Sirocco Tiiva x Sirocco Amadeus - 4 babies born on the 27/8/13

This is mumma pig - our 'Sirocco Tiiva', a sweet pedigree texel sow. Daddy pig is below, our 'Sirocco Amadeus. This is the first pairing between these two.

Tiiva delivered 4 big healthy babies early in the morning of the 27/8/2013. We got three little ladies and one little boy. All staying here for now.

This is the first sow - 'Sirocco Tadita'.

This is the second sow - 'Sirocco Tender'.

This is the little boy 'Sirocco Thaddeus'. He looks SO much like his daddy Amadeus did as a newborn!

And this is little 'Sirocco Tuesday', the 3rd sow, and my pick of the litter for cuteness! Her ears are quite high-sitting at the moment though, but are large... so we'll see how they go as she grows.

available pigs - mostly pedigree texels

We currently have seven our our pigs available for adoption to the right homes. A mix of boars, sows and a few babies. All the information on who is available, what their personalities are like and whether or not they come with pedigrees can be viewed on our 'Available' page. Email me at eleb2000@hotmail.com if you are interested in any of the gang. But please note these are our babies, and we will be making sure they go to the right homes - not necessarily the first homes.

Violet x Amadeus - one little boar

This is mumma - 'English Rose Violet' (above and below in the white and gold agouti)

And this is daddy - our young man 'Sirocco Amadeus' (above)

Violet and Amadeus welcomed one big (140g) baby boy into the world on the 7th August 2013.

He has the sweetest big cream face, with gold agouti and white patches over his body.

 These are his updated photos from today. He's looking so lovely and is such a big boy still. Same size as my other 2.5wk old babies!

Tlalli x Sylvester's litter. Born 5/8/13

Mumma - our 'Tlalli' (above), and Daddy - our 'Sylvester' (below) welcomed 4 little cherubs into the world on monday the 5th August at about 10:30am while I had playgroup here at the house. I noticed some movement and found the bubs freshly delivered and cleaned, but still wet.

Everyone looked good, bar one - a little boar who we found tucked in the corner and very cold. I actually thought he was dead, but he moved one little hand when i picked him up. We held him in the sun and vigourously rubbed him dry until he was able to sit up a bit, and didnt feel so cold to the touch, then put him back with mum. My daughter called him 'Jimmy' (you can see his photos further down the page).

The babies were looking ok the next day, but were all still very trembly and sleepy. Normal newborn cavies are up and walking around confidently within a few hours of birth. This shakiness was a red flag that told me something wasn't right. And sure enough, over the course of the next 5-7 days we lost 3 of the 4 babies as they simply failed to thrive.

The only little survivor was Jemima - pictured below. She is still at petite 70g today at her 1week weigh in, but she's strong. She was never trembly and was up and about following her mum like she needed to. I even witnessed her drinking from the water bottle at 4 days old! She's still definitely not out of the woods yet - I think I'll stress a little less once I see that weight get over the 100g mark, but she has a fighting spirit.

Sirocco Jemima

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Sirocco Jimmy - RIP

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Sirocco Jafar - RIP

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Sirocco Jarah - RIP

Arabella x Amadeus litter born 2nd August 2013

This is 'Sirocco Arabella' (shown above) and 'Sirocco Amadeus' (shown below). This was Arabella's first litter this year and Amadeus's first litter ever!

Arabella gained over 500g with this pregnancy (this is roughly equivalent to a human gaining about 30kg). So we knew we were in for a large litter. Mid friday afternoon I noticed some activity - and found 4 recently born babies. One was already dead, despite our best efforts to revive her.
Arabella continued to contract, but nothing happened. I gave her belly a quick feel and there was definitely a large lump still left inside. It did not appear to be positioned well. We massaged gently between contractions to try and encourage the bub to line up with the pelvis - but 2hrs passed and we were no closer.

Another inspection of Arabella showed a little paw sticking out of her opening. My first thought was 'oh no, it's breach'. But then I realised it was a front paw... not the rear feet. Bub was actually transverse (sideways).

This was a little more serious. I ended up having to insert a finger inside of Arabella to locate the babies head and spin him around so that he could be delivered (this is actually a lot trickier than you might imagine). Arabella was so compliant throughout the whole horrible ordeal. I think she was just so exhausted by this stage that she knew I was trying to help and just gave in to what ever assistance I could give.

As soon as the head was down the baby was born with only one more push and came out in a gush of blood. His placenta had come away from the uterus sometime in the 2hrs Arabella's body had tried in vain to expell him, so he was already dead.

Arabella then continued to contract a few more times and delivered the last placentas and what appeared to be a partially grown fetus. All up, (if you include the fetus), she delivered 6 babies. A rediculously large litter for a texel, who usually only do 4 as a maximum.

Arabella's surviving three babies are small, but still holding on. Often after traumatic deliveries mumma-pigs can be a bit funny with their babies, or they may retain birth matter and can develop infections. Arabella is not out of the woods yet, and neither are her bubs. But we have high hopes for them and are watching them all very closely.

(two sows - Eternity and Evensong, and one boar - Everhart)

Indigo x Romeo's triplets - born 1/8/13

Mumma pig (Indigo - shown at the very top), and daddy pig (Romeo, above) have just delivered their first litter together - three good sized pedigree texel bubs born sometime very early this morning.

Mum made a bit of mess in the cage, but seems bright and well today and is eating and attending to her bubs. So I think she'll be ok.

We got one little Lemon Agouti (black base, cream ticking) sow we called 'Myrrhini'. She weighed in at 105g.

One sweet little 'gold agouti boar (buff ticking on a black base - not quite vibrant enough to be gold, not quite pale enough to be cream - but there's no 'Buff Agouti' colouring, and 'Cream agouti is a choc base/cream ticking. So this colouring doesn't really have a name). We called him Macbeth and he weighed in at 110g.

And this little boy is 'Mercury'. In quite unusual and very pretty colours. He looks to be a very pale choc agouti (chocolate base, gold tips)... but the choc is very light, and the tips are more the softer 'buff' colouring as well.

Sometimes you can use the soles of the feet to help determine the correct colouring - but that is just even more confusing! They're a very cute pinky-purple tone, which - combined with the pink eyes - makes me think maybe this is a lilac/buff argente - not an agouti?!

I really am a bit stumped here.

I would say though, that his colouring will probably look a lot like his big sister's - 'Amore' looked a very similar colouring when born. Maybe not quite as light though. Time will tell for little Mercury though! I can't wait to see him in full coat.