Pecan, Cruise and Walnut

On monday afternoon (27th October) we had a stinking hot day that culminated in a pretty full on afternoon summer storm. During that storm, Buttons gave birth to three gorgeous bubs.

'Pecan' is a sweet little lady in chocolate agouti, gold and white. She weighed 90g at birth.

Cruise is similar colouring to his sister - chocolate agouti gold and white again, but more agouti, less gold. He weighed 100g at birth.

And Walnut (below) was 95g at birth. She is cinnamon agouti, cream and white.

All babies have stunning big droopy ears and will grow long coats. Cruise has a rosette placement most similar to his dad - my guess is his coat will mostly grow towards his rump. Pecan's rosettes are more peruvian-looking then anything. Her coat will grow over her face. And Walnut is most like her mum - her coat will grow in multiple directions, similar to a sheba. It will be a delight to watch them mature.

Lucy and Luck - 3 days old

Little Lucy and Luck at 3 days old.

These healthy little bubs have packed on 20g in 3 days. That's a huge amount considering their size! (To put it in perspective, you can expect a healthy growing adolescent cavy to gain about 25-30g a week!)

Lucy and Luck - newborn guinea pigs

Last night we had a storm roll over our house. I was just cleaning up in the kitchen when it occurred to me that I should check on Abby (who was due the day before), to see if the storm had brought on her labour (something to do with the change in air-pressure tends to bring about labour in guinea pigs who are already close to delivery anyways). Sure enough, she was making the tiny hiccup-like motions and licking at her bottom. About 1min later a slimey white bub emerged.

Abby cleaned her up quickly and like a pro considering this was her first litter. Bub no. 2 was born a few minutes later. She didn't see to him as quickly, preferring to turn back to the first bub to continue cleaning her (this is a common first-time mum mistake). So I pulled the membrane off the second bubs face so he could breathe while he waited for mum to get back to him. It didn't take her long to remember that he needed a bit of attention too.

Both bubs are a good size - the first born girl was 105g and the boy 100g. Nice strong babies who were standing and walking within 10mins of birth too. I've seen so many babies born weak and wobbly over the years that it's always such a relief to see them stand up.

This is little 'Lucy' at about 1hr old last night.

First thing this morning my 5yr old daughter and I were down at the guinea pig cage checking on the little family and giving them their morning cuddles. Bubs were all clean and white, dry and fluffy! They both have beautiful markings - the dominant white through their coats is due to the roan-gene from their dad. Lucy has cinnamon agouti eye-patches while Luck has a bit of gold/black. I counted approx 12 rosettes on little Luck earlier today - the boy is going to be a stunner!

No particular breed on these two siblings, just very cute, very healthy little pets.

Boris

I do love comparison photos. Especially coat-growth shots of long-coated guinea pigs! (probably why I have a whole blog full of guinea pig photos! lol). 

This is the not-so-little-anymore Boris. Above he was 3-4wks old. Below he is 4 months old! Crazy what a few months of growing can do. 

Boris is actually going to be a dad shortly as well. He and Abby (photo below) are expecting their first litter together within the next fortnight or so. I'm expecting tri-coloured, rosetted bubs. Some might have their Dad's roaning. Some may end up with mum's shorter hair, some may end up with longer hair (Abby carries the long-hair gene).

Or we might get total surprise colours/coat types. You never do know with pets.

I do know that they are going to be gorgeous and unrestricted by the demands of being a 'pedigree'. They will be what they will be!

 It has been way too long since we've had bubba guinea pigs popcorning around our caviary!

Eloise

Check out that face! This is little Eloise. She was born mid July 2014 and is a long-coated pet. Most likely to grow a peruvian-looking coat, but she is not 'pedigree' for any particular breed. Just another very pretty little lady to add to our piggy family.

Fluffy Baby Boris

Check out the coat growth on this spunky little dude! 

Boris was about 1 month old in the photo above. 

He is now about 2.5months old (photos below). 

He is the sweetest, cuddliest little guy. He LOVES to sit on top of his hidey house, rather then in it. He doesn't like to be caught, but once in your arms is quite content to have his chin rubbed and his hair brushed. Most of his coat is growing back (from behind his head towards his rump like a Sheltie), but then he has the rosettes by his chin that give him parakeet chops like a Sheba Mini Yak, and two bum-rosettes that flick his rear gold-patch up in the air a bit like a Peruvian!

I do love pet/mixed breed pigs. They don't have to look like anything. And there is certainly a freedom in that after owning/breeding/assessing pedigrees for many years. 

Some Very fluffy new arrivals!

I've been feeling the 'itch' to increase my piggy family again lately. I don't know what it is about this addictive little critters, but since closing our stud last year I became very aware of just how hard it is to find guinea pigs of particular breeds/colourings/coat types. I think it's easy to take it for granted when you have huge bank/tower cages full of pedigree long-coated cavies. But take all that away, and the regular person just can't find a critter like that.

So I have been patiently keeping my eyes open, and just so happened to stumble across a little ad for some pet pigs this morning. I packed up the kids and we went for a drive and had a look - and I was blown away by the quality of these little pets. It was 6 acres of animal heaven. I think the owner was in the same head-space that I was in when I had the stud set up in that he just accepted that these were the kind of bubs he had available for adoption. His comment was 'this one has a cute face'. Meanwhile I'm thinking 'OH MY GOD THAT IS ADORABLE!'

So... what I'd planned might be one more new addition to our family became THREE! He offered to show me some more bubbas that would be able to leave their mum's in a week or so... but I had to stay strong and decline. I could seriously have taken them all home with me if we had the space. (mind you, now I'm wanting to head right back there again next week and take home some more! He did make the comment that guinea pigs are rather addictive, and I have to agree).

So we have a little cream agouti sheba-coated sow called 'Buttons' (top of the page), a tri-colour roan sheba-coated boar we've called 'Boris' (above), and a curly-sheba-style black/white/cream sow we've called 'Betty' below.

All bubs are around about 4-5wks old. I'm SO excited to watch their coats grow out. I suddenly remembered about the horror of coats getting chewed by other pigs earlier today though - so I have all my fingers crossed that we can at least make it to 4months old without too much coat damage!