Ruby's second litter to Liam = gorgeousness x 3!

I had been obsessively checking Ruby all day yesterday (Friday). I just had a feeling. She wasn't acting any different, but she was on day 69 of her pregnancy, and she just seemed ready. I walked past the cage at about 10:50pm, and noticed a lot of licking behaviour - and spotted a soggy little bundle of curls! I rushed to her compartment and got to see the delivery of the last placenta.

Three not-so-little bubs had already been safely delivered into the world by a very competent mumma.







This is Zeus, the bigger boy at 100g. He is a mix of white, cream and 'cream agouti', but with much more white. He will look spectacular if his coat grows out like daddy (Liam). ('True' cream agouti is a chocolate base colour with a cream tip. These guys have a black base with a cream tip. So it's probably more of a dilute gold agouti, but that just sounds confusing!).






And this is Zachary. The smallest of the litter at 95g. He too is white, cream and 'cream agouti'.





This is the only little lady of the litter - Miss Zoey. She weighed in at a healthy 100g and is a 'cream agouti' and white.




And these are two of the boys born in Ruby and Liam's first litter back in October 2011 (they're 3-4 weeks old in the first pic). They're now 7 months old and have grown full texel coats. It really is just a genetic lucky dip though. These babies all have a 50/50 chance of inheriting Ruby's short 'rex' gene, or her long 'texel' gene. Liam only has texel genes to pass on - so the babies will either end up genetically rex/texel or texel/texel. Only time will tell!

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.

Lavender Mist's litter

I had been keeping a close eye on Lavender lately, she just seemed to be acting a little odd. She was spending a lot of time almost sleeping on top of Zinnia and her bubs. Like one big pile of pig! Then I happened to glance out the window and noticed Lavender in the hunched over position, and knew exactly what that meant. A quick assessment of the situation found one bubs already delivered (and being cleaned by Zinnia), and one on it's way out. While I watched she then delivered the third bub. Three gorgeous, healthy and ALIVE babies! I actually think she would have been fine even if I'd missed this litter as Zinnia was such a help. More often than not any 'midwife' pigs stay away from the delivering mum, or can accidentally crush the newborns if kept in the same cage - but Zinnia did an excellent job.




Zinnia and Lavender really do seem like best friends, and a few hours later this was the gorgeous scene we found.

Lavender's litter were also fathered by Romeo, and again we got 2 boys and a girl:


Abie was first born, and was also the smallest weighing in at 65g. She's a mix of mostly gold agouti like her daddy, with a patch of white down her side.




Ace was born second. He's a classic tri-colour in black, white and gold. He weighed in at 85g.




And gorgeous Ambrose was third. He weighed in at 75g and is an incredible mix of white, gold and lilac/gold argente (lilac base with gold tips).

Zinnia's Babies, a late night surprise!

I feel like I've been checking on Zinnia every hour for the last week. And it probably has been that frequent! Last night I checked her at about 10:30pm. I was just about to go to bed. Then I got side tracked watching TV and sewing a bear I'd been working on earlier. Some noises distracted me about 11:15pm and I went to check Zinnia once again. Only this time there were three newbies in the cage! Three gorgeous, wet little bundles of curl. A quick cuddle told me that we had two boys and a girl. I gave Zinnia some extra treats to keep her energy up, tucked them up for the night then eventually went to bed myself.




And these are the gorgeous little creatures that were waiting for me in the morning. All dry and fluffy and so so cute! From left to right we have Karma (the girl), Knox (white/agouti) and Kaleb (lilac and gold).



This shows off the incredibly different colours on these bubs. I never imagined we'd get a lilac out of the pairing between Romeo and Zinnia. I was expecting lots of dark agouti and black! Little Kaleb is a real surprise.


Kaleb:


Kaleb weighed in at a very healthy 100g. He looks to have a very thick curly coat, and I'm so excited to see how this develops. Daddy (Romeo) was texel (Liam) x Rex/Texel (Ruby), and mum (Zinnia) is rex x texel x... so these bubs have a good blending of both the texel and rex genes. Fingers crossed we get the right balance for mid-length curly coats.





Karma:


Karma is the only little girl of the litter weighing in at 90g, and has stunning black and gold brindle markings to her curls. If this coat grows long, she's going to look a little like a bumblebee! Her colouring actually resembles her mum the most, and her grandfather (mum's dad).




