liam. She weighed in at 75g like her sister.

(All babies now have new homes lined up for them).






And then, a few hours after the excitement of the birth, my newest addition to the girls group arrived - Miss 'Cherub'.




Cherub is the granddaughter of Liam and Galaxy, daughter of their son 'Jonah', who sadly passed away shortly before she was born. She was born at Clover Cavies caviary in Hervey Bay, and has the most stunning dark cream coat. I am hoping that she carries her granddfather's recessive curly gene, and that she might produce some curly sheba-mini-yak babies for us in time!