Violets Baby Boys

Another week of constantly watching Miss Violet passed - watching for unusual behaviour, making sure she's comfortable, feeling her very active little babies kick and wriggle in her belly... Then I checked her first thing this morning - and NOTHING!

So I went about my morning, getting the kids fed, and changed and doing a bit of cleaning. I quickly popped back into Violet's room to put something away shortly afterwards - and there was a baby bobbing around next to her! A quick check and she'd JUST delivered two beautiful big baby boys - still gooey and wet!


( Here they are at 3 hours old: Henry is on the left, and Hamlet on the right)



Henry:


Henry is the bigger of the two brothers. He weighed in at a very good 100g. He is physically a lot bigger than Hamlet as well - you'd think there was a lot more than 10g difference between them.

Henry is a stunning blend of cream, cream agouti and white.





Hamlet:


Hamlet was the 'runt' of the litter at a very decent 90g. He is slightly darker in colouring with golden agouti, ginger and some tiny patches of white (on his head and under his chin).

The boys come from pedigree texel parents, but I do not currently have the dad's paperwork. If I can get this I will paper the babies, and they too will have a pedigree. If not, then they will simply be stunning purebred texels (with pedigree lines).

Violet's Hair Cut

This is Violet's 'Before' photo...


... this is her 'After' shot! The poor little thing was looking so hot and uncomfortable this week, and in trying to get cool had gotten her white curls all grotty by burrowing into her bedding/food! And, her current cage-buddy 'Pooh Bear' has been having a bit of midnight-munchies on her curls too - leaving big dirty chewed chunks all over her coat.

The solution - an all over summer trim.



She then got a bath, and her curls bounced back and she's looking pretty cool (and a lot cleaner!). Hopefully the new length will not be so enticing to Pooh Bear, and he'll choose hay over fur to nibble on!

Violet's new friend

I decided a little while ago that I didn't want to partner Violet to Liam due to the fact that they were almost full brother and sister, just born a litter a part. So I've been busily trying to track down a second pedigree texel male, unrelated to my girls, to join our caviary. This has actually proven to be quite a tricky thing to do! (as I'm sure a lot of you also searching for texels are aware!).



However, in an incredibly fortunate turn of events, Maureen from the Cavy Cottage had a male Texel that I could borrow on 'stud duty'! His name is Pooh Bear, and he's a gorgeous big boy in tri-colour ginger, golden agouti and white markings. He's been clipped for summer, so you can't really get an idea of his full coat - but the last time I visited the Cavy Cottage I got to meet him fully-furred. And he was magnificent.



So he and Violet are bunkering down together, and hopefully we'll have some gorgeous pedigree texel babies resulting from the pairing due early next year.

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!

Finally - some pedigree texel females!

A fellow piggy-loving friend needed to part with her guinea pigs today, so I took on three more girls. (because there's always room for one more... or three more... or six more in two days as has been the case this week! :P). This little lady is a three month old chocolate Himalayan coronet (crested sheltie). I've called her Leilani, which means 'heavenly flower'.





I also bought home this lovely lady. Her pedigree name is 'Cambent Princess Leyah', but I'll be keeping her last owner's name of 'Phoebe'. She's a black and cream 5 month old pedigree texel. She has links to Liam's original stud (Glenjolie) as well as Krisdar, Pipsqueak and Hedon heritage. She has been living with a buff texel male for the last month or so, and is most probably pregnant. So we will keep her on pregnancy watch for the next few weeks. She will also be on trial for her personality as well - she has a bit of a mean streak. We're not sure if this is a pregnancy related aggression, or an inherent trait. If she doesn't end up being able to co-habitate with my other ladies, she will need to find a special 'no-other-pesky-piggies' home. But we'll see, she will get a good chance to find her place in the hierarchy.


And lastly, this sweet little bundle of gorgeousness is 'English Rose Violet', but we'll be calling her just 'Violet'. She is from similar stud stock as my Liam, but through a different stud owner, and she and Liam do share some ancestors. She was born on the 18th July this year (my birthday!) and already has a lovely coat.