Blast from the past - free ranging

I stumbled across these photos of some of our girls free ranging in amongst the kids toys in the backyard from a few years ago. It was so lovely being able to sit on the patio and watch them all popcorn and play and interact with each other. You would notice little 'friendship' groups that would hang out with each other and follow each other to new spots.

A very cool experience.

Guinea pig soft sculpture - Patch and Popcorn

These little cuties were created by us today over at our Emma's Bears studio. They come from a pattern I drew up about 3.5yrs ago but never made into anything. I found it again recently and thought I'd see if it actually worked!

The design was inspired by that look guinea pigs get when they sit back on their bums and their little feet stick out. These guys are 8" tall, fully jointed and stuffed well with lots of glass and steel shot - making them heavy and squishy and fully posable. They are available for adoption in our etsy store - Popcorn is here and Patch is here.

Clyde - 7wks

These are some recent update photos of Clyde. He went to his new home last weekend at 7wks old. He is a stunning, gentle big boy. And I fully expect him to grow into a very handsome adult boar. I hope to get updates from his new family :)

boarding pigs

We have some gorgeous little boarders staying with us at the moment. They arrived before Christmas and will be here for 5wks. The mumma pig is actually the great granddaughter of our main girl 'Kobe'! She came with three daughters of her own and her 5wks old half-sister 'Harriet'. 

The owner asked me to find good homes for the baby girls when they were weaned, but we've fallen in love with them all. They're going to stay with us after the mumma pig goes back home. You can see a photo of them above when they were 2wks old, and below at 4wks old. We've called them 'Midget', 'Curly Sue' and 'Quinn'. 

Mary - 3wks

We did updates of her brothers - but missed out on getting Mary's growth-progress shots. This is her at almost 3weeks (taken this afternoon). She has the most incredible 'blue eyes' too (not blue like we see in humans - but usually seen on dark-eyed white roan pigs - the eyes have a subtle blue overcast, most noticeable in the whites surrounding the pupil). Zoom in on the last photo of her below to get a glimpse.

And this is the big-girls set up at the moment while we try and search for the right cage to maximise all of the juciy green grass we have on the property now. The lawn can get a bit boggy, so we have a hutch that is raised and dry. It also provides shelter for them, and the heat-reflective tarp keeps the whole set up waterproof and cool in the heat of the midday sun too.

We decided to do the set up this way for the girls after Kobe's brush with heatstroke. Even on the most humid, yucky days the girls have kept cool and comfortable here as there's enough space for them to seek out a cool position as they would in the wild. With the run stretched to full capacity they probably have about 15 square meters of space!

Baby Boys

I was giving Ben and Beethoven some cuddles last night, and realised that I hadn't gotten any updated coat photos of them since they were born. They are both growing so much and have chubby little pot-bellies on them too. Beethoven's stunning roan-effect is showing up more and more as his hair grows, and he is looking just like his daddy Boris did as a bub.

Ben probably has the longer coat at this stage - his density is incredible for 2 weeks.

Below is a photo of daddy pig Boris sitting on my lap while I played with his hair. He is a wonderful boy, and his son's are growing up just like him.

As much as it breaks my heart, we will probably need to find new homes for the baby boys in a few weeks time. They would make a wonderful pair together, but will need a home that appreciates the specific needs of a long-haired pig. I haven't put this out there officially yet as I'm still making up my mind...I am finding the idea of rehoming my babies so much harder this time around. But really the only way to keep them here without ending up with a community of cages taking over our backyard is to get them desexed so they could hang with the girls in the big pen. Which could be an option... I just get nervous putting a cavy under anesthetic for something that doesn't really need to happen - the risks outweigh the benefits especially as they could live quite happily together without needing surgery!

We will see how we go... my heart is getting too jaded.  I used to just trust blindly that my pigs would be loved and well cared for in their new homes, but I've learnt that it just isn't always the case...

New piggy - Cherry

My daughter and I went to a local residence this morning to collect a female guinea pig that was no longer wanted. She had been given a 'summer hair cut', but as soon as I held her in my hands I could tell that her coat wasn't just cut - there were balding/thin patches and patches with new hair growth coming through. I asked the owner if she'd been treated for mites/lice lately, and apparently she'd had 'treatment' a few weeks earlier. I don't know what was done to her exactly, but she's certainly not totally ok yet.

We took her home, gave her a dip to kill any external parasites and a dose of ivermectin to kill anything internal. She is now in quarantine while we make sure she is 100% healthy before she meets the rest of the gang. My daughter is loving it and has taken on the responsibility of having her stay in her room with much enthusiasm.

You can't see her terrible well here, but she looks like she'll have a peruvian-type coat when it eventually grows back. And she's a pretty lilac, gold and white marked girl. We called her 'Cherry' due to her stunning cherry-red eyes.