Introducing Himalayans

I love the look of Himalayans. They are ivory with black ears, feet and snouts, and red eyes. Well, to be more accurate, there is the "black" variety, with black noses / feet / ears, or the "chocolate" variety, with brown et al.

I just got me some Chocolate Himalayans from a Victorian breeder and exhibitor I met at the Canberra Show, Mindy Roach.

She took home a swag of ribbons and trophies and bottles of wine for her exhibits in the show, so I think I'm laughing in terms of purchasing some high-quality purebred pedigreed guinea pigs for my farm.

*Incidentally, the curved posture here is what they were looking for at the Show. You need to train your pig to sit with pronounced shoulders and a dip in its back and a round rump. Hhmmm.

They cost $50 and I am hoping it will be money well spent. They are both quite skittish - Schumann in particular is giving me heart attacks each time I peek into the cage because he darts around so consumed by fear and flight that I fear he'll break his neck if he collides with something mid-flight.

It will take a lot of nursing and cuddling to tame this pair. But I do love the look of them, so that won't be such a big ask!

Here they are:

Zag

Schumann

Mindy said they would be ready to begin breeding together straight away, so here's hoping for a lot of romantic days ahead for this pair ...

Babies for Sale!

Jake's lot are now eating grass and vegetables and even tucking into the food pellets now, and they are only two weeks old!

Just thought I'd post some pictures of them up here, as I've had 3 people on the waiting list to purchase them (if they like the look of them - no obligation of course!)

The smooth short-haired Agouti is male.

The 2-rosette Abyssinian is male.

The 3-rosette Abyssinian is male.

The tortoishell Crested Abyssinian is female.

They will be ready for release on 14 March, 2010.

Rose's New Brood

Rose is my favourite pig. Out of the lot, I just find her soooo attractive with her huge black eyes, wide even crest and Roman nose (nicely rounded, not pointy).

She has a strong personality and yet she comes across as so dignified and elegant.

Anyway, I mated her with my Silver Agouti Abyssinian, Abigail.

The pairing did not disappoint!

Rose gave birth to four babies early this morning! One was stillborn :( The other three are so regal looking - they look like they will grow into delightful looking show pigs.

Two are crested and one is a smooth-hair. A grey and cream crested appears, at this early stage, to be a boy. The other two, a Crested cream Agouti and Smooth Coat cream and grey, appear to be females.

I am thinking it worthwhile to keep one myself. We'll see ...

What's interesting is how Midge, the oldest mum in the Mansion cage, is looking after the new babies. She's taken them under her belly to keep warm, and seems to fuss over them much more than Rose does when I open the cage lid to peek.

I have researched about this and found out some females share responsibility of the offspring amongst the group, even sharing the nursing. I think this may be the case here. I have no males in the Mansion at the moment, so the home is quite a peaceful, happy creche.

I hope Rose is ok. She is quite messy on her rear, but I can't see evidence of post-partum bleeding. Fingers crossed! She's acting a tad more skittish but is eating and grazing and behaving as per usual.

These babies will be ready to wean in four weeks - 30 March,  2010.

Oink's Sneaky Delivery & RIP

Oink, a Peruvian Cross  has been housed with Gus, my Full long-haired Peruvian, since July 2009 and not a single thing has happened. No afternoon delight noises, no tail waggling or dancing - no sign of a successful mating whatsoever. So I just kept them together as cage buddies and anything else that happened would be a bonus.

So imagine my surprise when I recently discovered Oink heavily pregnant! She's always been a tad on the obese side, so the only reason I detected a pregnancy was her usually squishy stomach had become quite firm and bloated. I had no idea when she would be due, but I thought from her size she would have about another month to go.

But she gave birth to two stillborns on 26 February, 2010. She was very quiet and was obviously mourning the loss of her little piglets. I could see where she had attempted to "wake" one of them by chewing it's foot.
I was so sad for her.

The follwing day I went out to exhibit Aldo at the Show and came home to find Oink had  just died, from what I suspect was a haemorrhage.  It was an unexpected blow, to lose all three piggies so close together.

I don't know what went wrong, but Oink was a feisty pig who knew what she wanted. She called all the shots in that cage. If she didn't want Gus near her, she let him know.

I hope she can now RIP with her babies.

:(

Jake's Finally Popped!

Well, Jake had five babies on Valentine's Day (February 14, 2010). Sadly, one was a stillborn. The other four are so tiny it's very difficult to tell their sex.  Even with a magnifying glass ;p

There has been a mixture of siblings: one Tortoishell Abyssinian, one Golden Agouti Smooth-Hair, and two Golden Agouti Abyssinians.

At first count, three are boys and I've got one girl.

Jake (Mum) tore off all the hair on her backside straight after the birth - what's that about?

Here are some pix.