RIP Yeti and Simba

RIP Little Simba (26/1/12 - 28/1/12)

I woke this morning to firstly find that Simba had been trampled on by his mummy Crumble (she has just been really silly lately, and I think he was just too tiny to get out of her way). So that was a more than crappy start to the day. Yeti was still alive though, so there was some hope. I called the vet and we got her in for an emergency visit.


(Yeti as a little bub)

Sadly it was just too late, and she didn't survive long enough to even have an X-ray. The vet thinks it was a pneumonia, which could have been bought on by our disgustingly soggy weather for the last 2-3 weeks, the stress of birth (she may have been a carrier of the bug, and the stress/lowered immunity from the pregnancy/birth may have been enough to allow it to take hold), and/or the change of bedding for a few days this week when I ran out of dry fleece (used supposedly dust-free wood shavings).

Her boys are now fighting for their life as well. The vet didn't think their prognosis was good as they are so young, and have been exposed to Yeti. But I weighed them both this afternoon, and little Dante is now 65g (up 10g in 24hrs!) and Dash is a decent 110g (up 20g since birth on monday). So I'm trying to remain optimistic. I have antibiotics for them both, critical care and milk... and they're eating fantastically... all we can do from this point on is try.



RIP Yeti - May 2011 to Jan 2012.

Yeti's Baby Boys

*** PLEASE NOTE THAT BOTH BABIES HAVE BEEN CLAIMED/ADOPTED ***


Yeti delivered three beautiful babies this morning at approx 5am. I found them just after 6am and the biggest one (a little 105g girl) was already gone. She was still warm and Yeti was still trying desperately to clean her/dry her, but it was too late. I don't know what happened, if Yeti didn't get the sack off in time, or if she came too fast? It's hard to say, but it is very sad as she was so perfect. The exact replica of her brother 'Dante', shown below.



'Dash'

This little man was the only one with a hint of white up his nose, and some cute little white toes. He weighed in at 90g. Both boys have the most incredibly dense, super curly fur. It reminds me of a steel-wool! It's a lot denser and a lot more course than we've had born here before. And I think that is Yeti's genetic contribution. Both boys look to have their mum's rosette placement too, meaning they'll most likely end up with alpaca coats (long, thick curls sweeping over the face).






'Dante'

Little Dante was the runt at only 75g. He's very strong and doing fine though. You can see the craziness of the curls better in the pictures of him. These boys will be spectacular adults.

Hair cut

Liam and Yeti got their summer hair cut yesterday. This is what was left by my feet when we where finished! Once I've recovered from having to cut back all those awesome curls I'll get some photos of the actual pigs. But for now, it's just a pile of fur!

Yeti the alpaca

Yeti's original owner and I weren't really sure what to expect from her fur (mum is a jett-black texel called Whoppie, and Dad is a gorgeous big Peruvian). She definitely started out curly, but the extent of her crazy hair has really surprised me. This little lady would give some pedigree's a run for their money!



I know that genetically 'alpaca' guinea pigs are the result of crossing the curl from a texel with the rosettes of a Peruvian, so it really makes sense that she would physically look like the alpaca breed.



It seems really strange to me that Yeti is tecnically the same genetic cross breed as Sheba and Liam's last litter - yet the two pairings produced such different looking animals! I think that's what I love about working with mixing and matching pigs - you never really do know what you're going to get!



Yeti is just over 3 months old now, and considering her tender age - has grown some amazing hair. It is unbelievably thick too. Great for winter - not so good for a Brisbane Summer though... she may have to come and live inside in the aircon in a few months time!

Crumble's Babies - 1.5weeks

Yeti

Yeti is by far my most unusual guinea pig. And by far the most challenging to photograph! Especially as she is not just black. She has that tiny bit of white on her nose, and a hint of chocolate by her ear... just enough to throw off my camera!

She is packing on the weight at the moment too which is awesome to see. And I think the illusion of her size is increased due to all that fur! It just explodes in every direction with cottony-wooly-puffy goodness.





She's a bit of a loner personality-wise though. She tends to be found having a snooze on her own in one of the igloos, perhaps avoiding confrontation with the bigger girls? But she handles being caught and cuddled a lot better than some of the others (the worst at this is probably Ginger! She has a wiggle technique that makes it ridiculously hard to hold onto her!). She has an appetite to rival that of the bigger girls too. She's always right there at dinner time, right in the middle of the food. Usually sitting on something someone else wants to eat!



