Breeding Programme 2006 Journal
This journal will follow the progress of the second breeding programme here at 'The Ribble Cavies Stud' through 2006
It has been a very busy and stressful week here. Since I last wrote the little sow of Jemima's (who I have called Precious) has been very ill. There have been a few times where I really thought that she was coming to her end and that she wouldn't make it through the next few minutes, but she is still with us today and still fighting strong though it is still early days and I am still very scared of loosing her. I have become very attached to her - she is one very special little piggy.
She hasn't been well since she was born but Sunday night she took a turn for the worse and first thing Monday morning I rushed her to the vet. He thinks she was either born with a heart defect or picked up a secondary infection, which she could easily have done as she hasn't been suckling from Jemima and therefore didn't get any colosterum which leaves them wide open to getting infections.
I am injecting her with Baytril twice a day, which is NOT easy on a tiny baby! And feeding her with Lactol every 2 hours around the clock. She is doing much better and is now eating a small amount of solids and has a lot more energy. She will be on the Baytril until at least Sunday and then on Monday I will ring the vet again to discuss how she's getting on. She truly is an amazing little girl with so much strength and courage.
Midnight on Wednesday 16th, I'm just sat at the laptop waiting for Precious' milk to warm to room temperature when I her the unmistakable sound of a mum cleaning up a new born baby I immediately look to Bambi's cage - I knew she would have hers before Belle and there she is cleaning off this little silver agouti.
Then along comes number 2, another silver agouti but with 2 white paws! She is doing such a good job of cleaning them when I see her straining again - another one is on the way. I keep watching and she appears to be taking a little longer than I'd like (I'm talking a few minutes) so I get closer and decide to break the baby's sack with my fingers, but there was no movement from the baby at all. Bambi is still struggling to get it all the way out so I have to very gently, in time with her contractions, help her to ease the baby out. I pick it up and try to stimulate it but it soon becomes obviously that it was dead before it came out And boy was it huge - 121g! No wonder she had trouble passing it. I'm just grateful I was here to help her out a little.
The two surviving ones are absolutely adorable and pretty big themselves - 92g (boar) and 103g (sow)! I guessed she was going to have 4, but now I know it was 2 and a huge one.
Bambi was, understandable, a little tired after all that and kept laying her head on the stillborn one so I removed it straight away.
So that was another eventful and sleepless night for me!!
And, for the Encore...
.....Belle has given birth to 2 big babies!!
I got up at
Belle was straining for quite a while with the first one and I was getting a little worried, but she managed to pass it on her own in the end.
They are both silver agouti bi boars and are both HUGE - the first one was 113g and the second one was 123g! And dear Belle isn't the biggest sow I have! But she did a fantastic job
Both a very lively and Belle is eating well and is a great mum.
Long time no update! In July I was away on holiday for 2 weeks and since getting home my health hasn't been very good so I haven't had a chance until now to do any updates on my website.
A lot has happened in the last 2 months...
Sara's babies are now 9 weeks old and doing very well. I have kept the sow, who is called Khia and is very big! The black boar has gone to live at Lakeside Cavies and the silver agouti bi boar possibly has a home lined up. At the meantime he is living happily with Gromit who is looking after him very well! In fact, he looks like a miniature version of Gromit!
Last Tuesday (8th August) Jemima gave birth to four lovely little babies - 3 boars and only one sow! Unfortunately the sow isn't doing very well - when I found them on Tuesday morning she was very weak and couldn't stand up. She was just lying on her side for about 24 hours and obviously there was nothing I could do really. I am hand feeding her because she is still weak and cannot keep up with her three brothers to get mum's milk. At first I didn't want to intervene completely incase it discouraged her from suckling from Jemima but it soon became obvious that she was getting little or no milk so I've had to step the hand feeding up now. Her weight is stable but tonight she doesn't look so good - she didn't want any milk at her last feed and her breathing is very rapid and noisy, so I am not sure if she's going to make it. It's a case of doing as much as I can and keeping my fingers crossed. She is very sweet though - a chocolate agouti.
The three boars are doing very well though. She had a very big silver agouti (108g birth weight), a golden agouti with 3 white toes and a golden agouti and white who I might just be tempted to keep!
Bambi and Belle are due any day now too and Bambi's pelvic bones have opened up quite a bit and Belle's have started to as well.
