The babies are soooo cute, Peg!
And Truly is just absolutely adorable! Any idea on what breed she is? Hah - doesn't matter, I love her colour!
Oh by the way...if Cindy goes missing - you can just skip Washington. She's not going to be in any of my cages.
lol. She is soo stinkin' adorable.
Knowing Cindy - she won't be in your cages. She'll be in your hands or on your lap or on the floor playing hide and seek with you. (More on that in a bit).
She is not only adorable but she is a REAL character!
And I have a question for you, Peg -- what is the earliest you are able to sex your babies? I figured, you breeding longer than I, might have a record-breaking age at sexing!
I'll tell you how early I can sex after you answer.
lol.
Ha ha ha - you're talking to a breeder who can't palpate...
I can tell for sure when the boy bits drop...or the doe has babies!
Ok...seriously. Nyx's babies were born March 11th and I'm just getting ready to check them now. I am usually pretty accurate with 80-85% of the litter at about a month. Sometimes a couple will baffle me which I know sounds strange.
I have been known to take them when their eyes aren't open and use a warm, damp cottonball to stimulate them to pee and then decide from that. (I learned that after a boy once peed on me without me trying to get him to do so...even blind - they seem to still aim just fine).
I probably could tell earlier than a month if I was willing to take the time. I know folks who can do it right after they're born...but not me.
The only thing I can really tell right after they're born - is who has bigger bone structure and who I want to watch because they're not too long in body or narrow in body.
With lionheads - it got to the point where I could look at a newborn litter and know that there were X amount I wanted to watch as potential keepers and X amount that would most likely be pet out - based upon type only.
But it does take them time to really fill out and show their type well.
That's so cute how you have different names for the litters! lol. I have started doing that now since this is the first time I have two litters at once, and it's hard to talk about one, and not mean the other. I call my pre-juniors the "trio" since there is just three of them, and I have recently started calling the 2 week olds, Tater-Tots. haha.
I think the nicknames are part of what keeps me sane when we are talking about them. The funny thing is - the kids know they are "kids" - the tinies know when we're talking about them...I'm sure it won't be long before the "itty bitties" know their nickname too.
I'm going to be doing some breeding soon though - multiple litters due within a week's time period. That should make life interesting. I'll probably just call them "X's litter" or something.
Emily
