Breeding Programme 2005 Journal
I have made this journal to specifically track the progress of our first breeding programme, 2005.
Monday 6th February 2006
All the babies are doing really well and growing lots. Tinkerbell has caught up wonderfully and now even weighs more than Snowball did at her age and is about the same has Belle was at that age! I am so pleased with how well Tinkerbell is doing after being so ill. And Xiamen is now looking better and better each day and I'm no longer needing to hand feed her. I slowly decreased the amount of feed and the amount of vitamins until she was able to hold her weight without any syringe feeding. It took about 8 weeks to get her better. There was time when I thought she'd never eat again by herself or never be able to walk properly again but with a lot of time, care and dedication (on both our parts!) she's got there and I can't explain how happy that makes me feel. The whole experience with Xiamen made me have doubts about breeding and it took being told by several people that it wasn't anything I did wrong for me to realise that I did everything I possibly could to look after my pregnant sows and their babies (I'm a very sensitive person!). It was a very unfortunate experience to have with our first breeding programme, but then you have to expect things to happen and realise that they DO, no matter how well you look after them. There was no way that I could have predicted that Xiamen was small inside and that the first baby was to be malpositioned - it was sheer bad luck. It took a lot for me to get over it (let alone Xiamen and Tinkerbell) but now I need to take what I've learned from this experience.
I heard from the lady who bought the three babies from me - they're all doing really well and she's very pleased with them! She said they're growing lots and they eat anything she gives them - I fed the babies lots of different vegetables and fruits so they'd get used to them all and then they're more likely to like lots when they're older. She said she's decided to give up showing, which is a little sad as I won't be able to see them at the shows and know how they got on on the table, but nevermind. She's still going to breed Rex though. I look forward to going to see them in their new home!
Tuesday 10th January 2006
Yesterday I said goodbye to the first three babies (and actually I think the last that I am selling from these litters). I wouldn't normally let them go until they are 8 weeks old, but as they went to a good friend who I know will look after them very well and they won't be alone I let them go at 6 weeks old.
She had Sara's boar, Kenco's sow (number 1) and Marmalade's boar (number 1) and she only lives about 40 minutes away so it is nice that I can go and see them anytime I want seeing as these are my first ever babies to go and I can also use the boars' 'services' anytime I want in the future!!
I always knew it would be a difficult time (especially the first time!) but knowing that they've gone to a good home has helped and I have always been quite sure which babies I wanted to keep from early on and so I think I've been quite prepared in my mind.
It seemed quiet in the shed this morning - especially in the 'baby bachelors' cage where there used to be four lively boars and now there is only two. It really has made a difference!
I can't believe the time to sell them came around so quickly. I will really miss them.
Thursday 5th January 2006
I can't believe it, but my little miracle baby, Tinkerbell, was one month old yesterday! I didn't think she'd make it to one hour old, let alone one month old.
For those who don't know what happened - her mum is
It took the vet and me quite a while to get Tinkerbell out and I was so sure that she wouldn't be alive as she'd been in the birth canal for so long. She was barely breathing when she was born for 40 minutes! The vet said on a number of occasions that she thought we should give up on her (we were rubbing her and trying to stimulate her and had her on a heat pad) and at that exact moment she would give a little cough and splutter, as if to say 'hey, I'm still alive here!'.
I took her home that night (the birth was at about
There were four babies in her litter - one was stillborn, one died at 3 days old and the other died at 10 days old from Joint ill - they have a VERY traumatic birth and
She truly is my miracle baby.
And here she is. Pictures taken earlier today:
Wednesday 4th January 2006
Xiamen is doing much better this week after our last trip to the exotic vet on Saturday 31st December. I took her back after she developed a minor URI and Mastitis despite being on Baytril for two weeks. I knew that we needed to change her anti-biotics and suspected that we might need to go ahead with the further investigations that the vet talked about at our last visit. I was very worried about this as it would have meant an anaesthetic, which is risky for cavies at the best of times, let alone when they're ill.
Fortunately further x-rays were not needed. The vet was very positive that Xiamen would start to get better and that if I continued with the care I was giving (hand feeding, striping the teat each day) and with a change of anti-biotics that the infections would soon clear up.
We were given Marbocyl injections for 5 days, which we have just finished today. I am so glad that the injections are over - Xiamen really screams when she has injections, which makes it so much harder in my heart to do them! But I know they're to help her and after about two minutes of crying, snuggled into my chest she is soon back eating her vegetables.
