Nappy time

Chelsea and her pig spend a lot of time together. So far Kobe has been really good with holding on, and not weeing on the couch or Chelsea or me... but there have been a few mishaps! So yesterday we thought we'd trial a 'cabbage patch doll' nappy on Kobe. It fit surprisingly well, and looked so cute.

And she did do a little wee, and it actually caught it. So hilarious!

Our Curly-Sheba bub's are 9 weeks old

SCOUT

Little Scout and his siblings Salem and Sarabi are now 9 weeks old. It's crazy to think that it has been that long since they were born! I've had to make the hard decision of choosing one of the brothers to keep as part of our breeding program - and Scout has been the keeper. He has the better rosette placement, though his coat isn't as dense (it's non-agouti), but he also has the best personality in my opinion. I like my pigs with a bit of spunk and bravery. So Scout will stay. Salem looks to already have a lovely home lined up too which is perfect... after 9 weeks it's easy to get quite attached!

SARABI

Sarabi's coat is a little different to her brothers', she has nice rosette placement, but less 'fluff' on her face. Which concerned me at first, but when you examine her closely, you actually discover that there's a great deal of hair there, it's just being pushed against her face (as it should be for a 'sheba') by shoulder rosettes. I am still hoping it fattens out a bit as she grows though, or she'll have a massive, crazy body with a tiny head and will look a bit strange... :P

SALEM

And here we have gorgeous Salem. He really is a stunning boar, with a lovely coat. He's really quiet and sweet as well. He will make a wonderful pet for his new family.

Almost ready to pop

It feels like FOREVER since we've had bubs here at Sirocco Cavy Stud. All of my gorgeous, meticulously planned pedigree pairings have yet to produce pregnancies. And the couples have been together for months now (think New Years 2013!)

So it's kind of been a blessing in disguise to have Chelsea's new pet piggy and her friend Cupcake arrive. Chelsea's pig 'Kobe' is on the left - a normal, adult female pig.

Cupcake is on the left. HUGE! In fact, this picture really doesn't do her justice. I have trouble carrying her using both hands. (needless to say we don't carry her much at the moment for that very reason!).

Cupcake started dilating a few days ago (this is where the pelvic bones start to slowly move apart, and signals that labour will happen within the next 5-7 days), so we might finally have some little bubs around here at last. All piggy pregnancies are precious, but with Cupcake we have the extra bonus of not having any idea what these bubs will look like. Will they be rex like mum, or something else entirely!?

We'll keep you guys updated :)

Chelsea's first Pig

As well as being the 'keeper' of a small army of guinea pigs, I'm also a mum. I have a 'nearly 4-year old' daughter Chelsea, and a 2yr old son Byron. 

When Chelsea was born we owned 6 sows who free ranged in our small courtyard during the day, and got locked in their hutches at night. Chelsea and I spent a LOT of her babyhood sitting outside watching the pigs run around. As she got older she used to hang out in her Jolly jumper while they nibbled grass at her feet. Those pigs were a godsend during that horrible late afternoon hour when nothing else would settle her. 

I love that my daughter was growing up with guinea pigs, just like I had done. And my mother had done before me! Kind of like a family heirloom in the form of pet-keeping! 

Chelsea is about 20months old here holding a very young 'Alice' pig. Alice would go on to become the mum of our 'Chloe' and 'Cleo'. 

Chelsea holding our first rex sow 'Subi' back in 2011.

Cuddles with our Peruvian sow 'Sheba'. 

 Inspecting the newly built 'mansion cage' back in 2011 as well. 

Cuddle with a very young Liam as well. He was so tiny back then! 

Nose to nose with Liam all grown up! 

Helping me choose hay for the pigs from our local produce store. 

Cuddles for one of our tiny texel babies. 

Taking the reluctant Violet for a lap around the patio. 

Cuddles with 'Raja', who is actually the great grandson of our 'Leilani'. This photo was taken a few weeks ago. It was at this point that her mild interest and curiosity in the pigs changed. She *claimed* this little boy as HER pig. Which was unfortunate as we were just holding him overnight for another stud. So I had a chat to my hubby and we decided that she needed her own pets. A pig that was hers, that she could name and feed and cuddle. A pig that I wouldn't have to worry about having a long crazy coat and/or being pregnant or feeding bubs. 

We decided on a rex breed, as we'd both loved the coat and temperament of our rex sow 'Subi' from a few years back. But it ended up being a bit trickier than we realised to find an available pet rex sow. 

I do think this was one of those 'meant to be' things though, as when I did happen across a pet rex sow - she was PERFECT! Incredibly friendly, used to being handled, mature enough to be settled in her personality and just damn cute! This is Chelsea with HER new pig, who she's named 'Kobe'.

 Kobe is very quickly becoming a favourite around here. She's so cheeky and sweet, and LOVES her soft beds.

She did arrive with her buddy, another rex (seen in the photo below with a gold face), who is quite heavily pregnant. Her buddy 'Cupcake' isn't quite as friendly as Kobe, but she is settling in pretty well too considering her extra load. We don't know when she's due, or who the daddy of her bubs is exactly... so will have to wait and see. Chelsea's new pet might just end up being a new clan!

She really does take after her mum! lol

Winter 2013 Piggy Bedding - First Run!

It was a bit of a mammoth effort - but we did it! This is our first run of piggy bedding for the 2013 cold season. And it's not even really THAT cold yet! :P lol

Some of the items are shown below, the rest can be found on our website. We have cuddle sacks, Hammocks, Couches and Igloos. All of the current colours are very limited runs - some of the pieces are one of a kind - so if you like it, my advice is to grab it! We won't be able to take custom orders this year due to competing for time with my other sewing business, so we will only have things available in batches like this as we get a chance to make them!

Oh - and within a week or two, I should also have my PATTERN for the Couch and Igloo available for purchase if you'd like to have a go at making some bedding like this for your own pigs. This will work a lot better for those of you who live on the other side of the world to us here in Australia. It will be a downloadable, PDF email attachment that you can print out at home and will include BOTH the couch and igloo in the one pattern. I'll post a link for that when it's back from our graphic designer :)

Hope you enjoy looking through all the pics :)