Knox:


Knox surprised me with how much white he has in his coat. He has the white, gold agouti and gold. He too weighed in at 100g.

Pollyanna

In the midst of all of yesterday's drama, I didn't get a chance to introduce you to another new arrival.

Her name was already Pollyanna - and I loved it - so that is what she will remain as! She's approx 4 weeks old and was born to a merino x rex mum and a texel dad (or it might be the other way around!). Nevertheless, she has the approximate 3/4 long curly genes to the 1/4 short curly genes - the same mix as Ruby and Liam's babies. It doesn't seem like she'll get particularly long curls, but only time will tell.




I just love the cream/white combination too. Nothing prettier than soft pastel colours, crimped hair and a sweet little face!

Bonnie's Baby Girls

Bonnie finally popped!

Two gorgeous little girls, born sometime between midnight and 6am this morning.


Bethanie:

This is Bethanie, she's the bigger of the two sisters, weighing in at 150g. She's a stunning mix of cream, white and lemon agouti (black base, cream tip). She will be staying here!







Bella-Donna:

And this is Bella-Donna. She is the 'runt', weighing in at a massive 125g! She too has some stunning markings in gold, white and 'cream agouti' (which is really just a dilute agouti, black base, gold tips). She will probably be looking for a new home, but I will hold off on officially placing her on the available page until I've had a chance to observe what the coats are going to do on the two girls. If you are interested in Bella-Donna if she should become available, let me know (eleb2000@hotmail.com).







And just for comparison sake - this is a photo of Bonnie at only a few hours old as well, born back in May this year. Isn't it incredible how quickly they grow!

Lotus

The kids and I decided to pop into our local pet store (Pet Goods Direct at Wynnum Plaza) before we did our shopping yesterday. Normally we walk in, say hello to the puppies and the birds and the fish, check the piggy cages and see that they're empty, then walk out.

We followed the same routine this time, only when it got to the guinea pig bit - there were actually guinea pigs in there! The first one I spotted looked EXACTLY like Demi, our new black rex. I asked to have a look at the rest, and I spotted a stunning tri-colour roan rex girl. The decision was made in about 3sec flat: I had to take her home!



So this is Lotus. She's approx 5 weeks old, has the roan markings in slate, white and cream, and has the most frizzy, crimped rex-like coat ever. She's surprisingly friendly for a pet shop piggie. I think she and her siblings (who were still there when I left yesterday afternoon if anyone is interested in them) had been well looked after. They did have a considerable amount of lice though - so Lotus is currently being treated and quarantined while we make sure she's healthy and get to know her a bit better.



(check out that frizzy rainbow butt! Too Cute!)

Curly Girls

Today was the day three little curly girls were scheduled to arrive all the way from Gympie. The adoption was arranged a week ago, but as an extra bonus, two more of litter suddenly became available this morning, so I was able to offer them a home here too.



The photo above shows the mums of the 5 new girls. Olive is the cream agouti rex (a clone of Bonnie if ever I saw one), and Willow is the silver agouti and white Merino. The dad was a black and gold texel x.



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This little lady is 'Zinnia'. She's jett black with a big band of gold around her middle. Very similar colouring to her daddy. As both mumma piggies gave birth at the same time, in the same box - it's tricky to tell which baby belongs to who. But my guess would be that Zinnia is Olive's daughter, as she has a much more rex-like coat.




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And this is Twizzle. I was considering pretty, girly, floral names for her as well.. but in the end 'twizzle' just popped into my head, and it just seemed right!

She's a bit of a spunk this little girl. Most probably Olive's daughter again, due to the shorter, more rex-like curls. She's a tri-colour mix of golden agouti, white and tan.



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This little lady is the star of the group! She is almost certainly Willow's daughter, as she has the long, soft curls of the texel/merino. She doesn't have the crest like her mum, but isn't completely flat on her forehead either... kind of a hint of a crest. I would say that she'll probably end up looking more texel-like as she grows up though.



I've called her Tigerlily, and she has the classic tri-colour markings in black, tan and white. She's a cheeky little monkey too, pulling the best poses for me while I took her photos.




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This little lady is Ivy. Her mum is probably the trickiest to work out because she has Willow's colouring, but the rex-like coat of Olive. She's a gorgeous silver agouti and white.



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And lastly we have Demi. She's also most probably Olive's daughter, with a jett black rex coat, with just a tiny hint of tan by her ear.