Lilac and Gold Are Such Pretty Colours.

This week saw me bring home some stud additions. Now I was definitely not planning on traveling anywhere to pick up any guinea pigs this week being that I am now 38 weeks pregnant. However, I simply could not pass this little group up. If you read my blog regularly, you would know Minnie and Balthasar, my sheltie half-siblings. 

This one is Bewitching "Hermione"

 and below, is Bewitching "Balthasar"

 

I was surprised when I first got them and read through their paperwork to note that they were sired by a Gold & Lilac Argent. At the time, I wasn't keen on red eyed cavies but since then my appreciation for lilacs has really grown.

I have admired in particular, a texel called Sirocco "Amore" and since then yearned for my own lilac and gold texel. So when I found out that Minnie and Balthasars' sire was available, along with two sows, one gold and one lilac and gold, I simply had to have them.

Meet my new boar, Fluffy Starz "Caramello"

And these two little lasses, are his daughters, Shingalwood "Gold Magic"

and Shingalwood "Magic Dust"

I must confess, I also brought home a ring-in that I technically did not need but whom I found too adorable to leave behind. This little fella is their brother, Shingalwood "Wizz Fizz"

Now if you are confused about why a person who wants a lilac & gold texel, would buy a sheltie then let me explain: a texel and sheltie are the same genetically, except that a texel carries the rexoid gene, which creates the curls. So for example, by breeding a sheltie sow to a texel boar, you could have babies that are texel or sheltie. If your sheltie sow was a texel carrier (ie. One of her parents were a texel) you would have a higher chance again, of getting texel pups. 

This does not effect the pedigree of your cavies. In fact, the texel, coronet and merino breeds are all shelties with additional genes that provide specific characteristics. In this way, a "pedigree" sheltie, may have any of the fore-mentioned breeds in its lineage.

In summary, a texel is a sheltie carrying the rexoid gene. A coronet is a sheltie with genetics that create a crest on the top of its head. And a sheltie with genetics causing both curls and a crest, is a merino. 

So my future plan, is to use the lines that I have, to one day breed some lilac and gold texels. As much as I love the sheltie version, there's just something about those curls that I really want.