I am pleased to say that the infections have cleared up and she is now starting to put some weight back on that she had lost over the previous two weeks. She's also been back on the Matacam (painkiller) so it is a little hard at the moment to determine whether her walking is truly better or the pain is just eased because of the Metacam. Either way, the vet confirmed that it is pinched nerves from the traumatic birth and she said Xiamen's walking will come back on its own in time. This is, of course, a huge relief! I'll be speaking to the vet again tomorrow now that we've finished Xiamen's anti-biotic injections, and will see what to do with the Matacam.
I mentioned in my last entry that Marmalade had a Uterine infection. It started one evening when I noticed a shaving flake that was red from blood. I immediately picked up her foster baby (with everything that happened with that litter I am still so paranoid about loosing our last surviving baby, Tinkerbell) and checked her all over and she was fine. I then picked up Marmalade and saw that she had a small amount of blood on her Vagina. She had no other symptoms apart from the fact that I'd noticed that she'd been drinking a lot more for a few days - at first I had thought it was because she had come inside when she took over the care of the two foster babies and thought that perhaps the central heating was causing her increased water intake. But she was eating really well and still had plenty of energy.
I suspected that she may have a Uterine infection rather then a UTI, as she wasn't having any discomfort when peeing and it was pure blood coming out rather than bloody urine. I took her to my local vet the next morning who said it was most likely a Uterine infection. I had a course of Baytril injections for her and fortunately there was no more bleeding since the initial time. Marmalade's drinking is also back to normal now. I did worry incase it was Pyometra, which is a severe infection of the Uterus and requires immediate surgery but I monitored the situation and as she had no more bleeding I just continued to watch her closely. I'm not totally convinced that she did have a Uterine infection and think that it may have been a shaving flake which got into her bottom and cut her. Whatever it was, I am just thankful that she's better now.
Fingers crossed that we have a bit of a quiet time away from the vets for a while!
Wednesday 28th December 2005
It has been a really hectic and also difficult time here at The Ribble Cavies Stud over the last 3 weeks - I haven't even had time to update about it here until now.
Three weeks ago today, on Wednesday 7th December Xiamen had her babies. However, it was not straight forward and hasn't been since. She suffered from Dystocia, which means that she couldn't pass the babies. Fortunately I had brought her inside a few days earlier and was there to see all this happening - if it would have happened in the night she would have been dead by the morning.
We had to rush her to the emergency vet at about 10.30pm and the vet, mum and I had to all manually help Xiamen to pass the babies. The first baby was upside-down, which was why she couldn't pass it. I was so pleased that the vet didn't automatically do a C-Section, as some would have; Xiamen must have been so tired from pushing by this time that I doubt she would have survived an anaesthetic.
The first baby took quite a while to come out and was barely breathing - to be honest, I expected them all to be dead, but especially that first one. For 40 minutes we stimulated her by rubbing her with tissue and kept her warm on a heatpad. She was so floppy and twice the vet said she thought we should give up on it, but at those precise moments the little baby would give a little cough and splutter as if to say 'I'm still alive!'. And after 40 minutes, as if by some miracle she started to breathe much better and looked more alive.
Baby number two came out on it's own but took a little while longer than normal. He was very quiet but Xiamen did give him a little lick. Baby number 3 was a really large stillborn Silver Agouti Bi - it was about 7 inches long.
Baby number 4 came out as normal and looked really lively and was kicking a lot. Xiamen did a little bit of cleaning on this one too, but wasn't really interested - I don't blame her, she must have been so exhausted and traumatised.
I took them all home - the stillborn to bury and the first little one on the heatpad - I was so scared that she wasn't going to make it, she was so fragile and weak. But she did and is actually now the only surviving one. The last one born who looked most healthy at first died at 3 days old, quite unexpectedly - within a space of 5 hours from 5am to 10am when I managed to get a little sleep in, he had gone from ok to lying on his side dying. I rushed him to the vet and she gave him some Sub Q fluids, a shot of Baytril and a shot of Cortisone, but it was too late and a few hours later he died.
Xiamen wasn't feeding her babies (although she did have some milk come down) and so I had to hand feed them until I could foster them out to Marmalade, who had her 3 babies at 1 week old. They all took to them very well - I was very worried at first as Xiamen's babies had lost so much weight after the traumatic birth and the first one especially was so tiny. And they couldn't run around like normal babies and keep up with the games the others were playing - they would just sit there, wobbling, snuggled up to eachother. At first I don't think they even knew how to suckle. I held them to Marmalade's teats several times a day and after a few days they learnt what to do.
