Willa's bubs all dry

All babies now have homes lined up :) 

Willa delivers her babies just after the cage clean!

Today was an epic cage-clean out day. It started this morning with a trip to the produce shop at about 10am to stock up on hay and grain mix as we were almost running on empty. Then it was time for all of the pigs to get their weekly dip/bath and weigh in. Then they all had grass time while I cleaned out 11 small cages and the HUGE mansion cage.

I was finished by about 6pm!

At about 5pm, while I was busy sweeping up the mess and mixing up the grain/chaff blend (and trying to stop my kids from killing each other with their doll-pram wars), I looked over and noticed that Willa was busy cleaning up a tiny white curly newborn bub! I put the grain mix down on the table (where it was promptly knocked all over the floor by Master 20moth old), and hovered around Willa's freshly cleaned cage wanting to make sure she was doing ok, but not wanting to freak her out. I had literally only popped her back about 30mins before this!

Bub no. 2 arrived very soon after I noticed labour was underway, and Willa looked a bit confused. She kind of just sat on him still in the sack and kept licking her first born. At this stage I'd realised that my youngest son had spilt about 3kg work of grain mix over the patio I'd JUST swept - so was momentarily distracted. When I got back to Willa she still hadn't cleaned her new bub, so I intervened and pulled the sack off for her - it had been maybe 30sec since he was born. She was very accommodating and just moved aside for me. Bub didn't look so good. He didn't move or make an attempt to breathe. I rubbed his little chest with my fingers for a bit, rubbed his head, moved him closer to mum - who gave him a few licks (then went back to the first bub again), when FINALLY he took a breath and started to wriggle around.

I honestly think if it had been a few seconds longer before I got him out of that sack, he wouldn't have made it.

Then bub no. 3 arrived while I was sweeping up the spilt grain mix. I just got in there and removed his sack right away this time. Again, Willa paid most attention to bubs 1 and 2, and poor little last-born just had to lay there looking around in bewilderment at this new world.

Because it all happened so late in the day - and just before dinner/baths/bedtime for the kids, I quickly checked each bub over - weighed them, took a pic, then got them back to mum - dry pics will have to come tomorrow. The bubs are a good size though, and Willa is doing well.

Little 'Calico' - weighed in at 85g. She is 'texel' coated - in that she doesn't have any rosettes. She may end up looking 'texel' or may end up looking 'rex'. It will depend on whether Willa (aby x texel) has passed on her short-coat (Abyssinian dad) genes or her long-coat (texel mum) genes. All bubs have a 50/50 chance of long coats versus short coats. So we just have to watch them grow over the next few weeks...

This is 'Caesar' - the second born bub. He is back and white and also has the potentially 'texel' / 'Rex' coat.

And this is 'Charlie' - third born. He appears to be red/white and chocolate agouti (chocolate base/red tip). Charlie has inherited mums rosettes. He has them on his rump, head, shoulders and possibly his middle (really hard to tell with the wet curls!). IF he inherits mums long-coat gene, he'll look 'curly-coated sheba'-ish. If he inherits mum's short-coat gene he'll look 'Somali'-ish (rex coat with aby-like rosettes).

Pria's gorgeous bubs

This little lady is 'Pria'. She was born here back in March, and originally named 'Abbie'. She lived with Clover Cavies for 6months, was paired up with one of our other rex x texel bubs 'Zeus', also born here back in April. Yesterday, Sunday the 16th September, Pria delivered two gorgeous big curly babies. 

I had estimated that she would be due on the 16th too. So was kind of chuffed about getting that right. But totally baffled when I saw the colouring on the babies. I was expecting more gold agouti. It does make sense if you look at the grandparents though. Pria's mum (Lavender Mist) was lilac, and Pria's brother Ambrose was lilac/gold argente. 

(daddy pig - Zeus)

Clover only had ONE baby!!!

Clover was SO FAT! I could have sworn she had a week or so to go, and that there would be at least 3 babies.... 

But no. Just one. A large one mind you - weighing in at 130g. But just one! 

He's the perfect blend of his mum (above), and his dad (below)... 

This is little 'Oreo'. A black and white roan sheltie boy. He was born on the 13th September and is already running and jumping and pop-corning around the place! 

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! 

An update on Nixie

 Nixie at an hour or so old. Born back in November 2011. 

Nixie at 8hrs old. All dry and beautiful. 

Nixie at 4 weeks old

Nixie at 4 months old

And Nixie today - 10 months old.