Monday 12th June 2006
Sara's babies are all doing really well and growing fast and Sara is again a wonderful mum like last year. All three are looking lovely and I'd love to keep them all if I could (if only)! She had 1 sow (silver agouti) and 2 boars (black and silver agouti bi) and I was lucky enough to see the birth. I had gone for a lie down and my partner checked on her and came in saying 'she's giving birth!' which of course got me straight out of bed!! She was cleaning up number one, the silver agouti bi, when I got in there and she was looking quite happy so I gave her some quiet and space for a few minutes. I then went back to check on her and she had just about got number 2 out (the black boar). However, she started to clean the wrong end - I don't know why as I'm quite sure he wasn't breach or anything. The little one started to squeak inside the sack as I broke it open for him and he took a huge gasp of air! I don't know if she would have realised and got him out in time if I wasn't there, but I'm just glad I was. She then passed some of the afterbirths and ate those before baby number three, the silver agouti sow, was born. It was really nice to see the birth as I didn't see the last one (Marmalade's).
In other news we are now onto 'Phase 2' of The Ribble Cavies Breeding Programme 2006. Jemima and Ribble were paired up on 24th May and I have a possible mating date of Monday 29th May, so fingers crossed she is pregnant. I am watching them closely this week for any signs of her coming back into heat. Belle and Bambi were due to go in as a trio with Eros at the same time but Bambi had a tiny amount of bleeding from her vagina a few days prior to this. It was cleared up the next day and so I assumed that it was infact a scratch, perhaps from the hay or bedding. I waited for about a week before putting them in with Eros, wanting to make sure that whatever it was had gone and to make sure it wasn't anything more serious. She had no other symptoms and was absolutely fine by the next day - all blood had cleared. So Belle and Bambi were paired up with Eros on Tuesday 30th May. He seems to have calmed down some since last year when he was totally sex mad and would barely leave the sows alone! He seems a lot more loving this time around and actually cuddles up to them a lot.
Then last Thursday Bambi had the same bleeding again. There were a few possibilities here really - it was a complete coincidence, she had scratched herself both times or there was something reoccurring internally. It was quite worrying because now she had been in with a boar for 10 days and I had seen Eros chasing her and mounting her the day before. There was also the possibility that she'd bled from being mated, but I've only ever had one other sow do that before and it was strange that she'd had the same thing happen before when she wasn't even in with Eros. I then realised that the last time it happened was 17 days before, which would tie in with her being in heat both times (a sow’s heat cycle being between 14 and 18 days) – I knew she was in heat this time before Eros had been chasing her around. So I started to wonder if she was having a small amount of blood loos due to being in heat. I know sows don’t bleed as such during this time, but it seems such a coincidence.
I took Bambi to the vet on Friday, but before I did I spoke to Vedra at the CCT. She said that it could be a miscarriage (but I explained that it'd happened on her last heat cycle when she WASN'T in with a boar) so she said it could be a hormone problem or cysts. She told me what injections would be needed for the hormone problem. Then we went to the vet who checked for cysts but couldn't feel anything and thought it was unlikely as Bambi is only 6 months old (normally they get cysts at 1 1/2 years + ) Of course this doesn't mean there definitely isn't any small cysts, but right now there isn't enough of a problem to suspect this. I mentioned to my vet about the injections but she's not keen to start messing about with her hormones at this stage (which I agree with).
There doesn't appear to be any infection as Bambi is fine in every other sense and the blood is only a very tiny amount and is gone after one day until the next time. The vet agrees that it is most likely when she is in heat and although is not typical she says it is possible.
So, for now I am waiting and observing - checking her everyday (like I do anyway) to see if she's bleeding or if it starts again in another 17 days and fits in with our theory. However, if she is already pregnant by Eros then this of course won't happen!! If there IS some sort of infection or problem with her reproductive system then she won't (most likely) be able to get pregnant and this will be another indication of something not being right.
Also, I had to change my mind about which boars I was going to use for Phase 2. I was planning on using Gromit with Belle and Bambi but because he isn't proven (the mating with Kenco was unsuccessful) I didn’t want to risk them not getting pregnant in time. I was also thinking of using Munchie to go with Jemima but he is only 6 months old and I like to wait until the boars are about 8 months old so that they don't produce weak babies, and again it would have been the same issue with him not being proven.