Sadly at 9 days old, the second baby to be born (Orthello), became lame and had a swollen joint on one of his back legs. We took him to the exotics vet when we took Xiamen (see below) and she did an x-ray to see if it was broken, which is wasn't and so concluded that it was Joint Ill. This is almost certainly because he didn't get the Colostrum from Xiamen in the first 24 hours of her milk. The vet put him on Baytril, but he sadly passed away at 12 days old. He was such a sweet little baby, but in a way I feel that it was a release for him because he never seemed quite right from the beginning (he was very quiet) and I would never want him to be suffering. He taught me a lot and he will forever be remembered.
In the meantime, whilst all this is happening Xiamen was fine for the first 2 days after the birth but then lost her appetite and became lame on her right, back leg. I began to hand feed her too and got her straight to the emergency vet who started her on Baytril, gave her a shot of Rimadyl and said to continue hand feeding. After a few more vet visits Xiamen was no better and my vet was at a loss as to what to do. So I rang our closest exotics vet, which is one and a half hours away and we took her in to see them. They did an x-ray without any sedation to check for any breaks or fractures, which could have occurred in the traumatic birth, but there weren't any. We still have no firm diagnosis but it is most likely that she has pinched nerves from the birth (which can take a good few weeks to get better) and the pain made her loose her appetite.
The exotics vet gave me some Matacam, which helped to get her appetite back (it's a painkiller) and she started to walk a little better. However, she's been off the Metacam for almost a week now and her walking is suffering some, though I am so glad that she is still eating. I am still having to hand feed her though to save her from loosing any weight, as she isn't eating 100% yet. She is still on Baytril and we'll be speaking to the vet again on Friday.
Xiamen's surviving baby is still living with Marmalade and is doing very well and growing well now - she is actually bigger now than Kenco's 'runt' was at her age. Marmalade has had a Uterine infection but I shall write about that in a separate entry.
I have named the little baby Tinkerbell - she will most certainly be staying here with me!
Sunday 4th December 2005
I can't believe how quickly all the babies are growing! Kenco's babies are a week and two days old (already) and it is clear to see the deifference between them and Marmalade's babies who are 3 days old. All 10 of the babies are growing well and Sara's two didn't even loose any weight after birth, in fact they had put on 8g by day two! I guess that's the advantage of a smaller litter - more milk to go round.
I have brought Xiamen inside, as her pelvic bones opened up quite a lot over night and although her due date isn't for another 8 days it is only an approximate date as I didn't see the actual mating.
I could sit and watch the babies all day long. It's so cute watching them popcorn all over the place!
Friday 2nd December 2005
I am so happy and proud to announce that the third litter at The Ribble Cavies Stud has been born. On Thursday 1st December Marmalade gave birth to three beautiful babies!
It was quite funny because I had an appointment with somebody at my house for 1pm. Mike (my partner) and I were joking that Marmalade was hanging on till when this man arrived and then she'd give birth. I knew she was getting close. Well the man arrived 20 minutes late and I told Mike to keep an eye on Marmalade while I was busy for the next hour. So he closes the door and goes up to see her and then he's back at the door again and says 'there's a baby'!! I couldn't believe it! What timing! Obviously I rushed up there to watch it all went ok and had to reschedule the appointment.
The first baby that was already out had been cleaned up well and Marmalade was lying down. She had a longer interval in-between babies than Kenco had, but then she did have less babies than Kenco. Then I got to watch her give birth to the other two babies - it is such a magical feeling to be able to watch the wonderful process.
All three babies had good birth weights and are doing well - eating veegies and hay before they were even 24 hours old! Marmalade is doing well to and is being a wonderful mum like Kenco and Sara.
This should be the last birth for another 10 days or so until Xiamen's due date.
Wednesday 30th November 2005
I am so happy and proud to announce that this morning between 10.30am and 12pm Sara gave birth to two beautiful little babies! Sadly there was also a third baby who was stillborn - it was a very big baby and although I didn't see the birth this time, I can only assume that it took too long for her to pass it. However, the way its legs were lying it looked as though it could have been a breech birth. It had beautiful colours and looked like it would have been a very beautiful cavy. So it was a very happy and a very sad day today.
