This blog is meant to be for rabbits and cavies, as well as gardening, in spite of the fact that all the posts so far have been about gardening.  But I have some exciting news in the cavy world, so my first non-gardening post will be about cavies!

This is Onyx, my black Silkie sow, who is obviously heavily pregnant.  Because of the bitter cold and my desire to keep a very close eye on her while she is so pregnant, she was moved into my bedroom for observation.  At about 8:00 a.m. this morning, I heard some strange noises coming from her corner of the room.  I hopped out of bed (that is one sure way to get me out of bed fast) and sure enough, her pelvis was wide open and she was having contractions.

After just a minute or two, I got the first glimpse of her baby.  Black, wet, and shiny.  It doesn’t matter how many babies I see born, there is something so special about seeing the miracle again.  I love hearing that first tiny gasp for breath after the sac bursts with a suction noise.  I love the sound of mom cleaning the baby all over and the little baby wiggling around.

This little one was especially cute and funny looking because her ears were both pinned on top of her head in the sack, so she looked very silly.  Mom quickly went to work grooming her vigorously and soon those ears were corrected.

After Onyx got a chance to clean her all over and was delivering the placenta, I had a chance to check out the baby.  She is an adorable little self black Peruvian sow with the biggest, brightest eyes I’ve seen in a newborn.  She doesn’t have any white on her and from what I can see has no faults either.  After a quick check over, I returned her to mom, who was finished giving birth – in spite of her big belly, she only had one baby in there.

I left them alone for the next few hours, but couldn’t resist getting a few more pictures of the adorable girl.  She is the first Peruvian born here are Liberty Acres, and I believe I will name her Liberty Ruvi One, or Ruvi for short.

Because all the previous babies I’ve had have been Silkies and Americans, it is a bit funny to see her messy hair sticking up all over.  She is so irresistible, I just have to pet her, and she likes to settle into my hand and just lay there.  I can’t wait to watch her grow up!