Another Newbie - Malibu the Sheltie

While we're on the roll for introducing new piggies... I thought I'd show off our newest boar to join the gang. This is 'Malibu'. He is a lilac/gold argente sheltie boar with streaks of gold, a solid gold nose and a gold tummy! 

Malibu comes from Ohana Cavy Stud, and is going to be a valuable edition to our pet-lines, hopefully bringing through some lilac to our curly pigs. 

You're probably wondering why he would be useful in adding to our curly stock... and the value is in the genes that he is carrying recessively... his daddy is a texel. One of our texel bubs actually - and Liam's son. So Malibu is actually Liam's grandson, which is kind of cool. 

So this is Malibu's dad  - he was born 'Ryder' here at the stud back in 2011. He was re-named Jasper by his new family at Ohana. This was him in full coat - he was stunning! Sadly he died not long ago, so Malibu is only one of two of his sons to survive him.

And this is Malibu's mum - a stunning gold purebred sheltie. You can see where Malibu gets his colouring from!

Newbies

This stunning sheltie girl is 'Clover', from Clover Cavies. Yep - she is indeed THE Clover! lol. Clover Cavies have had to close their caviary, so we took on some of the girls. Clover is a Dark-Eyed White sheltie, and she's currently about 7weeks pregnant to Mason (black/gold sheltie).

And this little lady is 'Pria', formerly known as 'Abbie'. She was born here at the start of the year to Lavender Mist and Romeo. She ended up with some gorgeous long curls too. She is also pregnant, about 8-9 weeks to Zeus (also a bub from here, born to Liam x Ruby earlier this year). Both parents are texel x rex/texel, so the bubs will be a rex/texel mix too.

(Abbie as a newborn)

 And this is 'Darling', also from Clover Cavies. Darling is actually the daughter of Mason as well - granddaughter of our 'Crumble'. She has ended up with a peruvian coat thanks to her funky mum.

Darling arrived with her two 1-week old sheltie sons. Fathered by a lilac/white sheltie boy called 'Freddie'. Little Indio (the dark-eyed white) has already got a home lined up, but Ily is still available.

And Petal came back home too - she was one of our 'rescue' pigs picked up last year. 

And lastly, the gorgeous 'Angel' has come back home too. Angel is Millicent's full sister - and you can really see the resemblance in these photos. Angel has a bit more of a peruvian look, but both girls are just too special! Angel is on pregnancy watch, and might be carrying the babies of 'Inferno', the father of our Gizmo and Rocket.

LOL - it really is a small world when it comes to guinea pigs! 

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!

Beetlejuice

The kids and I made a trip to our local BIG shopping centre this morning. This also happens to the the place where one of the best pet stores for good quality guinea pigs is located. So we did our shopping, then decided to check out the pet store. Sure enough, there was one gorgeous little fuzz-ball boy.



After holding him for just a moment, I decided he needed to come home with us! He is so placid, and so calm and SO soft! And after giving him the once-over back at home, it looks like he's got about 10 rosettes hidden under all that fur!



He's definitely a longer-coated pig than the usual abyssinian, and they estimated his age at 6-8 weeks. My guess is probably 6 weeks, as he's not a big boy and only weighed 290g. I'm SO excited to see how this little guy develops. I love surprise finds like this! And I can only say good things about that pet shop. The pigs are always immaculate, and they ask all the right questions before they let you adopt them. I know pet shops often get a bad wrap, but these guys are the exception for sure!

(oh, and how much does he look like Ginger's baby girl 'Grace'!?)

Texels texels everywhere! (oh, and a Peruvian)

Recently I was lucky enough to adopt a number of purebred and pedigree texels (and one orphaned peruvian!). These are the newbies:



I thought I'd get the little Peruvian introduced first... This little lady is 'Kumiko', and is a Peruvian with a few extra rosettes from Perfect Angel Cavies. She lost her mum at birth so has been lovingly hand-raised and is a very cheeky little miss!


This lovely lady is a Pedigree Texel named 'Glenjolie Savannah'. She is from the same stud as Liam, but not too closely related at all. In fact, she actually closer related to Phoebe, being her full Aunty.


And this is 'Lavender Vale Tex', a gorgeous silver agouti pedigree texel boar. He is the dad of the two girls directly below:



Isla is the daughter of Tex and Savannah. She is gorgeous beyond belief! I think she and Liam will have incredible babies.



This is the second daughter - Indigo. (also parented by Tex and Savannah)



And this little bub is 'Lacey', Tex's granddaughter.



This bub is 'Robyn's Nest Lacey' - who I've remaned 'Eirwyn' (as we already have a Lacey!).



And this is Eirwyn's mum 'Robyn's Nest Giselle'. She needs to re-grow her hair after her litter, but should be stunning once she's back in full coat.

