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.