The Most rewarding aspect of breeding and keeping Cavies is the friendships you make with your pets along the way , the characters that simply seam to stand out for the funny quirks they may have or simply just for there loving temprements, and although I never forget any baby I have bred and lets face it even now its still the most difficult thing to have to do letting them move on to a new home, however its only right I mention a few of the special ones ...
As I've already mentioned "Star" was my first guinea pig she was very special with her grey coat and sparkling eyes she was always waiting at the front of her hutch to greet me with her funny little noises, it turned out she was pregnant as after only a few weeks i had 4 of them running around!! what a site her babies were so cute anyway "Star" in time went to join her freinds in guinea pig heaven but I'll never forget her and her funny noises.
A few years later I was visiting my local petshop for my regular order of feeds (where it so happens my beautiful dog "Heather" also came from) when there sitting in a cage was a very pretty dalmation piggy which apon seeing I knew I had to have. I called her "cleo" and I spent many happy times nursing her she was just that sort of happy soul that seamed to enjoy the interaction between human and animal, I believe she was a very intelligent guinea pig as she seamed to guard all of the others in the stud always being the first everytime to send out alarm noises if there was a strange cat or something hanging around. I think "Cleo" had around 3 litters in the 1st litter was "Peaches" she was identical to her mum and also very intelligent and enjoyed being handled and then in time she herself had a daughter which I named "lucy locket" as she was so tiny and fragile the funniest thing about her was that as I had to hand rear her at night as she was so tiny I would put her with a baby rex boar only a few days old too!, his name was "casper" and he was the colour of snow, anyway although they only stayed together for company for two weeks, nine weeks later to my suprise "lucy" gave birth to 3 healthy babies I couldnt believe it as she was still only young herself but just like her mum peaches and her grandmother cleo she took on the role of mother very well and although she only ever had the one litter I still think she was happiest when nurturing her young, they were all very very beautiful. As the years went by "cleo","peaches" and "lucy locket" went to the join the others in the great grasslands in the sky and although I had other piggies I guess I knew things would never be quite the same again...
As time went by I decided to concentrate on Self Creams whites and buffs I already had a few creams so I decided to look around for a suitable stud boar for my clan, anyway quite unexpectantly whilst visiting another fanciers shed (for Piggies I might add) I fell in love with a jet black buck which i named "Bobby Black" he was jet black as black as any rabbit could be and he was like a little puppy he used to follow me everywhere in fact he had the run of the garden when ever he wanted and he really loved playing with our dogs too he was a very brave rabbit and he was at his happiest when he could run free with all of the little piggies "I'm convinced that he really thought he was a piggy himself, anyway "bobby" enjoyed visiting shows with us and the guinea pigs until he became older and then he just spent more time sleeping until one day he had a really long sleep, its really dosen't get any easier when you have to say goodbye but having the special memories to hold on to always helps.
.looking at my stud today although it has changed so much from where i started out 20 years ago i still have the special ones and the ones with their quirky little ways its having these special ones that reminds me to never forget the past friends and always to look forward to the future ones too.
And now so much time has gone by so many litters so many happy memories of warm summers and bundles of fun and cold winter nights where no matter how cold you are just the sight of your furry friends always somehow manage to warm at least your heart. today my stud is built on the history and knowledge of everything other fanciers and my guinea pigs have taught me, |