Grandma, Daughter and Granddaughter

These three gorgeous ladies came to stay at our caviary today. Their previous owners were unable to keep them, and needed them to find new homes as soon as possible. So we took them back here, gave them a bit of a health check. They are all in excellent condition and have been well loved.


The self-black Abyssinian is the Grandma of the bunch and is about 1 year old. She is in perfect health, weighing in at just under 900g. I've just fallen in love with her, so she will be staying here. Her name is Peppa.




Peppa's daughter Pixie is mostly black with a big fat stripe of brilliant ginger-gold over her shoulders. She is a slightly longer-haired Abyssinian x and is in perfect health as well. She has been treated for mites, lice, worms and fungal just in case. Her weight is a little lower than I'd like for a 7 month old (weighing in at just over 600g), but considering she is the mum to a 3 month old... that's probably not surprising!

Pixie has a very mischievous personality on her, and I actually considered naming her 'Trouble' instead of Pixie! :P She is available for adoption for someone who can offer her a longterm home.




And lastly, this is Pixie's daughter Petal. She is a white, buff and slate Abyssinian x with semi-longhair. Her hair is actually surprisingly soft, much much softer than her mum and grandma. She has the prettiest eye patches, and the slate colouring on her rump actually appears to be roan (a mix of slate grey and black hairs). This makes no effect to her health and wellbeing, but does mean that she would be best NOT bred to another roan guinea pig to avoid serious genetic issues in the resulting offspring. She is 14 weeks old, and weighs 400g, again a little lighter than I'd expect for a 3 month old. She is in good condition, but does have some minor hair loss that she is being treated for, and will be adopted out once she is all better.


If you have any guinea pigs that you can no longer keep, or need re-homed, feel free to let me know (eleb2000@hotmail.com). Alternatively Maureen from the Cavy Cottage is always happy to take in guinea pig surrenders too.

Sheba Yaks

I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been putting in a few rather late night (or early mornings, depending on how you look at it), changing this blog around a bit! I've added some new tabs up above to give you a look at how we're set up, and a bit about my history with breeding guinea pigs. While looking through old photo albums to find some 'historical' photos to add, I fell in love with the 'Sheba Mini Yak' breed again. We were unknowingly breeding these guinea pigs, just thinking they were awesome little fluff balls!



So I've been searching my networks trying to track some down, specifically a male to be another stud and add some genetic variance to the bubs. Look what I managed to find! This little guy is a lilac, white and ginger Sheba Mini Yak, and he's 5 weeks old. One of the things I love about this breed is that you never know how the hair is going to grow as they get older. It might get to mid-length and stop. Or it might get to ground length! I'll be sure to post progress pics of this little man. I've called him Malakai. I heard the name somewhere over the last few days and knew that I would use it when I found my next boy.



This is his sister. She's jett black with alternating white feet, a dash of white on her nose (almost exactly the same as Yeti!) and a splash of ginger on her back.



I still haven't thought of a name for her. Any suggestions!?

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.

And some more new additions!

Oh My Goodness - do I have some news to fill you all in on!!!



We adopted two more lovelies today! Meet Sheba (the Peruvian)


and Crumble (the Sheltie).

Sheba is just gorgeous, with a really spunky personality.





Crumble's personality is just like the Sheltie 'Flower Power Rouge' I had a few years back - gentle and sweet. When I put Crumble in the mansion, and the first thing she did was walk up the ramp and curl herself up in a cuddle sack!








I decided to try hanging the cuddle sacks so that the openings stayed open (idea courtesy of The Cavy Cottage where we adopted the funky black and white pig yesterday). You can see how much better this works for the girls too. Not all of them like the cuddle sacks, so we have 5 in there, so those who do can curl up in one, and those who don't can burrow under the hay or sleep in the igloos.



Oh, and after a combined effort by my hubby and my step-mum, the new black and white pig (see the last post) is now known as 'Lamington Galaxy'! A crazy name for a crazy pig! And goodness me does that girl have a fun personality. She is by far the most friendly of all the girls - actually seeking me out while I was sitting in the cage taking photos of them all so she could nibble my toes! The other's much rather keep their distance.




Here you can see Galaxy meeting all the ladies. She caused such a fuss! The noise from all the grunting and squeeking and wining was incredible. But it only lasted a few minutes, then they all lay down for a nap in the straw warmed by the winter sun. It was so nice in there I think I could probably have gone for a nap too!




I managed to capture a really sweet moment between Subi and her bub Bonnie as well. After all the excitement of meeting the new-comers, they lay down in the hay and Bonnie had a little feed. Subi is just the best mum. Some guinea pigs seem to get really stressed by pregnancy/birth and nursing (totally understandably!), but Subi has just taken it in her stride. Bonnie has packed on yet more weight too, nearly doubling her birth weight in 12 days!

More on the weight in the next post though :)





And I'll finish this massive post with a sweet photo I captured of Bonnie munching on some grain. I am constantly blown away by how independent guinea pig babies are... none more so than this little lady.