But her two babies are beautiful Silver Agoutis, both big as well and also very similar indeed! There are some pictures HERE and there'll soon be lots more!
Sunday 27th November 2005
I was so lucky to witness the first litter of babies being born at The Ribble Cavies Stud two evening ago. I had decided not to bring Kenco and Sara inside much anymore as they were heavily pregnant and I didn't want to handle them too much as they neared the end of their pregnancy. But on Friday something told me to bring those two inside into the run. And normally I lock the shed up for the night between
She had been a little more restless than usual all evening but was still tucking into her food up until not long before the birth - perhaps 30 or 50 mins. Her tummy had got quite flat and when she lay down her little legs had no choice but to stick out the back! After a while she moved to a different corner but didn't seem to get comfortable. I was sat at the computer typing when I looked over and Kenco was sort of hopping around looking at her bottom, looking quite shocked. I said to my partner 'I think she's giving birth' and I was right - The next thing I knew baby number one was half way out! At this point I was shaking and almost crying but Kenco went from surprised to mummy mode and started cleaning up her first baby.
Baby number two came out as Kenco was still cleaning the first one and at first I was worried that she wasn't going to attend to it as she seemed to carry with the first one. I was sat on the futon, quietly watching, trying not to panic! But she soon went and started cleaning baby number two. The third baby was also very quick to come out and was a big one! She moved on and started cleaning it up and eating up all the mess.
There were no more babies for a minute or two but I had a feeling that there was more to come as her tummy still looked a little bulgy. An afterbirth then came out before baby number four came along and Kenco set about cleaning it up. I thought that perhaps four was it and my prediction of five was wrong and because this is our first litter I wasn't sure exactly how much of her 'extra tummy' would remain! But then along came baby number five! Kenco was busy clearing up the mess and didn't go to attend to her baby. I watched for a few moments but when she still wasn't going over to it I decided that I had to intervene and see if the sac was broken away from the baby's nose so that it could breathe. I had a look and could see its nostrils moving as though it was breathing ok but I made sure that the entire sac was away from its face and rolled it down to its bottom. After a minute or so the baby was already crawling around and Kenco came over and cleaned it up. This was another big baby.
She kept cleaning them in turn and eating up the mess and then the afterbirths as they were expelled one by one. She immediately ate up three and a half afterbirths but by the morning she had eaten all five of them. She's definitely going to need all that goodness and nutrition with five babies to feed!
The birth was over within about half an hour and I was so relieved that there'd been no real complications. It was so cute to watch them wobble around trying to find their feet and mum caringly cleaning them and snuggling up to them. When she had looked so shocked by the birth starting I was worried that she might be really scared by it all, but as soon as it got going her instincts kicked in and she did a truly wonderful job. She must have been so tired after giving birth to five babies!
I sat and watched them for a few hours, knowing that I wouldn't get much sleep that night! After about 3 hours when they were completely dry I weighed them before saying good night. All through the birth Sara had been in the other run next door watching and occasionally coming over to the bars for a better look and a sniff. Although I do have Sara's due date down as next weekend I think it could actually be slightly earlier than that and that she'll have them in the next few days. Her pelvic bones are a finger width apart and she is starting to look like Kenco did before her birth.
I left Kenco and her babies inside for the night as I didn't want to move her and disrupt her right after the birth and it also meant that she could clean up as much of the discharge and afterbirths as she liked. I got up early the next morning as I was so excited and couldn't wait to see them again!
The next thing to watch for was her milk coming down and when it still wasn't down 18 hours after birth I was getting a bit worried. Thankfully I had a few friends who helped me out and kept me a little more calm and then Saturday evening the milk came and I was so relieved! If it hadn't have come down by that evening I would have had to supplement feed the babies over night until we took Kenco to the vet, but fortunately that wasn't necessary.
On Saturday Kenco had a slight blood tinged discharge and I couldn't find in any books or on the Internet if this was normal and so I rang my vet to check and he said that it's ok for 24 hours after (as long as it's not proper bleeding) and also because she was eating and active - she even had a big pile of vegetables soon after the birth! The discharge had cleared up by this morning.
The babies are absolutely adorable and I feel so lucky that I was able to watch the birth and that everything went smoothly. I have been watching them lots today and weighed them again at 2 days old. They all seem to be thriving and doing well and are suckling plenty as well as munching away on the vegetables, pellets and hay already!
Congratulations Ribble and Kenco!
