What's going on around here!?

No weigh in again!? What's going on...?

Broken scales! lol. This week I really wanted to get on top of the weigh in (after last week was cancelled due to not wanting to risk spreading piggy pneumonia), but alas - the scales will not work. I have given them a pretty hard run over the last 12 months though, so it's not really surprising.

But until the new set arrive, the piggies will remain un-weighed.




Which is also particularly frustrating with Yeti's boys. The last time I weighed them they had gained since they lost their mum (due to being taken in my foster-mum Crumble, and through numerous hand-feeding sessions), but Dante still seems too tiny. The boys are almost 2 weeks old now, and Dante looks like a newborn. Dash is HEAPS bigger than him now too (see pic above, taken this afternoon compared to the pic of them as newborns). But in all other aspects he's doing great. I grabbed some update pics of him drinking his milk today - it was the only way to get him to sit still! He's such a gorgeous little thing.













We also have a new arrival to mention - Sparrow delivered two gorgeous big lilac and cream babies two days ago (2nd feb), some time in the early hours of the morning. The bigger baby (130g) didn't make it. I don't know if she got stuck, or if Sparrow just didn't realise she needed to take the sack off her, or if she was busy cleaning the little boy and ignored the girl...? Who knows. It just seems to be something we're getting a lot of at the moment - perfect, gorgeous little babies not surviving birth.



The little man who did survive is just stunning though. A funky mix of cream and lilac, with a big white crest. Malakai is the daddy (I put Sparrow in with him as a last ditch effort to allow her to have a litter before her window of opportunity closed due to age - and he obviously did what Liam wasn't able to!).





I've called him 'Pluto', and he just seems to have the most gentle little spirit. I have a hunch that he may end up with a coat more like his dad's (long) than his mum's classic short coat. I do know that Sparrow's brother produced a baby that now has a coat like a sheltie, so there is definitely some longer-haired genetics in their past. It would not surprise me to see this little guy with a very unusual coat if it does get long, as he has a strange rosette placement that makes him appear to have a ridge back. It almost looks like I've fluffed him up - but this is just how his hair sits (this pics were taken today and he's 2 days old).



He seems to be enjoying hanging out with Alice's 3 bubs in the big cage, and will quite possibly be joined with some new babies from Elodie shortly, who appears to be going to deliver a little earlier than I estimated.

Weigh in

(Molly is now confirmed pregnant to Malakai! Due approx 24th Feb)



The weigh in for Saturday the 14th Jan 2012:


*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 890g (gain 10g) - 41wks (9.5m)
Tigerlily is 640g (gain 20g) - 17wks (4m)
Isla is 645g (loss 5g) - 20wks (4.5m)
Indigo is 595g (loss 15g) - 20wks (4.5m)


*** Romeo's Roost ***
Romeo is 710g (gain 40g) - 16wks (4m)
Lavender Mist is 750g (gain 15g) - 23wks (5m)
Zinnia is 695g (gain 35g) - 17wks (4m)


*** Malakai's Quarters ***
Malakai is 855g (gain 10g) - 24wks (5.5m)
Galaxy is 1100g (gain 60g)- 1 year old


*** Mr Tex ***
Tex is 950g (loss 35g) - 2.5yrs


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alice is 1215g (gain 40g) - 50wks (11.5m)- (Pregnant, due approx 27/1/12)
Bella-Donna is 525g (gain 25g) - 8wks (1.5m)
Chloe is 620g (gain 15g) - 16wks (4m)
Crumble is 1295g (gain 35g) - 1yr - (pregnant, due approx 4th Feb 2012)
Custard is 980g (gain 25g) - 5yrs
Delilah is 915g (gain 30g) - approx 1yr
Elodie is 965g (gain 30g) - 25wks (5.5m)- (pregnant, due approx 16/2/12)
Ginger is 1060g (gain 30g)- 44wks (10m)
Ivy is 760g (gain 60g) - 17wks (4m)
Jasmine is 600g (gain 15g) - 18wks (4.5m)
Lacey is 320g (gain 30g) - 5wks (1m)
Molly is 895g (gain 50g) - 23wks (5m) - (Pregnant, due approx 24/2/12)
Nixie is 505g (gained 15g) - 10wks (2m)
Phoebe is now 885g (gain 10g) - 40wks (9m)
Pollyanna is now 590g (gained 45g) - 11wks (2.5m)
Ruby is 1145g (loss 15g) - 44wks (10m)
Savannah is 900g (loss 30g) - 1.5yrs
Sparrow is 1240g (gain 20g) - 41wks (9m) - (Pregnant, due 22/1/12)
Subi is 1175g (gain 30g) - 2.5yrs
Tabitha is 555g (gain 35g) - 12wks (2.5m)
Twizzle is 745g (gain 15g) - 17wks (4m)
Xeraphina is 700g (gain 50g) 15wks (3.5m)
Yeti is 1105g (gain 45g) - 33wks (7.5m) - (Pregnant, due approx 22/1/12)



