Weekly weigh in

[Ben and Mika together]

Here's this weeks weigh in, for Sunday the 25th September 2011:


*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 890g (gain 10g) - 24wks (6m)
Ginger is 945g (loss 5g) - 27wks (6.5m)
Alba is 805g (same) - 30wks (7.5m)


*** Sprout's Pad ***
Sprout is 865g (gained 45g) - 25wks (6m)
Subi is 1160g (lost 25g) - 2.5yrs


*** Malakai's Baby-Sitting Service***
Malakai is 440g (gained 55g) - 8wks (2m)
Mika is 395g (gained 65g) - 6wks (1.5m)
Ben is 350g (gained 70g) - 4wks (1m)


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alice is 1030g (gained 65g) - 32wks (8m) (Heavily pregnant, due approx 1/10/11)
Beeno is 910g (gained 20g) - 30wks (7.5m)
Bonnie is 870g (lost 10g) - 17wks (4m)
Crumble is 945g (gained 25g) - 43wks (10m)
Custard is 925g (lost 50g) - 4.5yrs
Eloide is 430g (gained 60) - 8wks (2m)
Kobe is 990g (same) - 30wks (7m) (Heavily Pregnant, due early October)
Lavender Mist is 385g (gained 40g) - 6wks (1.5m)
Leilani is 710g (first weigh in) - 14wks (3m)
Millicent is 400g (gained 50g) - 8wks (2m)
Molly is 380g (gained 35g) - 6wks (1.5m)
Peppa is 940g (first weigh in) - 1yr
Phoebe is 755g (first weigh in) - 23wks (5.5m)
Ruby is 1260g (gained 60g) - 27wks (6.5m) - (Heavily pregnant, revised due date now end of September/early October)
Sheba is 770g (gain 30g) - 35wks (8.5m)
Sparrow is 910g (gained 5g) - 24wks (6m)
Violet is 460g (first weigh in) - 10 wks (2m)
Yeti is 695g (gained 25g) - 17wks (4m)


Petal is 420g (first weigh in) - 14wks (3m)
Pixie is 655g (first weigh in) - 28wks (7m)


Galaxy was 1300g before delivery, now weighs 890g (loss of 410g, 375g of that was baby!)- 38wks (9m) - nursing
Jethro is 100g (newborn)
Jonah is 75g (newborn)
Jax is 105g (newborn)
Jarvis is 95g (newborn)


[Molly at 6 weeks]

Wow - we now have 33 guinea pig residents. That's more than I ever imagined having here at any one time. Purely due to the recent re-homing pigs, new additions, babies waiting to go to their new homes and babies just born. Good thing we've got lots of space, lots of food and lots of time for cuddles.

Another good week of weight gains for all the young ones. Even Sheba gained this week - finally! We will not be breeding with her again. She did not seem to handle the whole experience very well, and will probably need many months to recover. Some girls take it in their stride (Galaxy is doing so well!), yet others struggle. Very much like human mum's too (I struggled, and won't be doing that again!). I think it's important as a breeder to know your animals, and know when enough is enough. That being said, she did do an excellent job of raising her boys, who are just the sweetest little men. Bear and Bodie are settling into their new home, and Ben will be going to his new home with Mika next week.

We're now just waiting on the last three heavily pregnant ladies to deliver. I'm actually not sure who is going to go first!


[Lavender Mist on the grass]

Weighing in 22 guinea pigs!

(2 week old Mika posed next to brand-new little Bodie, only hours old)

Here's this weeks weigh in, for Sunday the 28th August 2011:
(I've just popped on the age of the pigs in months (in brackets) for my own ease of keeping track of the as yet un-mated females)

*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 885g (gained 20g) - 21wks (5m)
Ruby is 985g (gained 85g) - 23wks (6m)


*** Sprout's Pad ***
Sprout is 740g (gained 35g) - 20wks (5m)
Kobe is 800g (gained 15g) - 26wks (6m)


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alba is 805g (gained 65g) - 26wks (6m)
Alice is 865g (gained 40g) - 28wks (7m)
Beeno is 820g (same) - 26wks (6m)
Bonnie is 790g (gained 50g) - 13wks (3m)
Custard is 950g (gained 5g) - 4.5yrs
Galaxy is 1030g (gained 105g) - 34wks (8m) (pregnant, due approx 23/9/11)
Ginger is 925g (gained 75g) - 23wks (6m)
Sparrow is 860g (gained 40g) - 20wks (5m)
Subi is 1115g (gained 45g) - 2.5yrs
Yeti is 520g (gained 35g) - 13wks (3m)

Crumble is 850g (same) - 39wks (10m)(nursing)
Molly is 195g (gained 60g) - 2 weeks
Mason is 210g (gained 65g) - 2 weeks
Mika is 200g (gained 65g) - 2 weeks

Sheba was 1200g (gained 100g) - gave birth, now 820g (loss of 380g - of which 335g was baby) 31wks (8m)(nursing)
Bear is 125g (newborn)
Bodie is 100g (newborn)
Ben is 110g (newborn)

A pretty good effort by everyone this week with a total piggy weight of 14.7kg! No wonder we go through SO much food!!!

We also have a confirmed pregnancy for Galaxy, and possible pregnancies for Alice and Ginger, but's its a bit too early to say for sure yet. The girls are big and chunky and healthy anyway, so I won't class it as confirmed until I feel actual movement.