I was showing some of the pigs to my hubby and bubby Byron this afternoon while they had tummy time on the trampoline. He was blown away by her crazy hair too. (He doesn't see them every day like I do). Byron was only mildly interested in the little black ball of fluff. I handed the heavily pregnant Crumble to hubby to hold while I took Byron for a moment. He was amazed to feel the babies moving around in there. And not the least bit worried about it. Yet, when I was pregnant it freaked him out to feel the kicks and rolls! Go figure hey. Pregnant guinea pig = OK. Pregnant wife = freaky!

A piggy weigh in on my birthday

The weigh in for Monday 18th July 2011 (my birthday!):


Sprout is 400g (lost 110g) - 14wks
Sparrow is 695g (gained 65g) - 14wks
Liam is 670g (gained 3g) - 15wks
Ruby is 810g (gained 55g) - 17wks
Ginger is 800g (gained 50g) - 17wks
Kobe is 685g (lost 25g) - 20wks
Alice is 725g (gained 75g) - 22wks
Beeno is 725g (gained 50g) - 20wks
Alba is 735g (gained 70g) - 20wks
Custard is 965g (gained 40g) - 4.5yrs
Subi is 1.065kg (gained 35g) - 2yrs
Bonnie is 575g (gained 80g) - 7wks
Galaxy is 755g (gained 35g) - 29wks
Sheba is 770g (gained 105g) - 25wks
Crumble is 1020g (gained 80g) - 33wks
Yeti is 320g (gained 65g) - 7wks


Total piggy weight 11.715kg (total weekly gain of 690g across 16 guinea pigs)


So, as you can probably see, poor little Sprout has dropped further to a low of 400g. He's been sitting at this weight for a few days now without dropping any further so I'm hoping to see an increase soon. He is eating spontaneously, though not as much as usual. And he doesn't seem as listless. He has a decent set of lungs on him too, and scream/squeals when I take Kobe out to weigh her as well. These two are quite bonded I think. I'm a little worried at her second weight loss this week though. That's 30g lost over the last fortnight (which doesn't seem like much in comparison to Sprout's loss of 150g, but is still a bit concerning). She seems physically fine, so I'm hoping it's just a stress thing because her buddy isn't well and that she'll pick up when he does.







The rest of the pigs seem really good. They all spent the day on the grass again today, enjoying the winter sunshine. The babies (Yeti and Bonnie) gorge themselves on the grass! Come the afternoon when it's time to put everyone back in the mansion, their little bellies feel like they are bursting at the seams! Yeti's fur is getting longer and crazier. I have honestly never seen anything like her before. Liam's fur (my pedigree Texel) grows in long, soft ringlets/spiral curls. Yeti's fur is like black wool, growing in clumps/clusters. It's quite funky.



(I had to pop this photo in here too... I love it when the pigs all squish up. And yet again, Galaxy manages to get in the shot!)

I've been keeping an eye on Custard too. Her hair got quite sparse last week, but is growing back now. With her colouring, the new hairs start out a darker shade of cream, then get lighter as the hair gets longer/older. So the new patches of hair are quite visible. I've done a bit of reading about it, and I think she probably has an ovarian cyst. That would explain the hair loss, her continually doing the 'horny dance' to the other girls, and her pudgy belly. At this stage she seems comfortable and happy though, and the others tolerate her eccentricities, so I don't think it is worth stressing out an old girl like her to get it removed. We'll just keep an eye on her too.

Plush piggies

I've been busy sewing lately! Meet my latest plush pigs! This is Mishka the tri-colour sheltie posed next to Alice. She's available from my etsy store, and $10 from her adoption fee goes directly to The Cavy Cottage guinea pig shelter (where GaGa and Yeti came from).



Here we have 'Stardust II' the silver agouti smoothcoat next to my Sparrow, also a silver agouti smooth coat. Sparrow was a little reluctant to be a model, but we got there in the end! (She kept head butting Stardust and trying to hide under him!).



And lastly, a funky pink texel plush guinea pig named 'Candy' next to little Yeti. Again, Yeti wasn't real keen on posing. She has really made herself at home in the big cage and was super keen to get back there, so I didn't hold her up any longer.



We just did some posing with the plushies instead. So much more cooperative!

Our newest arrival

Our little black Texel x Peruvian baby arrived this morning. Look how much her curls have grown! She has a real woolly feel to her. A lot more course than Liam (pedigree texel), so I will be so curious to see how she grows.

She is still as yet unnamed, but I will let you know when we choose one.

Little Black Texel

Check out this sweet little piggy. She's only a few weeks old, and was born a little premie - but what a cute little face!

We've been looking for a little all-black girl to complete our piggy family. And when she's ready to leave her mummy and sister she will be coming to stay with us.