***New Mums***

Millicent is 755g (gain 15g) - 24wks (6m)- ( nursing)
Whisper is 145g (gain 50g) 1wk
Willow is 140g (gain 50g) 1wk
Winter is 105g (same) 1wk


Violet is now 650g (gain 5g) - 27wks (6m) - (nursing)
Henry is 170g (gain 45g) - 2wk
Hamlet is 160g (gain 50g) - 2wk


Peppa is 1035g (gain 30g) - 1yr - (nursing Leilani's bubs)
Leilani is 780g (gained 15g) - 31wks (7m)- (nursing)
Pudding is 240g (gain 45g) - 3wks
Puddles is 265g (gain 65g) - 3wks
Promise is 250g (gained 50g) - 3wks
Peanut is 160g (gained 45g) - 3wks
Panda is 265g (gained 50g) - 3wks



(Puddles and Pudding hanging out while Sparrow supervises from behind!)

So not too bad of a week at all. I was a little concerned that Winter didn't gain anything in her first week, especially as her siblings did... that being said though, she is the cheekiest, most active little newborn I've ever had here. The first night she was in the big cage with everyone, I opened the door to add some extra veg scraps left over from dinner and she came running out! She bumbled along the perimeter area while I watched to see which way she'd go - then she just popped right through the fence and was off for a stroll! Thankfully she wasn't moving very fast, and our yard is fully enclosed... but still! I've never had a baby just decide to run out the door like that before. So I think I can put the weight down to her preferring to run with the bigger babies (while her siblings snooze with mum!). We;ll see how this week goes, and if she'll need supplemental feeding.

Just waiting on Yeti and Sparrow's babies now... fingers crossed for some safe deliveries.

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!

Sparrow

Sparrow is 5 months old now, and she has come so far since her somewhat dodgy beginning with us. She and her brother Sprout are both doing really well actually.



This is Sprout, Sparrow and Liam when they were all still so tiny. Liam was 3 weeks, and Sprout and Sparrow were supposed to be 4 weeks, but were probably more like 1 week.



Sparrow is now a very pretty (and surprisingly muscular) crested smooth-coat silver agouti and white sow. I haven't done any updates on her in a while, so thought I'd show you how big she's gotten. She's over 900g now too, which is technically a fully grown weight for a lady-pig! I have a feeling she's going to get bigger than this though ;)

Piggy updates and a new bale of hay

The bubs are doing so well. I wasn't sure if they'd be a bit daunted by all the big girls in the mansion cage, but they love it! The popcorn around the place, darting in and out of all the soft hidey houses and tunnels. For the most part the other girls ignore them, but Custard and Yeti have taken a particular interest in them. I knew about Custard's affinity for babies, but Yeti surprised me. She kind of treats them like a bossy older sister - ordering them around to different locations in the cage.




I took a couple of pics of Molly at 4 days old too. You can see the little ginger spot right on her bottom! So cute (and practical!). Ginger joined in for some of the photos, as a fellow 'ginger' coloured piggy. I don't think she was particularly impressed at being taken away from the feast in the cage though and didn't cooperate for long.





It was piggy-food-shopping-day today too, so I headed off to the produce place to buy some more hay. I learnt my lesson about hay-buying earlier in the year, so now I always inspect the hay out in the hay shed before going to the cash register. They didn't have any prime Lucerne available (my personal preference because most of my girls are still young/suckling young/possibly preg etc. and Lucerne has higher calcium content. And it's just so nice and soft with no sharp bits for damaging eyes!), so the next best thing was Barley Hay. I'd never used this before, but the girls love it! It's like sweet-smelling, soft, green straw. Hopefully there aren't any sharp shards hiding in the strands. But so far so good. I pulled a chunk from the middle of the bale to check it out, and the girls LOVE it! I suppose it's nice for them to have something a bit different to munch on too.

A piggy weigh in on my birthday

The weigh in for Monday 18th July 2011 (my birthday!):


Sprout is 400g (lost 110g) - 14wks
Sparrow is 695g (gained 65g) - 14wks
Liam is 670g (gained 3g) - 15wks
Ruby is 810g (gained 55g) - 17wks
Ginger is 800g (gained 50g) - 17wks
Kobe is 685g (lost 25g) - 20wks
Alice is 725g (gained 75g) - 22wks
Beeno is 725g (gained 50g) - 20wks
Alba is 735g (gained 70g) - 20wks
Custard is 965g (gained 40g) - 4.5yrs
Subi is 1.065kg (gained 35g) - 2yrs
Bonnie is 575g (gained 80g) - 7wks
Galaxy is 755g (gained 35g) - 29wks
Sheba is 770g (gained 105g) - 25wks
Crumble is 1020g (gained 80g) - 33wks
Yeti is 320g (gained 65g) - 7wks