So it's been quite a busy start to Phase 2!
Sunday 4th June 2006
Sara has given birth to 3 beautiful babies on Friday 2nd June at 1.30pm!
Thursday 1st June 2006
Sara is still holding onto her babies! And getting bigger each day too. Here's a picture of her about a week ago:
She is now officially too big to fit into her tube!
Wednesday 24th May 2006
The babies are three weeks old today and the two boys will be removed from the litter tomorrow. It's gone by so quickly - only another five weeks and they'll be going to their new home! All three are growing so well and have really fluffy coats! The most fluffy Rex babies I've ever had born so far. They are all really cheeky, but Cherokee (the black sow which I'm keeping) has this cheeky glint in her eye and she squeaks constantly when you're holding her. In fact, I had all three out on my knee at the same time today and all of them just squeaked and squeaked the whole time! I have no idea where they get their 'naughtiness' from though, as Marmalade and Ribble are the two most laid back and well behaved pigs in my shed!
It looks like Kenco is deffinitely not pregnant - she's been away from Gromit for 7 1/2 weeks now and there has been no more weight gain or any other signs of pregnancy. She won't be going back in for breeding as she is too fit now and so I have decided to start taking her to shows again. Her coat is coming along really well now she's maturing and she's a lovely looking sow.
I believe that Sara's babies are on their way soon! They seem to have 'dropped down' and her pelvic bones have started to part gently, after being rigidly closed until this morning. She also has a 'dimple' on her rearend, which I could never see on my sows in last year's breeding programme but saw on Marmalade in the 24 hours before she gave birth this time around. Sara has also got more restless and is eating a lot more - getting her strength up! I am now on 'baby watch' and will be checking her every two hours throughout the night. Her approximate due date isn't for another week, but like I say this is only approximate as I didn't see the actual mating and after speaking to a Rodentologist it seems that sows often only go to nine weeks with their second (third, fourth etc) litters.
Wednesday 17th May 2006
The babies are two weeks old today - it's amazing how time goes by so quickly! Only another week and the two boys will have to be removed. I haven't quite decided yet if they'll just live alone or if they'll go in with an adult boar until they go to their new home in six weeks time. I usually like to put baby boars in with an adult one at least for a while once they come out from being with mum because the adult will continue to teach them 'piggy things' and how to behave. But the reason I am undecided is because my adult boars will be going out to shows and I don't want to risk them bringing anything back to the babies before they are rehomed. I think I might put them in with Ribble until I take him to the NCF Championships on 18th June and then they can live alone together until they go to their new home at the beginning of July. That way they'll still have some time with Ribble (or whoever) before they leave. I was however, thinking of putting Snowball with Ribble when Munchie goes in with Jemima for breeding - he adores his brother and will miss him so much! And Ribble loves to have some company, so hopefully him and Snowball will get on well. It takes a lot of organising! Especially with boars who aren't always that easy to pair up.
It was a difficult decision to know what was best to do with Sara but after a lot of thinking, some tears and chatting to a few different people I decided not to travel Sara to have her teeth done before the babies are born. The travelling, the actual procedure...would all be extra stress on her and carry a high risk of making her abort the babies putting both her and the babies lives at risk. She is not doing too badly with her eating right now and she's gaining weight again so unless her eating gets drastically worse before the babies come then this is the decision I've made. She's on 25 - 35ml of Critical care a day, 50mg of Vitamin C, 0.3ml of Osteocare Liquid, 0.2ml of Daktarin oral gel and the usual raspberry leaves. She also has to have her pellets soaked, which has made it easier for her to eat some.
Her tummy is getting really firm now and the babies are kicking more - she only has 1 - 2 weeks left to go. Once the babies are born and are a couple of days old I will take them all up to Gina in Cheshire so Sara can have her teeth done - hopefully that'll sort out her eating and it's nothing more.
Friday 12th May 2006
It's been a very busy week since the babies were born (piggy stuff and non-piggy stuff!) but finally I have a minute to update - and there's quite a bit to update on too.
Firstly, the babies are all doing really well. They are 9 days old today and growing LOTS. I missed the birth, by about an hour I think and when I came into the Cavy den at about 1pm they were all cleaned off perfectly, walking about and the afterbirth was all gone! Marmalade did a really good job. She's such a wonderful mum, just as she was with her first litter, which was also of three.
