Babies Home Page

Charlie	Cholo	Mishka	Penny

The "runt" is a Self Black male, named Charlie (my Father-in-Laws name), who weighed about 3.5 oz.claimed by my wife. The second is a Silver Agouti male, named Cholo (Spanish for pretty boy), also weighing about 3.5 oz.claimed by my daughter. Third is a female Golden Agouti with a white blaze on her forehead, named Penny (one of Honeybear's midwives), weighing about 4 oz.claimed by one of my football players (He calls her Apache.). Finally we have a male Dilute Agouti, named Mishka (Russian for little bear, honoring HB's other midwife) weighing about 4 oz.. Each one was about 4.5" to 5" long. All were active and fed from the mother with little problem. I supplemented the mother's diet with some high energy foods and lots of Vitamin C rich foods.

The babies spent the first three weeks in the small cage with Mom. Now, of course, the boys live in their own place called the Boys' Dorm and Honeybear and her daughter, Penny live in the Girls' Condo. Somehow I think they live a sweeter life than I do!

Baby's Weights

Date	Charlie	Cholo	Mishka	Penny
Birth 2/10	3.5	3.6	4.0	4.0
2/17	3.8	3.8	3.8	4.0
2/24	5.9	6.0	5.9	6.2
3/3	8.4	8.2	8.8	8.0
3/10 (one month)	11.0	10.9	11.2	9.5
3/17	12.7	12.2	13.0	11.0
3/24	14.9	14.9	15.6	12.4
3/31	?	?	?	13.8
4/9 (two months)	20	20	21.5	15
4/28	27.5	26	29.5	16.5
5/5	28	26	29	18
5/12	30.5	28	30	18
5/20	32	30	32	21
6/9 (four months)	35	34	37	24

The April 9th weight was taken at the vet's office. The staff just loves the kids (who wouldn't?). Dr. Nock says they are all doing very well, all have sound lungs and intestinal track. She checked all their ears, eyes, teeth (Penny got a couple of good nips in!) and genitalia. Her only concern is that Charlie and Cholo seem to have a little bit of an overbite. She says we should keep an eye on their lower incisors to ensure they don't grow too long. All of them were very good, tried to pay the vet with packets, doctor thought this was very thoughtful of them, but insisted on American dollars (yah know, some people - ya'd think they had bills to pay or somethin'). So all the babies are now officially healthy and "gorgeous." This, of course, caused Cholo to strut just a little. Our little Don Juan!

Penny has a bladder infection! This is a real bummer since it is fairly uncommon for a young pig to get something like this. Vet thinks part of the problem is that neither she or her mother (share a cage referred to as "The Girls' Condo") drinks enough. So she is on a course of antibiotics. Hopefully this will clear up the problem. So far the blood in the urine seems to be gone, but the urine still smells pretty bad!

The bladder problem seems to be cleared up, finally. She doesn't smell bad anymore and has gain some weight. This is always a good sign with Guinea Pigs; as prey animals they tend to hide any infirmaries until they are almost at the point of death. So a slightly paranoid owner is a good thing.