Total piggy weight 11.715kg (total weekly gain of 690g across 16 guinea pigs)


So, as you can probably see, poor little Sprout has dropped further to a low of 400g. He's been sitting at this weight for a few days now without dropping any further so I'm hoping to see an increase soon. He is eating spontaneously, though not as much as usual. And he doesn't seem as listless. He has a decent set of lungs on him too, and scream/squeals when I take Kobe out to weigh her as well. These two are quite bonded I think. I'm a little worried at her second weight loss this week though. That's 30g lost over the last fortnight (which doesn't seem like much in comparison to Sprout's loss of 150g, but is still a bit concerning). She seems physically fine, so I'm hoping it's just a stress thing because her buddy isn't well and that she'll pick up when he does.







The rest of the pigs seem really good. They all spent the day on the grass again today, enjoying the winter sunshine. The babies (Yeti and Bonnie) gorge themselves on the grass! Come the afternoon when it's time to put everyone back in the mansion, their little bellies feel like they are bursting at the seams! Yeti's fur is getting longer and crazier. I have honestly never seen anything like her before. Liam's fur (my pedigree Texel) grows in long, soft ringlets/spiral curls. Yeti's fur is like black wool, growing in clumps/clusters. It's quite funky.



(I had to pop this photo in here too... I love it when the pigs all squish up. And yet again, Galaxy manages to get in the shot!)

I've been keeping an eye on Custard too. Her hair got quite sparse last week, but is growing back now. With her colouring, the new hairs start out a darker shade of cream, then get lighter as the hair gets longer/older. So the new patches of hair are quite visible. I've done a bit of reading about it, and I think she probably has an ovarian cyst. That would explain the hair loss, her continually doing the 'horny dance' to the other girls, and her pudgy belly. At this stage she seems comfortable and happy though, and the others tolerate her eccentricities, so I don't think it is worth stressing out an old girl like her to get it removed. We'll just keep an eye on her too.

Plush piggies

I've been busy sewing lately! Meet my latest plush pigs! This is Mishka the tri-colour sheltie posed next to Alice. She's available from my etsy store, and $10 from her adoption fee goes directly to The Cavy Cottage guinea pig shelter (where GaGa and Yeti came from).



Here we have 'Stardust II' the silver agouti smoothcoat next to my Sparrow, also a silver agouti smooth coat. Sparrow was a little reluctant to be a model, but we got there in the end! (She kept head butting Stardust and trying to hide under him!).



And lastly, a funky pink texel plush guinea pig named 'Candy' next to little Yeti. Again, Yeti wasn't real keen on posing. She has really made herself at home in the big cage and was super keen to get back there, so I didn't hold her up any longer.



We just did some posing with the plushies instead. So much more cooperative!

Adventures outside the cage!

I thought I'd see if the girls wanted to venture outside of their cage yesterday morning. The grass between the cage and the perimeter fence is getting a little long. The thinking when we set up the cage was to let them eat it down when it got too long, cause getting a mower in there would be rather tricky!

However they weren't interested at all when I first opened the door!

After a while Custard led the way and half of them followed her.



They all went back inside and snuggled in the straw during snooze-time (middle of the day), so I shut the door again. (How cute does Ginger look in her little nest!)



Once the afternoon shadows had spread over the backyard, the girls were active again. This time ALL of them came out within minutes. It's almost like the ones that went out that morning had been bragging about how yummy the grass was!!:P





And yet again, it only took one day for them to cotton on to this new routine. Now all I have to do is open the door and stand back, and they all come running!

Video of Sprout and Sparrow

Thought you guys might like to see a quick video of Sprout and Sparrow having a little supplemental milk. I just love watching piggys eat, but watching babies drink from a spoon is infinitely cuter!




You can also watch them running around with Ginger as the babysitter in this video. Isn't all this new-fangled technology wonderful!

Liam

Meet Liam. He is our newest little bundle of trouble! Mark drove an hour north of here to collect him (then an hour back again!). His name is 'Glenjolie Liam', he's a pedigree Texel guinea pig, and was born on the 4/4/2011. So he's still quite young, but heaps bigger than Sprout and Sparrow who were adopted 2 days ago (and who are apparently 4 weeks old!).



Liam is now living inside with Sprout and Sparrow until they're all big enough to move outside. Sparrow will go to live with the girls in the Big cage, while Sprout and Liam will live in the bachelor pad - a two story cage Alice and Custard lived in previously.



Until then though, I'm making the most of having them so close by. Here they are all snuggled up on my lap while I edit photos and post blog updates!