Our First Day

It's hard to believe it has been nearly three years since we fostered baby Buckaroo Banzai with his mom Bolt and Aunties Bear and Browny.  Banzai had been a total surprise, because Bolt hardly looked pregnant, let alone ready to give birth.  I loved watching Banzai follow his aunties around, hanging out with the big girls.

What a different dynamic compared to the current foster situation of three baby guinea pigs and a single mom.   

I managed to video bits and pieces of the birth.  I missed the bit where Baby Two complained about getting cleaned off.  Laylla worked hard on each of her offspring.  I had to laugh, though, when she used Baby Two as a pillow.  Oh, mama!  But I could understand how exhausted she was.  And those pups are amazingly resilient.  

The sound is faint on the video, but she burbled constantly at them the whole time.  It was quite endearing.

Second sequence is the three pups soon after the delivery.  The crunching in the background is Laylla eating pellets.  She was a hungry girl!

The last two sequences are from the next morning.  The trio are not quite 24 hours old, but they're zooming and popcorning all around!  I removed the third level of the cage because there was no way I could baby-proof that.  I left the second level in because Laylla tends to pee up there (so it would keep the first level drier) and to give her the ability to get a break from the babies if she needed that.  Unlike Bolt, Laylla doesn't have other adult sows to run interference.  I've already seen the pups attempt to jump up there and I know from experience, Laylla only has about a week before they're able to make it.  If she stays up there too long, Baby Two will make a "where are you Mama" sound and she comes down.  It's funny - the sound is specific enough that whenever Rob or I hear it, we look over to the cage, and Laylla is on the second floor.  It's a very unique wheek!

The four of them are often pig-piled under the hay rack.  The little ones also like hiding in the tunnel together when they're not buried under mom.

I take the babies out to weigh them to monitor their progress.  Baby guinea pigs will often lose weight the first day, then start to gain, which is pretty much what they've done.  Baby One is currently the smallest of the bunch and I want to make sure they're all thriving.  Baby Three is much larger than the other two.

We have some ideas for names, but are holding off naming them until I can determine their sex.  I like to get second opinions from the guinealynx.info forum, which requires good clear photos in strong light.  We joke that we're filming piggy porn.  Baby Three was giving me some serious stink eye over the entire procedure.  Really?  This is so undignified.  (I cropped the photo in an effort to protect a little of his modesty.)

I suspect they're all boys.  However, I haven't gotten a good clear photo of the area - those private bits are so tiny!  So we'll keep trying until I can confirm.