Saturday 26th November 2005
I'm am so excited and proud to announce that on Friday 25th November at 11pm Kenco gave birth to five little babies! I will update again tomorrow with all the details and pictures.
Friday 18th November 2005
Well, another week has gone by already. I had a little 'scare' earlier this week when Kenco stopped putting on weight and Sara lost 20g. Me being the complete worrier that I am got panicked and thought something was going wrong (especially with Sara loosing weight). I thought it might be normal for Kenco's weight to steady out near the end of the pregnancy but still grabbed all my books to see if it was! I weighed them again today and she has put on weight again - a lot actually and now she's too heavy for my scales! It read 'OVERLOAD' when I sat her on them tonight!
As for Sara, I noticed that she wasn't too keen on her vegtables (which was the same for 2 of the other pregnant sows). I knew instantly that it was most likely to be the new vitamins that I was sprinkling over them - and I was right! I stopped it immediately and now they're all back eating their vegetables eagerly in the mornings. I don't blame them really - they don't smell very nice (that horrible Vit B smell!). I need to find some vitamins for them that are odourless and tasteless! And I am pleased to say that Sara has now put the weight back on, and more. Of course I may have just weighed them at a different time of day or something, but I guess it's better to worry a lot then not enough!
Friday 11th November 2005
Kenco Marmalade
Sara Xiamen
These are the latest pictures of the 'baby bulges'! As you can see (from the pictures and their weights) they are progressing well and getting lovely baby bulges.
From my estimates Kenco is almost 8 weeks pregnant, Sara (not so sure about her) almost 7 weeks, Marmalade also near 7 weeks and Xiamen almost 6 weeks. We'll soon find out how accurate my estimates are! So, this means that Kenco should be having her babies in about 2 weeks time. I still can't believe how quickly these last 7 1/2 weeks have gone!
I'm still supplementing with the dried Raspberry leaf, which I sprinkle over their evening vegetables to make sure they eat most of it. I found it was difficult to tell how much they'd eaten if I mixed it in with their pellets. They're also having some Vitamin and Mineral tablets crushed over their morning vegetables, which are specifically designed for Cavies. People always said to use vitamins for humans but I was always wary of that because of all the other chemicals that are in it to make it into a tablet/liquid, especially when feeding to pregnant cavies. You never know how such chemicals will affect the Foetuses. I've also (at last!) found somewhere to buy proper Vitamin C tablets for cavies - again I didn't want to feed human ones or anything for cats, dogs, other animals etc. So I've ordered those, along with some pure Alfalfa hay for the sows from Petlife International.
Monday 7th November 2005
It is 50 days ago that the sows and boars were introduced. I can't believe how fast the time has gone! Yesterday I removed the boars from the sows cages. I am definitely sure that Kenco, Sara and Marmalade are pregnant. They are all gaining weight more rapidly and definitely have baby bulges! (I will post some pictures soon). With Xiamen I am not 100% sure yet. She seems to have the 'egg on each side' feeling on her belly but hasn't really gained much weight yet - but I do suspect that she got pregnant last so this makes sense that she's not gaining the extra weight yet. By my approximate dates, she should be around 5 weeks pregnant and so I should be able to see more of an increase in her weight this week or so.
I thought it was time to seperate them (all sows now have their own cage) one, because I didn't want to remove the boar too late on in the sows' pregnancies and cause stress that close to them giving birth and two, because the sows often looked like they wanted some peace! Especially Marmalade who was in with both Xiamen and Eros, who are both quite hyperactive and Xiamen was getting a bit stroppy with her too. They seemed to settle straight away and are just concentrating on squeaking like mad every time I walk in the shed - making sure they get plenty of hay and veggies for however many extra they are eating for!
I think the boars were a little more sad at the change! I managed to pair up Apollo with Kiwi today. I didn't know how they'd react as I've heard of people having trouble putting boars back together after being in with sows. Kiwi hasn't been in with a sow and both are quite laid back characters, which I think helped. Tomorrow I'll be trying to put Ribble and Eros back together. Ribble is very laid back, but Eros is not quite so....so we'll see how it goes!
I've started supplementing the 4 sows with some pure, dried Raspberry leaf that I ordered from Galen's Garden last week. And I'll start supplementing them with the extra Vit C when it arrives.
Sunday 30th October 2005
Well I am almost certain that Kenco is pregnant from her rapid weight increase and the following:
And these photos were taken about a week ago! She is even bigger now.