Crumble's babies are doing SO well! I am loving watching them get braver and faster and more cheeky each day. Their hair is really starting the lengthen now too. It's a bit tricky to see on the boys because they have smooth coats, but you can see it on Molly due to the rosettes that make her hair stick up. The boy's have hair this length too. Considering they're only 2 weeks old, this is a pretty good sign of some beautiful coats to come!



(trying to show the length of Mason's fur... he didn't want to play the taking-photo-game. He wanted to nibble my finger!)

Crumble's Babies - 1.5weeks

Babies weigh in at 1week old

Here's this weeks weight in, for Sunday the 21st August 2011 (yep, we're a little late this week... those adorable bubs have been stealing all my time away!):

Sprout is 705g (gained 95g) - 19wks
Sparrow is 820g (gained 20g) - 19wks
Liam is 865g (gained 40g) - 20wks
Ruby is 900g (gained 35g) - 22wks
Ginger is 850g (lost 5g) - 22wks
Kobe is 775g (same) - 25wks
Alice is 820g (gained 20g) - 27wks
Beeno is 820g (gained 5g) - 25wks
Alba is 740g (gained 5g) - 25wks
Custard is 945g (same) - 4.5yrs
Subi is 1.060kg (lost 15g) - 2.5yrs
Bonnie is 740g (gained 20g) - 12wks
Galaxy is 925g (gained 85g) - 34wks
Sheba is 1105g (gained 150g) - 30wks (pregnant)
Crumble is 850g (lost 90g) - 38wks (nursing)
Yeti is 485g (gained 75g) - 12wks


Molly is 135g (gained 30g) - 1 week
Mason is 145g (gained 40g) - 1 week
Mika is 135g (gained 50g) - 1 week




The babies are obviously feeding well! Little porkers! And Galaxy and Sprout have done exceptionally well this week too. But the award for the biggest piggy goes to (the heavily preg) Sheba! 150g in one week is a pretty good effort!

Weekly weigh in - now with 19 guinea pigs!

This is just a little video I took of Crumble's babies following her around in the 'birthing cage' (which is actually our bath tub!) yesterday morning before they upgraded to the mansion. I just love how wobbly and fast the babies walk. It's like they have to sprint to keep up with mum!

Here's this weeks weight in, for Sunday the 14th August 2011:

Sprout is 610g (lost 5g) - 18wks
Sparrow is 800g (gained 15g) - 18wks
Liam is 825g (gained 50g) - 19wks
Ruby is 865g (lost 15g) - 21wks
Ginger is 855g (gained 20g) - 21wks
Kobe is 775g (same) - 24wks
Alice is 800g (gained 15g) - 26wks
Beeno is 815g (gained 10g) - 24wks
Alba is 735g (lost 30g) - 24wks
Custard is 945g (same) - 4.5yrs
Subi is 1.085kg (gained 10g) - 2.5yrs
Bonnie is 720g (gained 25g) - 11wks
Galaxy is 840g (lost 5g) - 33wks
Sheba is 955g (gained 65g) - 29wks (pregnant)
Crumble was 1250g (gained 75g), then gave birth, now 940g (lost 310g) - 37wks
Yeti is 410g (lost 15g) - 11wks

Molly born at 105g
Mason born at 105g
Mika born at 85g (total of 295g of baby!)

Total weight for all 19 guinea pigs is 13.335kg - gain of 200g over the week.

Not the best week with weight gain this week... quite a few pigs have dropped slightly or stayed the same. This does tend to happen though I've noticed. If one has a bad week, its likely that they all will. I wonder if something scared them, or they don't like the vegy selection as much or something... who knows! No worrying drops though, so we'll just see how this next week pans out.

Crumble's new babies!

Crumble FINALLY had her bubs! It always feels like it takes so long right at the end - which is my fault really for bringing her inside so early. I was just a little concerned this time round as Sheba is quite heavily pregnant as well, but her pelvic bone hasn't started to open yet which means she still has a few weeks to go. What can happen when two guinea pigs are pregnant at the same time, but a few weeks apart is that when the first one delivers, the smell/hormones/helping lick clean the babies induces premature delivery in the other guinea pig. So I wanted Crumble far away from Sheba for this week. I even predicted last sunday that she'd deliver in the next 7 days - and she did. She just wanted to make it right on 7 days!



There are two black and gold boys (Mason and Mika) and a little white and ginger girl (Molly). I've popped some close up's of the babies in some other posts below.



Crumble has handled birth and instant motherhood really well so far. She is a very protective mum, but not too over the top. I relocated her new little family out into the mansion this morning to allow Crumble to show the bubs around while the rest of the girls have time on the grass in the puppy pen. I left Custard in the cage though, as she showed a surprising interest in baby Bonnie a few months ago. And true to form, Custard was right in there with the bubs cleaning them up, and cuddling in next to them. Crumble didn't even seem to mind the interference either. I think Custard would have made a wonderfully mummy. But she's WAY past baby-rearing age now. She'll just have to content herself to honorary Grandma duty!

Crumble's Baby Boy - Mika

This is little Mika, son of Crumble and an unknown dad. Crumble has been living with us for 63 days, so little Mika could possibly be the son of Liam - but I would place my bets otherwise.

Mika is the runt of the litter weighing in at a still very healthy 85g. He was born sometime in the early hours of Sunday the 14th August and has two siblings - Mason and Molly.



Mika will probably end up with a coat just like his mum - long and silky, which is going to be stunning with his big ginger nose and black body. We'll know over the next 3-4 weeks what his fur is going to do. So far he's the clown of the litter, and the only one who tried to suckle from my finger while we took some photos!