Big Big Bonnie!

Hard to believe that this little lady is only 9 days old! She is huge! When I pick her up I can feel the squishiness of her fat little body, exaggerated by her amazing, thick curls! This is one special bubba.

She's still not terribly confident on the ramp. But I can't say I blame her - for a guinea pig it would look crazy high. I have watched her though, and she can get up and down it all by herself. If she wants to. But for the most part she just hangs out upstairs in the warm, while the others take it in turns to sit with her!

She's definitely her mother's daughter - the curls and the temperament run in this family!

Stress in the Mansion!

Today's Weigh in:

Sprout is 415g (gained 45g) - 8wks
Sparrow is 430g (gained 10g) - 8wks
Liam is 490g (gained 30g) - 9wks
Ruby is 595g (gained 10g) - 11wks
Ginger is 610g (gained 20g) - 11wks
Kobe is 600g (stayed the same) - 14wks
Alice is 565g (gained 40g) - 16wks
Beeno is 550g (gained 35g) - 14wks
Alba is 600g (gained 35g) - 14wks
Custard is 860g (lost 45g) - 4yrs
and Subi is 1.040g 1.235g (lost 195g) - 1-2yrs (gave birth during the week)
Bonnie is 195g (gained 45g) - 5days old

Total piggy weight 6.900kg (total gain 130g)

We had a few losses this week, and some quite minimal gains. I'm wondering if Bonnie's birth has anything to do with that? Obviously Subi lost weight, but maybe the addition of a new baby has thrown a spanner in the works for the others as well? Maybe they're all too busy looking out for Bonnie to eat!? Or maybe Subi has been particularly nasty/bossy with the others this week because Bonnie is around?

(Alice, Alba and Liam, and Beeno and Sprout still gained a reasonable amount and they all live in separate cages, so there might be something to my theory!)

So it seems that the mansion may not be the most restful place to live at the moment. Well, for everyone except for Bonnie! The little porker has gained 45g in the last 5 days! Which is nearly 1/3 of her weight at birth. Wow. I suppose life is good when you're the sole baby of an over-protective (guinea pig) mumma! And when you have 5 other girls to wait on you hand and paw!

The top photo is Custard on 'baby sitting duty' while Subi and the others went outside to eat grass! Instinctively Bonnie stayed behind and buried herself in the straw making little chirping noises. I watched as Custard went back inside the cage and sat with her, cuddling up to her and gently nudging her to the corner to sit down. Pretty extraordinary behaviour for a piggy who's never had a litter before!

Bonnie on film

Just some quick little Baby Bonnie videos...



Bonnie and Subi on the grass yesterday.



Bonnie and the girls in the big cage!

Bonnie Butterscotch

Oh my goodness, I am smitten! Isn't she just the most darling little cherub! The two name suggestions were Bonnie (from my hubby) and Butterscotch (from a friend). So I decided she shall make use of both of them and be 'christened' Bonnie Butterscotch!



I put her out on the grass with Subi when it warmed up enough today. The other girls were very curious. I left Subi and Bonnie in the smaller cage inside the puppy pen though, because as big as she is, I think she'd be able to squeeze through the bars on the puppy pen if she wanted. And there would be a not-so-friendly real puppy waiting for her on the other side...




I got some really cute 'grass cam' videos of her first grass experience too. I'll pop a link up to them once they're online.

I contacted the original owner of Subi to see if I can find out any information about who Bonnie's dad might be too. More out of curiosity than anything. Oh, and I discovered on the Australian National Cavy Council that I'm still a registered breeder under the prefix of 'Sirroco' Cavies, 20202S1. I just need to find another pedigree Texel to partner up with Liam, and I'll be back in the swing of things again!

Subi had her baby!!!

Last night was only the second night I'd brought Subi inside to keep her warmer if she gave birth. And give birth she did!

When I checked on her this morning there was a little bundle of fluff nestled up next to her in a different colour. One massive wiggly haired bundle of baby goodness! The bub has her mum's hair - really thick and course and wavy. (I'm assuming this is what rex babies look like because it was hard to find a picture online for comparison.) She is an agouti as well, but by the looks of things, she's a rare cream/cinnamon agouti. Very very pretty colouring. And, being a girl - she's staying right here with us! No re-homing for this little princess!



She weighed in at a massive 150g as well! (average weight - according to Google - is 85-95g!). Sprout and Sparrow weighed 105 and 110g respectively when I adopted them at Easter. And they were supposed to be 4 weeks old. (Realisticly, I think they were probably barely a week old, but that just goes to show how huge this little lady is!). Subi weighs in at 1.075g now. She was 1.235kg on monday, so is only 160g lighter now. Which is basically ALL BABY!



Mother and Baby seem to be doing really well. I was a bit worried about Subi, having to push a monster bub like that out - but she looks really well. The photos aren't the best, but its way too cold here still to go outside for clearer ones. But I hope to take some more later on in the day. And hopefully have a name for bub sometime today too. Suggestions are more than welcome!

Weight overview for the last 5 weeks

We've had the full 11 guinea pigs for 5 weeks now. 10 weeks since we got Custard back from our friend's place and adopted Alice to keep her company. We've come a long way from two girls in a little cage to the whole gang in the mansion and surrounding hutches!

I was curious to see what the overall weight gain has been like over the last 5 weeks because there was a week there where a few girls lost weight. I tallied it all up last night and between them, the 11 guinea pigs have gained 1.85kg in 5 weeks! That's not a bad effort really. Most of the younger ones have gained about 200g in those 5 weeks. Ruby has been our little porker and has gained 245 in that time. I'm keeping an eye on her as her belly is getting a little larger than you would expect. So I'm wondering if she was impregnated just before she left her last owner as well!? Hopefully it turns out that she's just living up to the 'pig' aspect of her name.

Subi, who actually is pregnant, gained 130g over the last 5 weeks. If she delivers in the next few days that will mean she was about 4-5weeks pregnant when we got her. I am curious to see how much her bubs weigh when they are born too. From what I've read most newborn guinea pigs are about 80-100g. I'm also interested to see how much she weighs when not pregnant too! And here we were contemplating naming her 'fatso'!

a new Video

Just a quick video I took during the week of the girls checking out the cuddle sack for the first time. I love how curious guinea pigs can be. They get very nosy when something new is placed in their space!