I saw the little black one first and was so shocked! Most of the babies born here (including stillborns) have been agouti or agouti bi so it was a lovely surprise to find a solid coloured baby in the pen - and especially black as I've never even owned a black cavy before. That's another thing I love about breeding Rex - the surprise of what colours you get! She isn't quite 100% solid black though as when I turned her round I found a few buff hairs on her back and a tiny patch the same colour on her bottom and one of her hind legs!
I then found what, at first glance, I thought was two golden agouti's but on closer inspection realised was one golden agouti and one chocolate agouti - another wonderfully surprise as I've never seen a chocolate agouti in real life until that moment!
Their birth weights were all very good too. Infact, the little black one is the heaviest baby we've had born so far!
Black - Sow - Birth weight 110g
Golden Agouti - Boar - Birth Weight 98g
Chocolate Agouti - Boar - Birth weight 89g
The two boars have a home lined up and I've decided to keep the black sow. She has a wonderful character and I have totally fallen in love with her.
In other news Sara is causing me great concern at the moment as she's 7 weeks pregnant (or there abouts) and has LOST over 50g in the last 2 days. When I weighed her last night and saw this I took her straight to the emergency vet - you can't be too careful with pregnant sows especially as weight loss is just one symptom of the fatal Toxaemia. However, the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her at all - her heart and lungs are fine, she's not dehydrated, the babies are kicking and she looks bright and well. So I came home, rather baffled, told to monitor her and if she looses anymore weight to get her back to the vets straight away.
I weighed her again this morning and she'd lost another 15g, which would ordinarily be neither here nor there but because it's a constant weight loss it's worrying. I spent the whole day worrying and thinking what on earth could be wrong with her. I have a feeling that she might have teeth problems. I've noticed on a couple of occassions that she's left small carrot peices in her cage and that her intake of hard foods has decreased over the last few days. She's eager to eat and eats soft veggies and Readi-grass with no problem, but when it comes to her pellets, alfalfa hay or harder vegetables she either avoids them completely or has a little and then stops.
I'm taking her back to the vets first thing in the morning so I'll see what they say. However, if it IS teeth problems they won't be able to do any work on them until the babies are born because she obviously can't have an anaesthetic whilst pregnant. But we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. She's put 25g back on today - fingers crossed she keeps going in this direction. I'm so worried about her and the babies.
And finally, there is still no sign of Kenco being pregnant. Her tummy hasn't changed shape and she hasn't put on any more weight at all. If nothing changes in another week or so I think I can say that she hasn't taken this time. This is a little, not worrying but difficult, because she was in with Gromit and being a new addition it was the first time I'd used him in a breeding programme and so now I don't know whether he is infertile or whether she just didn't take. And I wanted to use him with Belle and Bambi next (in the next few weeks) but I don't want to 'waste time' if he can't 'do the job' as this will be their first litters and obviously they have to give birth before they're 10 months old. They're only 5 months now, so we do have 5 months for the breeding, pregnancy and birth but I'll have to have another think before I make a final decision.
Wednesday 3rd May 2006
I am so happy and proud to pronounce that Marmalade has given birth to 3 beautiful babies at around Midday today!
More details coming very soon!
Sunday 30th April 2006
Marmalade's babies have been kicking away like crazy over the last week. If my approximate date of mating is correct, then she has one week left (till 70days), which is next Saturday, 6th May. On Sunday 7th May we are showing (and I'm judging) at Oldham CC Show so I am hoping that they arrive before then. I normally don't show around their due dates but I had agreed to judge there a while ago and it's a really good opportunity for me as I'm judging on the NCF side at their Stock Show. So, my mum has very kindly agreed to come and 'pig watch' if Marmalade hasn't given birth by then! I will have a list of instructions ready for my mum as to what consitutes an emergency and to get Marmalade to the vet! I can just imagine it now - Mum's over pig watching and Marmalade goes into labour and my mum rings me up panicking! Oh I hope not....I hope that Marmalade gives birth before then; Wednesday afternoon would be nice because Mum's here then and the only cavy birth she's seen is Xiamen's when we had to rush her to the emergency vet at 10pm. I do hope that everything goes ok. I'm a little nervous as the last birth we had was Xiamens. I don't think the nerves will ever go away; I can see myself still breeding in years and STILL being just as nervous and excited!
