Ruby's second litter to Liam = gorgeousness x 3!

I had been obsessively checking Ruby all day yesterday (Friday). I just had a feeling. She wasn't acting any different, but she was on day 69 of her pregnancy, and she just seemed ready. I walked past the cage at about 10:50pm, and noticed a lot of licking behaviour - and spotted a soggy little bundle of curls! I rushed to her compartment and got to see the delivery of the last placenta.

Three not-so-little bubs had already been safely delivered into the world by a very competent mumma.







This is Zeus, the bigger boy at 100g. He is a mix of white, cream and 'cream agouti', but with much more white. He will look spectacular if his coat grows out like daddy (Liam). ('True' cream agouti is a chocolate base colour with a cream tip. These guys have a black base with a cream tip. So it's probably more of a dilute gold agouti, but that just sounds confusing!).






And this is Zachary. The smallest of the litter at 95g. He too is white, cream and 'cream agouti'.





This is the only little lady of the litter - Miss Zoey. She weighed in at a healthy 100g and is a 'cream agouti' and white.




And these are two of the boys born in Ruby and Liam's first litter back in October 2011 (they're 3-4 weeks old in the first pic). They're now 7 months old and have grown full texel coats. It really is just a genetic lucky dip though. These babies all have a 50/50 chance of inheriting Ruby's short 'rex' gene, or her long 'texel' gene. Liam only has texel genes to pass on - so the babies will either end up genetically rex/texel or texel/texel. Only time will tell!

Weigh in and updates

[Phoebe enjoying the watermelon. Look at those curls!]


Here's this weeks weigh in, for Saturday the 22nd Oct 2011:


*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 920g (loss 5g) - 28wks (7m)
Sparrow is 975g (gain 35g) - 29wks (7m)
Yeti is 810g (gained 60g) - 20wks (4.5m)


*** Sprout's Pad ***
Sprout is 915g (gain 25g) - 29wks (7m)
Subi is 1190g (gain 35g) - 2.5yrs


*** Malakai's Quarters ***
Malakai is 635g (gained 20g) - 12wks (2.5m)
Leilani is 820g (gained 5g) - 18wks (4m)
Peppa is 935g (gain 210g) - 1yr (Yep - and this week we have the 200g gain again... this is so weird!).


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alba is 865g (gain 15g) - 34wks (8m)
Beeno is 955g (gained 5g) - 34wks (8m)
Bonnie is 1005g (gained 5g) - 21wks (5m)
Crumble is 1025g (lost 15g) - 47wks (11m)
Custard is 965g (lost 25g) - 4.5yrs
Demi is 285g (first weigh in) - 4wks (1m)
Elodie is 575g (gained 10g) - 12wks (2.5m)
Ginger is 1025g (lost 15g) - 31wks (7m)
Ivy is 295g (first weigh in) - 4wks (1m)
Jasmine is 265g (gain 35g) - 5wks (1m)
Lavender Mist is 530g (gained 25g) - 10wks (2m)
Millicent is 560g (same) - 12wks (2.5m)
Molly is 530g (gained 10g) - 10wks (2m)
Phoebe is 960g (gained 75g) - 27wks (6m)- (pregnant, due approx 17/11/11)
Sheba is 910g (gain 15g) - 39wks (9m)
Tigerlily is 300g (first weigh in) - 4wks (1m)
Twizzle is 325g (first weigh in) - 4 wks (1m)
Violet is 570g (gained 25g) - 14wks (3m)
Zinnia is 285g (first weigh in) - 4wks (1m)


***Re-homing/Foster Pigs***
Rafia is 450g (gained 20g) - 7wks (1.5m) - (possibly pregnant)
Ripley is 650g (lost 15g) - 18wks (4m) - (possibly pregnant)


***New Mumma's***

Kobe is 770g (loss 10g) - 34wks (8m) (nursing)
Otis is 150g (gain 45g) - 2wks
Onyx is 150g (gain 50g) - 2wks
Olivia is 140g (gain 45g) - 2wks
Oscar is 145g (gain 45g) - 2wks

Ruby is 850g (lost 60g) - 31wks (7m) - (nursing)
Rollo is 210g (gain 45g) - 3wks
Rudy is 200g (gain 50g) - 3wks
Romeo is 225g (gain 50g) - 3wks
Ryder is 205g (gain 40g) - 3wks

Alice is 700g (same) - 36wks (8m) - (nursing)
Cricket is 165g (gain 35g) - 3wks
Chloe is 150g (gain 35g) - 3wks
Cleo is 180g (gain 35g) - 3wks

Galaxy was 825g (loss 25g)- 42wks (11m) - (weaning)
Jax is 295g (gained 65g) - 4wks
Jarvis is 245g (gained 35g) - 4wks


[Jarvis - 4 weeks]


[Jax - 4 weeks]


So not the best week in terms of gains. Everyone is maintaining their weight nicely, but the only one really packing it on is Phoebe (very top photo). Her bubs are moving away in there nicely now too.


[Rollo - 3 weeks]

Ruby's boys put on a decent amount of weight this week too, which I think has taken a bit of a toll on her, as she lost the most out of my nursing mums. Thankfully they're old enough to be weaned this week and she can have some 'Ruby-time' back!

