A few days ago I posted about the latest additions at Park Towers – and the delicate condition that wee Daisy was in
This was her on Tuesday morning with a very prominent baby bump!!
I was home from work on Tuesday and every time I went out of the house I raced back to see if there were any new little bodies in the run. I read up a little more on what would happen and what I might need to do if I needed to intervene (and of course, the related horror stories!) because if in doubt – read!!
After tea Ruby and I trollied off to our first night of Guides and halfway through my phone rang – it was Michael, Daisy had delivered her first baby!!! I don’t usually answer my phone at guides but this was a special case! Michael said that Daisy had been fine giving birth to baby 1 and was busy cleaning her but it looked like another was on its way! I hurriedly explained what I had read earlier – if she was too preoccupied with 1 to break the membranes and clean 2 then he would have to step in. The thought of that somewhat gave him the boak so he became Daisy’s best cheerleader hoping that his services would not be required!!!
After Guides Ruby grabbed all her stuff in double quick time and ran to the car shouting, ‘Mum! Quick! Speed all the way home!!’ We didn’t speed but we did get home as quickly as we could and when we arrived we found that there were THREE little babies alive and well and being tended to by their loving mother 🙂
Please excuse the revolting state of their run – I didn’t want to disturb them by taking out the bloodied fleece and yes, those are guinea pig placentas (is that the plural of placenta?) lying around. A bit gross but also pretty interesting!!
So we have three dinky, wee piggies. One has very similar colouring to Daisy – she was the first born and is most likely to be found closest to her mummy. Second out was a little grey/amber striped piggy who has red eyes (which freak me out a bit but I’m learning to love them!) and last was the little ginger one 🙂
They are just tiny, perfect versions of full grown guinea pigs – no pink, hairless, squirmy babies for us!! They are born with teeth and able to walk straight away!
I put some parsley into the cage before going to bed and Daisy ran straight for it, knocking over little grey and s/he squirmed about like a turtle trying to find right way up for a while but soon found his/her feet!
I went off to bed hoping that they would be alright through the night – but I set my alarm a little early so I could be up before the kids in case of disaster!
I got up this morning and found this lovely sight
They had all made it through their first night as a new family and seemed to be doing fine! Daisy was bouncing around like a new woman – glad to be shot of her massive lodgers, I’m sure! Her little babies either sat in the pigloo chilling or ran around with Daisy, investigating their new world. Ruby has provisionally named them Poppy, Bumble and Ginger (listed in birth order). At one point this morning Bumble was sitting in one corner of the run by himself. I don’t much like them being alone but I thought I’d give him a while to take the initiative and find his mummy – or for her to go looking for him so I sat and had some breakfast, put on some washing and did the dishes with one eye on him to check if he moved – he didn’t so I went in band scooped him up to put him back with Daisy. He was very still and quiet so I think it was the right thing to do. Anyway, after a quick photo opportunity
he scurried back into the pigloo and straight for some milk!
They were pretty active through the day – following Daisy and Violet’s usual routine of one hour of rest and then one hour of activity and they didn’t seem phased by me walking near the run or of noises in the house.
When I got home from an appointment I asked the kids if they fancied getting the babies out for a cuddle. You can imagine the response!!! I had said that we wouldn’t touch them for a couple of days but Daisy is doing so well as a Mummy that I was pretty sure she’d be ok with it.
I brought Bumble over first and he squeaked and squeaked his little chops off until I brought Daisy too – then the other two started going as they were left behind. Everyone was happy when they were all together again 🙂
(Alexander does wear a shirt sometimes) They look bored to tears but actually this is ‘quiet reverence’! They were so sweet with their new little babies so delighted with their little noises and amazed by everything they did 🙂
They had a bit of cuddle time while I changed the bedding in the run (thank goodness!) and then it was back in to explore again 🙂
Less than 24 hours old but they have totally stolen our hearts!
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