In more (possibly) good news I think Sara is pregnant too. I am not 100% sure yet, but she has put on almost 70g in a week..so either she's pregnant or she's just eating very well and enjoying the good food! She's starting to get that 'pear shaped' look too. I did notice some 'boar glue' on her rear end a few days before she was removed from Eros, which was 5 weeks ago yesterday and this matches up with the time when they start to put on their baby-weight, so fingers crossed.
Marmalade has been started on some Osteocare Liquid and she loves it. It is orange flavour, so that's probably why!
Friday 21st April 2006
Well I can now confirm that Marmalade is deffinitely pregnant! Her weight gain has been rather different to her last pregnancy, but there is no mistaking it now - I've been able to feel them kicking since Monday! This fits in with the possible mating date that I had written down for her and Ribble - so I am expecting babies in approximately two and a half weeks! I love gently cupping my hands around her tummy when she's on my knee and feeling the babies moving around - they sure are strong ones! I could sit there all day like that - not sure Marmalade would appreciate that though! I've started her on the raspberry leaves and have ordered some Osteocare Liquid, which I didn't use last year but am going to try this time around.
As for Sara and Kenco - well, they are still keeping me waiting right now. Sometimes I think they might be, other times I have no idea! If Sara doesn't start showing by the beginning of May, and Kenco a week or so after that, then I will have to decide whether to put them back in with boars or not. Both have put on almost 100g, so if they're not pregnant I hvave some serious doubts about using them again due to the risk of Toxaemia.
Now that spring has started to appear the three girls are thoroughly enjoying the grass that I pick for them each afternoon. It's nice for the pregnant ones to be able to get some grass as our last breeding programme was in the winter when there was none available.
Monday 10th April 2006
The vet bed arrived at the end of last week and I cut it to size and put them on it straight away - and so far, so good! It's really absorbent and drains the wet right down so it is barely wet at all on the surface. And I was also pleasantly surprised that the hay and Readi-grass etc doesn't stick to it too badly either!
Ribble is very upset that Marmalade has gone - I'm going to attempt to pair him up with Gromit. I have no idea how that will go; Ribble is very laid back and wouldn't hurt a fly, but I've no experience with Gromit living with other boars as he's a new boy here. Eros, of course, is still much happier living alone!
The three sows, however, have me rather confused right now! Sara and Marmalade gained a rather significant amount of weight the other week (especially Marmalade) and so I thought this was the start of the baby weight coming and they were about 5 weeks pregnant. But then the next week their weight stood still again confusing me somewhat! So I went back to my records from last year's breeding programme and what I actually noticed was that last time around week 4 they put on a significant amount of weight and then stayed around the same weight for another 2 weeks and only then did they start gaining a lot again. So, I am hoping this is what's happening this time too! This is why it's so important to keep such records when breeding, so you have something to compare to and you can learn about each sow/line and their breeding characteristics.
I am quite sure that Marmalade is pregnant though - she really is starting to get the 'egg shaped' look on each side and you can feel them, quite defined. And she has put on quite a lot of weight too. I did have a possible mating date down as 25th February for her, but that would make her 6 weeks pregnant and I don't think she's that far along, comparing to last year, but we'll see! She didn't actually show all that much last year thinking about it.
Sara is the one who is really puzzling me. She started with Alopecia at the beginning of March so I thought she must have got pregnant with Apollo (before she went in with Eros on 2nd March) - that would make her at least 5 or 6 weeks pregnant and so far she hasn't gain all that much weight. And now the hair has completely grown back. There is always the possibility that she absorbed the litter in the first trimester, or that the Alopecia was nothing to do with pregnancy hormones. She's eating like a horse though and has got slight 'egg shapes' on both sides, so she's really confusing me right now!
Kenco has gained some weight, but not a huge amount and because she went in with Gromit two weeks later than the other sows went in with boars I am not expecting to be able to tell if she's pregnant just yet. She's made herself well at home inside the Cavy Den though and is being her usual cheeky self!
But we still have a few weeks left until they've been away from the boars for five to six weeks and if there are no signs of pregnancy then, then I'll think about putting them back together. I'm not happy about doing it this way (removing the sows after 5 weeks and not waiting until I know they're pregnant) but with only a small amount of stock at present and wanting to show some of the boars too, it was worth a try, and as I've said before I don't agree with bringing the boars in and out to go to shows.