I also thought I'd quickly snap a pic of Olivia with her aunty Sparrow during the week too. The two of them weren't terribly cooperative, so this is as good as we could get! Still, they make a lovely duo!

Rollo and Ryder - 9 days old

Ruby's boys are 9 days old now. And in that 9 days, their little coats have really started to thicken up. You can see the difference in the quality of the coat/density of the facial fur already (compared to the pedigree texel I bought home yesterday).


This is Ryder (who is already spoken for), and he is just looking more and more like his daddy Liam when we first bought him home, every day. All of the boys are actually.


I'm going to struggle to say goodbye to them. I keep re-checking their little bottoms, hoping I some how made a mistake and one of them is actually a girl... oh how I wish there was a girl I could keep! lol


I thought I'd try and show off his belly curls too - how gorgeous is that!







And just so Ryder didn't get too big of an ego, I thought I'd scoop up Rollo quickly and take some photos of him too. Again - excellent density and curl. And length already too. For 9-day old babies, these guys are pretty special.



Oh - and I'm very pleased to report that all signs of the entropion/eye irritation has cleared up, and all four boys are thriving!

Entropion

I noticed that the eyes on two of Ruby's boys were a little cloudy yesterday. Naturally I had a little panic, thinking that we'd had more hay-poke injuries. But on closer inspection I could see that the bottom eyelid had rolled in a little, making the curls rub on the eye. A quick bit of google research and I had my answer - entropion. Seen in lots of different species (cats, dogs, humans...) and apparently really common in the curly haired guinea pig varieties (rex/texel/teddy etc).


I was able to get some valuable advice from a breeder who has had a lot more experience than me working with the texel lines, and she explained that it's very common, not a genetic concern, and that they'd most likely grow out of it by 2 weeks. I'm currently treating them with saline to flush the eye and clear the crusty bits that form around the eyelids due to the excess fluid being created to combat the irritant. Then gently pushing away the stray curls/hairs with a cotton-tip, and lubricating the eye with basic human eye lubricant (from a chemist). So far so good, the boys are being very cooperative and looking more comfortable.





This was Ruby and her little men shortly after I was harassing Rollo and Romeo for eye treatment. She's just the epitome of a perfect mum. So attentive, so chilled out, so loving. (Bit of a contrast to miss Alice, who I watched kick Chloe in the head a few times this morning while she tried to nestle in for a feed. I did however spot Alice chilled out and feeding Cricket and one of Ruby's boys this afternoon! Cheeky little boy! So she is letting them suckle - but only when SHE wants to!)

Birth Videos

This is a video of Ruby delivering Rollo. At about 1:25 she contracts and delivers one of the placentas from the other boys, then at about 2:50 she contracts again to deliver a second placenta. Then at 3:30 you can just see Rollo emerge - and then Ruby blocks the rest of the view with her big bottom! :P (you can hear Rollo's first little gasp for air at 3:42).



And this video is just Ruby cleaning Rollo up, after I'd put down the camera to make sure his airway was clear.

*** Just as a word of warning - it is a birth video, and is a bit messy! You might want to take that into consideration if you're showing your kids, or eating lunch! ***

Ruby's four very healthy baby boys!

Yep, you read that title right. Ruby has finally had her babies. Four very fat and healthy little boys. All four have incredibly dense, curly coats. It's impossible to say at this stage what they'll grow into, but I'm betting they'll get longer hair than a rex. How much longer is the question though!?

Ruby did very well. Another textbook mum. Her boys are all tucked in around her having a nap at the moment. To see them like that makes me wonder how on earth they all fit inside of her!?



This little guy is Rollo. He weighed in at a very healthy 100g. He is the lightest coloured out of the brothers, sporting a white nose, cream agouti eye patches, a cream band across his shoulders with a splash more of white, then a white band across his back and finished with a cream agouti rump. Gorgeous colours, and gorgeous patterning.


Rollo has a stunning thick curly coat. Whether or not he ends up looking more like a rex or more like a texel is the biggest mystery. Ruby's mum was a pedigree texel though, so with that in mind, I'm thinking we're probably going to get a bit of length to those curls!



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This little cherub is 'Rudy'. He has a big white nose like mum (with a bit of birth goo still on it!), a splash of chestnut on the side of his face, a splotch of white behind his ears (also like mum) and the rest of him is a lovely rich chestnut agouti.


Rudy weighed in at 90g. A very healthy runt of the litter! He had a bit of trouble keeping his eyes open for the photo shoot!

Rudy from the top, his curls are probably the loosest out of the four boys, but at this stage that doesn't mean much. It may mean he ends up with longer fur, or it may mean nothing.




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This little guy is very similar to Rudy, but is actually 'Ryder'. He weighed in at 95g. Ryder has more of the white on his face, and less behind his ears than Rudy.


He also has a chestnut splotch on his rump and a little white foot. The rest of him is the gorgeous chestnut agouti.




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And this is the last little man - Romeo. Little poser!


Romeo weighed in at 100g. He has the craziest curls at this stage. He has the white blaze up his nose, with mostly chestnut agouti (golden agouti is probably more the correct terminology), and some chestnut/ginger splotches on the other side of his face and on his rump (also with a little white back foot).