Monday 17th October 2005
Well, I had thought that Sara could already be pregnant because I haven’t seen her come back on heat since their original mating. Then this morning I go out to feed them their vegetables and Apollo is very ‘interested’ in Sara. Poor Sara just wanted to eat her breakfast! Of course it is possible that I missed her being in season 16/18 days ago and so she never was pregnant…or perhaps he was just trying his luck again!? Or another possibility is that the girls housed opposite are in season and Apollo is a little confused! Either way, I am noting today down as another possible date of covering for Sara and Apollo. I’m assuming (and hoping!!) this gets a little easier with more experience!?
The increased water intake seems to have stopped again – perhaps it was just a co-incidence, or me getting a little ahead of myself and excited! The weather wasn’t warmer at that time so it wasn’t that…but they are having more vegetables at night now so they could be getting more water from them and not drinking so much.
Well I have some possible dates, but really it’s a bit more of wait and see over the next few weeks really!
Wednesday 12th October 2005
I now have some possible dates for covering for all 4 sows. They’ve been in with the boars for 24 days now and I suspect that Kenco and Sara got pregnant pretty soon after being introduced because they didn’t come back on heat after 16 days and, obviously, haven’t since.
I saw Eros and Marmalade mating 17 days ago, so I’ve been watching her very carefully the last few days to see if she comes on heat again and so far so good, she hasn’t.
There has been an increased intake in water in all 3 cages (Marmalade and
Otherwise, for now I’m concentrating on them getting plenty of exercise and lots of vegetables high in Calcium. All breeding pairs/trio get at least 2 hours of exercise in the run practically everyday (apart from the very rare occasion I’m out for the day!). Their cages are over 4ft long anyway to ensure they have plenty of room to run around in there also.
Monday 3rd October 2005
It was weigh-in day again for them all today. They’ve all put on weight apart from Kenco, but she only lost 6g so it’s nothing to worry about – could just be normal daily fluctuation. I’m really pleased with their progress, especially Eros and Apollo who are growing very well. Sara also put on a considerable amount in the last 5 days – 44g.
As I mentioned in my first entry, I saw Eros and Marmalade mating on 25th September. Well yesterday Eros was looking rather interested in
Thursday 29th September 2005
I decided to keep this journal separate from our main journal on this site so that I can easily track the progress of our first breeding programme, 2005. I’m guessing that the next few months are going to be very busy!
On Sunday 18th September I put my 4 Rex sows in for breeding with 3 of my Rex boars. I have 2 pairs and one trio, as follows:
Sara and Apollo
Kenco and Ribble
Marmalade with
Pictures of who I paired with who can be seen on my site on the page ‘Breeding Programme 2005’ or by clicking HERE.
I will also be keeping a track of their weights, especially the sows once I know they are definitely pregnant. You can follow this on the page ‘Breeding weights’ or by clicking HERE.
Their introductions went really well and the boars soon settled down after their initial excitement! It’s been 11 days since they were introduced and it is so sweet to watch their behaviour. Apollo is a true gentleman with Sara and is really kind and gentle. Ribble and Kenco are like an old married couple. He’s really kind to her and they sit there eating together but there is no mistaking that she has the upper hand really; if there’s one piece of greens left she makes sure that she grabs it right out of his mouth! Eros is completely sex mad, which is one of the reasons why I gave him 2 sows – I’m pretty sure he would have driven one mad if she was alone with him!
It’s really sweet how all the sows hide snuggled in the hay at the back of the cage and the boars lie next to them, protecting them. Marmalade and
On Sunday 25th September Marmalade came into heat, which meant that she obviously wasn’t when I introduced them a week earlier and therefore hadn’t got pregnant in Eros’ first round of mating. I was lucky in the fact that I was in the shed cleaning them out when Eros started chasing her round – it could have happened at anytime during the night or when I wasn’t in the caviary.
It was quite fascinating to be able to observe their behaviour and learn about them. Eros would chase Marmalade around and she would run away from him for a few minutes before giving up chase and letting him mate her. The squeak she let out when he did was almost painful to me! He’d then go and lie down for literally 5 to 8 seconds and then he’s be back to chasing her again. This went on for a few minutes before they all settled down. I didn’t see him doing it again that day (or since) but he may have done so in the night of course.
None of the other 3 sows have come back into heat yet – so I’m hoping that means they’re pregnant rather then the fact that they are still to come into heat yet! Only time will tell over the next week or so.
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