October 26 2013 it finally happened. After what has felt like the longest pregnancy on the planet my sweet sow YoYoMar "Night Star" finally gave birth to a litter of four sheltie pups. The sire for this litter is Carrara "Lord Seraphim".
My instant favorite was a little sow who I nicknamed 'Little Night Star' because she reminded me so much of her Mumma. I also called her 'Twinkles' because she had such a silky, shiny coat, it almost looked to be twinkling. In the end I have decided on 'Twinkle Little Star' as her official name. She is black, buff and white.
There is also a little boar who I have offically named 'Blazing Sun'. I like his unusual colouring and his sweet almost love heart shaped blaze. After seeking the help of an extremely experienced breeder who knows much more than I, I can now confidently say that his colouring is lemon agouti, buff and white.
The third pup, is the first one ever to have me a little stumped when it comes to sexing. I am 80% sure she is a sow but will know for sure before too long I am sure. She has the traditional 'y' shape of a sow but with a small circle above it. Which doesn't seem to protrude when gentle pressure is applied. None-the-less I have named her (or him) 'Diamond In The Sky' She is black with just the tiniest buff smidge of colour in a stripe across her back.
Their names all come from an old English poem titled "The Star" written by sisters Ann and Jane Taylor (1783–1824.)
The fourth pup had passed on either during the birth process or shortly after.
The first thing that struck me about these babies (I missed the birth) was how full of energy, happy and healthy they appeared to be as they ran around the hutch. I did get a little nervous when I saw how long their faces were, as I was aiming for a nice short faces. However I have been reassured that shelties are often 'rat' looking at birth and soon grow into their noses.
In the case of these pups, although their sire is a texel, they were always going to be sheltie pups because their dam is not a texel carrier. However if these pups were to be bred to a texel, then their pups could be either as they will be texel carriers.
For those wondering, a cavy either gets a rex gene from both parents, making it a texel or it doesnt, making it a sheltie. There is no half/half. A purebred cavy even from a texel/sheltie breeding will be either one or the other, there is no in-between.
It is a little bit confusing at first, learning about genetics (well,
actually it is a lot confusing) but there are a lot of great resources
on the topic.
So I proudly welcome these pups to our stud and hope they will continue to thrive, as I look forward to watching them grow.
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