So right now, it's still a 'watch this space'!!
Thursday 30th March 2006
Sara and Marmalade have now been taken away from the boars and are living inside in the 'Cavy Den' in the sow pens/birthing pools. It is really nice to have some piggies back inside! They seem to have settled in quite well - Sara keeps chewing the bars, but Marmalade seem very relaxed already. I have used storage cube panels to make a cage and fixed them to a table (that my partner made especially) so they can't knock them off the edge. I've never tried making a cage like this before, but they seem to be working out ok so far. I will have to put a wall of either wood or perspex (so I can see them when I'm sitting down on the futon!) around the cubes about 4 squares high as the holes are too big to contain little cavy babies! But we have a while before we need to do this yet.
At the moment they are bedded on towels until the Vet bed arrives. I decided that it would be easier than using Hemcore inside the house and it will be easy to see any bleeding on white Vet bed.
Here are their new pens:
Thursday 23rd March 2006
It's now five weeks since the first two pairs in the 2006 breeding programme went together. In the 2005 breeding programme I left the sows and boars together until I was sure that the sows were pregnant, however there are some shows that the boars are going to, starting this weekend and I don't want to put them back in with the sows afterwards. I don't think it's fair to keep disrupting them, especially if they are pregnant and I also don't want to increase the risk of them getting ill if the boars catch anything at a show, which is always a possibility.
I'm not so sure about taking the sows out before I know they're pregnant, but we'll see how it goes! Hopefully Marmalade and Sara are pregnant now and it won't be a problem. They will be coming inside into the 'Cavy Den' - Mike is putting a top up tomorrow and then we'll be building the cages. I've decided to bring them in as soon as they come away from the boars so that they don't have to be moved when they are heavily pregnant, as this could be too stressful for them. I like to have them inside so that I can keep a closer eye on them and after what happened in our last breeding programme with Xiamen, it proves how important it is to be able to watch them as much as possible incase they get into difficulties.
I'm looking forward to having some cavies back inside - I miss having Xiamen inside, though of course I am most happy that she is all better now and living back out in the caviary with all the others.
Sunday 12th March 2006
The Ribble Cavies Breeding Programme 2006 is now well under way. On 14th Febraury (Valentines day!) I paired up the following sows and boars:
Ribble and Marmalade
Apollo and Sara
I had to wait to pair up Kenco with our new boar Gromit until 28th February, as he was still in quarentine.
All was going well until Apollo came down with a bad URI and I had to remove Sara immediately so that she wasn't in so much danger of catching it. This would have been even worse if she was already pregnant as it could cause abortion. There had been no evidence of a mating between Apollo and Sara until that date (2nd March) and so I put her in with Eros. Of course Eros was delighted as he'd seen all these boars getting sows and him being left out! However, I am now not so sure that Sara wasn't already pregnant by Apollo as she began getting some Alopecia on her belly (too early to be caused by a pregnancy from Eros I believe). I had always read that Pregnancy Alopecia doesn't affect sows until mid to late pregnancy or during lactation but since doing some research since finding it on Sara I believe it can occur at any time during pregnancy. I can't find any other reason for the Alopecia and she certainly isn't interested in Eros going near her back end and is becoming quite grumpy of her stomach being touched, as all 4 sows did during our last breeding programme! And I was expecting the Alopecia again (at some stage) as once it occurs in a pregnancy it occurs in any following pregancies. So I think Apollo may have covered Sara quite early on.
I also have a possible covering date for Marmalade; When we got home from Wyevern CC Show on 25th February I checked Marmalade over and found her back end covered in Ribble's boar glue! And if she wasn't pregnant she would be in heat around now again and so far so good over the last few days.
Kenco and Gromit are getting on really well now and cuddling lots and Ribble is being the perfect gentleman as always. Apollo and Sara went back together as if they'd never been apart and happily went off to eat hay cuddled up together after a quick trot around! But as I said before Sara doesn't want anything to do with poor Eros! I think he'll have to wait until the next part of our 2006 Breeding Programme for the chance to do his job. I should be able to tell easily by the date of Sara's babies who the Sire is.
bravenet.com